With upwards of 5 million people working “from” or “out of” their homes for a majority of the work day, a major shift in the workplace has been happening over the past 4 years. Companies are starting to recognize the cost and personal benefits from having a diverse group of hires in diverse locations. In August 2007, CBS Marketwatch reported that home and remote based workers have a higher level of satisfaction with their jobs. They report is it primarily due to the convenience of working from home. As a home worker I can say there is good with the bad.
The Good: Since I started working out of the house, I have started to live a “greener” lifestyle. I used to put a good 10,000 miles on my car every year just in commuting miles to the office. My 45 minutes each way commute also added stress and tension to my life. Now I have a 5 minute walk to the office and put 0 miles on the car. That means less emissions in the air, less stress, and the ability to relax before starting a stressful day. I am also massively extending the life of my vehicle which means spending less each year for normal maintenance. Savings in the pocket as well as the earth.
Another nice side effect from working from home is the ability to get a lot of things done. During breaks I can throw a load of laundry in the machine which relieves pressure of chores off the house. I can have lunch in a proper kitchen with food I buy for the house anyways. No more need for instant lunches or sandwiches. I end up eating better and living better.
The Bad: There are two major downsides to consider if you are working from home AND you do not own the company. Communication and what I call ’separation of work and home’. Communication is probably the biggest hurdle you need to cross. In order for home based employees to feel like they are involved, they need a much higher level of communication than in office employees. As a manager, expect to spend twice as much time e-mailing and talking with your home based workers in order to keep their confidence high. When they are not involved in a major project, let them know why because they don’t have the resources to see why. This is much easier said than done. Communication is a two way street so as a home worker you have to be willing to pick up the phone and ask your manager hard questions about how well the situation is going. Keeping management involved in what you are doing will help with communication. If they see what you are doing then it is easier to justify your home based existence. The main thing you are trying to avoid by having good communication is the feeling of being disconnected from the main office and the main office feeling like you are a rouge employee.
Separation of Work and Home is a simple concept that most people either look over or will have problems implementing. The idea is that if you can keep your work space separate from your home space, you should do so. Now this doesn’t mean that you have build an office as an addition to your home to do work. What it means is that you should not be able to easily pop into your home office to “just do one quick thing”. Your home office space should have some way to get you into the mindset of working and not be a direct connection to your home. For example, my office is a long way from the main house. This helps me to not just pop-in and do a quick task. Secondly, I have separate machines for home and work connected through a KVM switch. This allows me to not mingle work tasks with home tasks. At bare minimum every home office should have this. It is the most ideal way to keep your home computing from spilling over into your work computing.
The major benefits from working from home is convenience and cost saving. But that does not exclude you from going into the office for a little ‘face time’. Every home worker should plan on going to the office and touching base at least once a month. The interpersonal communication in an office is something you can not replicate at home and should not be excluded. A good sit down with your boss and reminding of everyone that you are part of the team is always a good idea. It also breaks the monotony of being alone in an office every day which is needed for the home based worker.