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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Work at Home Options
I am an accountant in north Alabama and am looking for a position that would allow me flexibility so that I am able to take care of an aging parent. I am studying for my CPA. If you guys/girls have any leads, please let me know!
~Anna
Re: Work at Home Options
Maybe your post really meant, "...I want to work at home so I can reduce my commute time or stress level and be available to my aging parent more regularly during non-work hours." If so, I'm sorry (and I KNOW how stressful it is to care for an aging parent at home). I give you a lot of credit.
[For the record, I am a project manager at a very large company, and do a lot of systems implementation-type work. I have a lot of conference calls, do a lot of work on my computer, and work with people all over the country.]
Working at home is NOT something that you do so that you can get paid to do something else (i.e., take care of a parent, child, etc.). If you can imagine your mother/dad coming to your office, sitting in a chair in your office/cube all day while you attend meetings and do your work, than maybe this will work for you. If your parent is just a sit-on-the-couch person who won't have an expectation of interacting with you during the day, or who really just needs someone to be there in case there's a real problem, maybe this would work for you.
It wouldn't work for me with my parent(s). They would think that I was available to talk to them, interact, etc. Working at home is like working at an office, except at home. Overall, if you want to work from home in a professional capacity, I think that your best bet is with a current employer who knows you are (theoretically) working.
I'm about to rant a little bit, so please move on from my post, but honestly, this type of post drives me a little BSC. I have been in the professional world for 13 years, and have always had the flexibility to work at home whenever I need or want. I work at home an average of 3 days a week, sometimes more/sometimes less. Once, I worked at home for an entire year...straight. HOWEVER, I am extremely focused, deliver results, and can handle it. I work - I don't hang out with DH or the dog or take care of anything other than my work. I've earned the flexibility to do this through proven successes. I have a home office and workspace that is better than the one that I'd get at the office (and is not cheap to put together, either). I regularly work 10-12 hours a day, as I'm able to work during the time that I'd spend commuting. It's hard! Sure, instead of taking a 15 minute break to shoot the sh!t with a co-worker, I can start dinner or throw in some laundry. On the whole, however, it's just like being at the office...with no coworkers.
The thought process that you can work a full-time job at home while simultaneously taking care of a parent makes it more difficult for the rest of us -- professionals who want to work at home for "legitimate" reasons: office space, noise, reduced time commuting, health, assorted flex-schedule needs, etc..
Maybe you could freelance for some small businesses? I'm assuming that caring for an aging parent means doing a lot of driving to the doctor, pharmacy, etc. during regular working hours. If you freelance preparing reports and taxes and such, then you could probably get that done in the evening.
If your caregiving role is more intensive - say, your parent has Alzheimer's - I urge you to reconsider. In that scenario caregiving is a full-time job of its own.