Do you ever work at home and, if so, how productive are you, relative to working in an office environment?

After I retired from a large firm I started to work at home using my computer via internet. It was a bit difficult at first because there can be many interruptions in a home environment. The fact that you are home means that anyone at home can interrupt you. Therefore to be really productive you need strong self-discipline and an understanding with those at home that you are not to be interrupted during certain hours. You also should not be tempted to pick yourself up and go to the refrigerator or to go out to shop, etc. Bearing in mind that you have no wasted commuting time you can be very productive during your working hours but mainly it is up to you. 

Interesting answers, both here and on Pulver's blog. I used to work from home for a few months and now I'm in an office. I much prefer working in an office. For me, at least, it's better both socially and professionally. There were days when I worked from home when I just didn't leave home all day, and I hated the feeling of not seeing anyone for a whole day. I also had days when I really struggled to get work done; when I'm in the office it happens very rarely.

I think that if you work at home you must either (a) have strict deadlines; (b) have a lot of self-discipline or (c) love your work.

About a month ago I read an article about self-employed people who just take their laptop to a cafe and work from there. They have Wi-Fi internet access, they can hold meetings there and don't really need an office, but they don't want to spend all day at home. Sometimes the cafe owners are not happy about having them there, sitting there for hours and not ordering a lot of things, but they can share their time between 2-3 cafes and it's usually OK.

I used to work from home a couple of years ago. I was working 3 days a week from home and a one office day. I have to say that working from office was far more easy for me and I was far more productive. While working from home I was distracted every 20 minutes or so, while at the office I could sit for hours working non-stop. Working from the office gave me the possibility to interact and share idea with colleagues.

Like anything in life, there are pros and cons.

One of the major pros is that you don't need to commute anywhere and you save that time. Of course, being home and being able to quickly address family matters or just be with your family is also important.

One of the major cons is the lack of direct people communication. You just IM them, text them or talk to them (sometimes even see them in a webcam). 

I, myself, like to do a little bit of both. Sometimes working from home gives me the quiet I need to focus on some task or gives me the necessary flexibility in time to do things when I can and not necessarily on a fixed time base.

I am working all the time from home - I am very productive, as I have a fixed task list, that i need to clear every day.