I am sure that at some point over the years I said, I’d never want to work from home. A woman who worked for me years ago worked from home and loved it. She even gave a presentation about how to make it work. I thought that’s good for her that she gets to live where her family wanted without having to leave a job she liked a thousand miles away.
I just didn’t see it working for me because I enjoyed the comradery of the workplace too much. After all, I’m the guy who starts work golf leagues, fantasy football leagues, and has never missed the company cookout or community service event.
But here I am, working from home every day and have to say I like it – but it took some time to adjust. So how did it come about? Four years ago we had a very bad New England winter. I was snowed into my condo unable to make the over 100 mile commute into the office for the whole month of February. I was already working a couple of days a week at home so I was set up with my home office including high speed internet and a virtual public network (VPN) into work. For that month, with no time spent commuting I found I got more done in a day, plus no interruptions. I’m not saying there was never any cabin fever but it wasn’t too bad.
When the next fall rolled around I had an idea. If I could productively work from home for a month last winter, why not see if I could work the whole winter from home….in Florida?
I asked my manager and, although a little surprised by my request, said she was fine with it but had to get her manager to approve it – which she did. We found some friends with a house available to rent to us on the west coast of Florida from January to March and we were headed south!
The next three years we did this routine and it’s worked out well. Every year we extent our stay by a week or so and now are looking to buy our own house in that part of Florida.
So how can working from home work for you? First of all, find out if your company has a policy about remote workers. After Dell Technologies bought the company I worked for, I found out in a casual conversation with my manager’s manager that Dell not only allowed working from home but also actively encouraged employees to do so. They gave us $750 to set up a home office and gave a month stipend to cover internet service. Sign me up.
Assuming your company or your manager allows you to work from home, here are somethings to consider:
· Try working from home on a trial basis before you give up your office or cubicle. Most of us have spent years in an office environment and working from home is a big adjustment. Maybe it’s not for you so see if you can ease into it 2-3 days a week then increase it to almost every day. Within a few weeks you’ll know if you like it or not.
· You will miss the water cooler chit chat that breaks up a day with enjoyable socializing. I have a retired friend and another with time on his hands. I regularly get together with them for golf and/or a beer. I also belong to a running club that also has social events as part of its schedule. It keeps me from feeling too shut off from face-to-face socializing. You’ll want to do something similar. Be a joiner in whatever activities you enjoy whether it is a book club, tennis league, or outdoors club for example.
· Put time in your schedule for non-work activities. Make a point of blocking off time every day to get out of the house. For me it usually involves a bike ride or walk during lunch time. But it can be anything including errands or picking up kids from school. It will keep you from feeling like you are in solitary confinement.
· Get involved in professional societies. I admit I have not done this but I know people who do and find it beneficial for networking and keeping up on industry trends.
· If you are transitioning from working in the office most days to working from home full time, don’t lose touch with your “work friends.” Every so often, I’ll send an email to a work friend asking simply “what’s new?” From there we catch up and sometimes plan to get together with our spouses soon.
· One more point. When I started working from home full-time, I was a lot closer to the end of my career than to the beginning. I’ve accumulated dozens of friends and contacts from decades of work. If I were starting out in my first or second job, I don’t think working from home would be for me. But who knows? The millennials probably figured that out. Maybe that’s what they are doing with their laptops at Starbucks now that I think of it!
The one thing everyone, including me, always says when the subject comes up: We are all more productive. And most of us work with teams that are remote anyway (India, Ireland, Texas, and California for me). When you add that to the fact that the companies can reduce high real estate costs, I see more companies encouraging this practice. Who knows, it might be for you.
Good luck,
Bill