 Just a few short years ago, telecommuting was a rare benefit for a select few. Employers were reluctant to give up the belief that employees needed watching, and that working from home really meant a day of watching soap operas, devouring chocolates, and catching up on the laundry. The traditional 9-to-5 in the office was the accepted standard for assuring that employees were where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to do. For most, proof of productivity was measured by hours in the office, rather than by results.
However, with the help of laptops, PDAs, and high-speed internet, the practice of measuring productivity with time seems to be taking a few hits. More and more employers have begun to realize the benefits of telecommuting: lower overhead, less infrastructure, more productive employees, and greater retention. Some who already had programs in place for a few are expanding the programs they have to include more employees. Large employers such as the federal government are setting new standards for telecommuting by embracing the concept rather than rejecting it. There's even a new term for it now that covers not just those working from home, but those working on the road, or from satellite or client offices — "telework." Telework is viewed favorably enough that the federal government, through its Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA), conducts an annual survey of its own agencies to ensure that telework opportunities are offered to employees as appropriate, and that the number of employees allowed to telework continues to rise. Telework Centers are maintained as satellite office space for teleworkers, and there are extensive policies governing the use of telework as a work option. Both agencies joined together to create a joint website dedicated to their telework programs. The willingness of the OPM and the GSA to accept and utilize teleworking seems to be successful, too - the number of federal employees allowed to telework at least part time has increased by nearly 40 percent since the surveys began in 2001. The federal government is often the forerunner in adopting new insights on the American workforce, and with the Fed setting the pace for making telework an acceptable means of conducting business, it's logical to conclude that the American workplace as a whole may adopt the same outlook. For some industries, it could mean a whole new definition of what it means to "go to work." As appealing as it may sound, however, there are those who find telework to be less than they had hoped for. Interestingly enough, this dissatisfaction isn't coming from the employers, but from employees who find themselves lonely and feeling disconnected from the office culture. Granted, it's not a majority, but for some, telework brings a sense of feeling "left out," perhaps to the extent of missing opportunities for advancement, or to influence the opinions of others with a viable presence in the office. For a few, they just miss the structure of an office and find working at home to be more distracting than inspiring. Some employers willingly welcome these folks back into the fold, while others address this by providing resources, support, and training to their telework forces that help them adapt to working from home, enable them to make better use of technology, and learn how to interact effectively and productively in an electronic environment. Today, there are more than 12 million Americans who telework full-time, and another 10 million who telework part-time. However, given the diverse nature of the workplace, telework won't be an option for many types of businesses but certainly, it's becoming a much more viable option for jobs that entail computer work, thinking, or perhaps working with numbers. You won't see manufacturers sending their product assemblers home to put things together, but you may see their accountants working at home a few days a month…or a week. Telework isn't such a foreign concept anymore. It may have once been thought of as an ineffective approach to managing work/life balance, but modern workplaces now know that happy, less-stressed employees means employees that stay longer and get more done — and cost them less in the long run.
Working from Home: Make Sure You Get Dressed First
…and other practical tips for making it work by Brenda Wychulis The thought of working from home sounds divine, doesn't it? No set hours, doing your own thing, no boss watching over your shoulder, getting the laundry done… Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Time for a reality check. You do actually have to work, and trust me when I say that when there's no one around to watch over you, it's not always easy. There's something to be said for team meetings and the pressure of a workplace to keep you going because it is very easy to stray from work. Let me just repeat that for you….very, very easy to stray from work. And the reality of straying is like this: no work, no pay. If you need that paycheck, not working is a bad thing. The bottom line is that if you're going to work from home, you have to set some ground rules, because the number one thing you should know about working from your home is that it takes discipline - and a lot of it! Let me share my own experience. I spent a couple of decades as an administrator in an unusual and very stressful field. Let's just say it was my job to make sure we made millions of dollars doing work that entailed helping some really damaged people get their lives together. Not making widgets, unfortunately. Screw-ups in my field sometimes meant that people got hurt. It was pretty black and white and as cool as it was when you saw great outcomes, the stress gets to you after while and the old home life suffers. So, eventually, I made a choice. I left the security of a good-paying job with benefits and, I'll admit, the joy of having decision-making authority, to stay home and try my hand at something new. I won't tell you what but since you're reading this, you might be able to take a pretty good guess at it. So, what happened? Well, I quit my long-standing but reliable job before school got out for the summer, so the first two or three weeks I relished my new found freedom. I got in the car and went to Starbucks - at 10 a.m.! I hit the sales at the mall. I drove with all the windows down and my radio blaring because the weather was nice and my hairdo didn't matter — and I knew I could because I didn't have to be anywhere except home by 3 p.m. And then it hit me…after my unused vacation time that I walked away with was used up (which was a healthy bit of cash because after a couple of decades, you get little perks like six weeks of paid leave, not including holidays), there would be no money coming in unless I actually did something. And I was pretty sure that neither my mortgage company nor the car financing gurus would like that. Oh sure, my husband was still bringing in a paycheck, but with four kids, a house, two cars, and a whole lot of dental work attached to those four kids — not to mention the sheer amount of food they eat — it wouldn't cover everything. Plus, my husband was now paying for the health insurance that I had so generously carried for the better part of 20 years. Translation: his checks were smaller! So, anyway, I had to shake off the impulse to do pretty much nothing and buckle down…and buckle down hard. Summer came, and all the kids were home. This, of course, is what I had looked forward to…being with my kids while making a living. Hah! I learned enough that first summer that I can tell you that the second summer was not looked forward to with great joy and anticipation. Kids do not let you work, or at least, they do not let you work on anything that actually brings in money.
I ended up spending my evenings, weekends and very, very late nights working. I dragged myself out of bed each morning, feeling hung over from lack of sleep. Over time, I learned to actually function on five to six hours of sleep, knowing that every fourth day or so, it would catch up with me and I would have to hit the sack early. Working around the times when kids were awake versus when they were asleep was my life for the first three months and I longed for the day when school started back up. And when it did, it was bliss. There. I said it. Even though I had wanted to stay home with them, I found that getting them back into school brought no guilt, only relief and a chance to figure out how to actually make working from home work. This is what I learned. (Mind you, it took a year to not only figure this out but to actually put it into practice — and it's still hard because some days, it takes every bit of willpower I can muster to not head outside to trim the rose bush or check out the clearance racks at T.J. Maxx.) These are now the rules I live by: Structure your time
A schedule is a wonderful thing. Know when you're going to work and actually do it. It's amazing how fast you can lose track of time when you're not doing anything remotely related to making money. Minimize distractions
Turn off Oprah, keep the music down low and hide your computer games. Forget about cleaning the bathroom because that's what weekends are for, no matter what your spouse thinks. There is one thing you can do, though. When you get up to take a break for a few minutes, you can toss in a load of laundry - just don't count on getting it put away, because that takes too long. Get work done while the going's good
In other words, get as much done before the kids get home and the evening rush hour of dinner, baths, homework (and your favorite TV shows) hits. Daytime is primetime for getting the bulk of your work done. I still have to put in time at night and weekends, but the pressure to put a lot of time in on off-hours is greatly diminished if you get the bulk of it done while no one else is around. Of course, if you miss a day, you can always make it up somewhere else and you don't have to worry about getting your overtime or comp time approved. Your time is just what it is…your time. Break out the crayons
If you don't have the luxury of having school-age kids, then you're going to have to find a way to keep your kids occupied. The harsh reality is if you're going to work from home doing anything that entails thinking, spreadsheets, and communicating with someone other than your 3-year old, you may need to actually hire a babysitter. You can still be around and available, but you have to make sure you actually have the time and opportunity to get work done. Stay professional
This doesn't mean you have to put on a suit to sit down and work, but you do need to make deadlines, and be available to your customers. You can't put off a meeting because you need to change a diaper (but you could change a diaper while you're on a conference call — just keep the baby quiet!). You still need to come off as a professional. So, while you don't need to wear a suit every day, you should at least get dressed before you start rockin' and rollin'. At the very least, you'll feel better about yourself and in most cases, you'll probably be more productive.
|
Telecommunting 
