ALT-1 The new Concept of Teleworking
I am a teleworker, also known as telecommuter. Employed by a documentation firm, I consult at a top technology company as an information developer. This is similar to a technical writer. My friends and neighbors often express envy over this fact, in particular when they see me sitting on my back deck in my pajamas drinking coffee. It seems a more and more people are interested in working from home rather than the office, which I of course find most understandable.
During the day, my house is quiet and comfortable and in earnest, I get more work done there than I would at an office. The offices of my firm are small with multiple desks per room and noise everywhere. The company I am consulting at has also given me a desk, this is a cubicle in the middle of a vast cubicle farm, and there is the constant hum of activity all around me, not to mention always someone interesting to stop and chat with in a break room or the cubicle next door.
That said and the envy of my neighbor's aside, there are some very dangerous pitfalls associated with working from home and the severity of each varies depending on who you are. How about we begin with the number one pitfall, you must still go into the office. If you are not working purely on a freelance basis, you need to go into the office at least one day a week, even if it is just for a few hours for meetings. If you do not do this, you are on your way out. It becomes easy for people who are working closely together face to face to turn against the person that is never there. This is politics and humanity at work. To avoid becoming the scapegoat or resented team member you must go into the office regularly. I myself go every Thursday. In addition, go in whenever something big is happening and if bosses or team members ask. This includes meetings about major shifts in strategy or design.
The next big pitfall is your own personal distractions and while for me they are the easiest to overcome, there are more of these than any other. For me chief among personal distractions are the household chores and projects your spouse or yourself would like completed. There may be dishes in the sink, those decorations that need to go up or any other common household task, but you must resist. You may be at home, but you are working and you must resolve not to do anything around the house that you could not do if you were not home.
This of course may sound extreme and impossible to stick to and truthfully, it is. You must make this resolve from the start however, as a way of setting priorities, so you always know that during work hours, work is the most important thing. Eventually, I was able to relax this and when I need a break from working, I can let myself go do the dishes or other short simple tasks. If you find you have a hard time limiting the household tasks you do, then working from home may not be for you.
Adding to personal distraction are my television and Sony Playstation 3 console. Whether it is games, spouses, roommates, or food, we have around the house ways of entertaining ourselves and those things can be a real drain on productivity. Again, the key here is simply to resolve as firmly as possible that you working even though you are at home. While I am good at disciplining myself, even I fall victim to these types of distractions from time to time. You will go through periods of diminished concentration and discipline, my advice is if you cannot afford to decrease in productivity, or take time off, then start going into the office until you get your groove back.
The final major pitfall is the most dangerous. If you work at home then you are always at the office and for many people like myself there is the inclination to work too much. Most people that are teleworker are salaried and so overtime is not restricted. During crunch time, I will often find myself working twelve or more hours a day. When I am bored or I cannot sleep at night I work. My wife tends to get very displeased with this since I work on a laptop and am often working in front of the TV instead of sharing prime time with her. Furthermore, we are social creatures and working from home cuts out a good slice of our social interaction. I have been working from home for over five years now and during one stretch, I had so little social interaction that I developed a sort of social anxiety. Make sure you get out of the house and interact with people, whether at the office a few days a week or by going out in the evenings with friends.
How to avoid some of these pitfalls:
If you are lucky and can start working at home, there are some helpful tips that can aid you in avoiding some of the downsides. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit I do not follow them all anymore, but I did when I started. Set a room aside in your house as your office, complete with chair, desk, and all the trimmings of a work office. Consider this space "work" and keep it separate in your mind from "home".
When you wake in the morning, go through the normal rituals you would before going to work, such as coffee and newspaper or getting the kids and spouse off to work. When it is time for work, enter your office and close the door. Closing the door symbolizes to you and anyone else who is home that you are work. When you finish for the day, leave your office, close the door meaning that you have left work, and are now home. While working at home offers the convenience of having your refrigerator nearby, I recommend leaving your home office for lunch, even if just to sit outside in the yard or on your deck. Doing things this way has more than just an advantage for discipline, there are also tax purposes to it.
If you dedicate a room in your house as your office, you can deduct a portion of most of your bills, proportionate to the amount of square footage of the room compared to your full house, from your taxes. Except where subsidized by your employer these include: Utilities, supplies, mortgage and internet connection and telephone.
In the end, you will adjust, adapt, or abandon some of these ideas, as in all honesty you and your employment situation will dictate your optimum work at home style. If working at home is going to work for you then you will need to analyze your own situation and personality and determine who to optimize productivity without compromising your home life, mental and physical health.
