Telecommuting questions

I learned today that my company is closing it’s physical location by the end of this month and that I will be telecommuting from home. I’m fortunate in that I have a sunroom which can easily be converted to an office and my POE is paying for to establish extra phone lines and a separate internet service in my home.

This situation is ideal for the type of work I do and I see this as a win-win situation. They are able to reduce significant overhead and I continue to enjoy my work from the comfort of my own home!

I’m aware there must be some drawbacks my rose colored glasses aren’t allowing me to see at this time and would appreciate any advice you may have to offer in:

** setting up boundaries between work and home.

** message boards of other telecommuting employees

** physical set up of office since furniture and equipment are not an issue (we can take anything from the physical office we need, including printers, fax machines, furniture, etc - less storage fees if we’re actually using it rather than storing it!)

** anything else you can think of I need to be aware of

Thanks!

AAM II- I’m sorry I just saw this before I went to bed. I work with telecommuting programs in public and private industry and I’d be happy to give you whatever advice I can. Feel free to e-mail me. I’ll prob. get to respond to this thread tomorrow nite.

AAM II- I’m sorry I just saw this before I went to bed. I work with telecommuting programs in public and private industry and I’d be happy to give you whatever advice I can. Feel free to e-mail me. I’ll prob. get to respond to this thread tomorrow nite.

I’ve been telecommuting three days a week for a little more than two years now.

The two main problems I found were:

  1. Actually getting around to the work portion of my day, because there’s always dishes to do, cats to feed, tv to watch…

  2. Staying connected to the people I need to stay connected to at work.

I found that sticking to a regular 9 to 5 schedule doesn’t really work for me. So what I do instead is use a kitchen timer and a notepad. I set the timer for 30 minutes, and then I do nothing but work for that time. If the phone rings and it’s not job related, the timer goes off. No surfing, no cleaning, no food, just work. At the end of the 30 minutes I make a hashmark on my notepad, and I go do something else for a bit. When I’ve got 10 hashmarks on my pad, I’m done for the day, whether it’s 10 am or 10 pm. Of course, I’m single and live alone, so I don’t have to accomodate anybody else. YMMV

The second one may be more difficult for you, because you won’t have a physical office to go to every once in a while.

You may want to set some sort of routine for yourself, like a once-a-week phone call to check in with a few different people, even if it’s just to confirm that everybody is still breathing. It helps to feel connected to the people you work with, in a way that email might not.

The only other thing I can think of is to try to restrict the space in which you work. It’s really easy to let random work stuff filter through your whole house, but that can really hurt your head after a while. I have a comfy chair, a laptop, and a pile of paper next to the chair, that’s it. I put the pile of paper where I can’t see it if I’m not in the chair. Once I’m off the clock (or timer, as it were) I’m done.

Good luck!

The joys of working at home. They are many, and benefits beyond belief. But…
Speaking from experience, you should consider;

  1. The dog barks every time you get an important phone call.
  2. Your significant other has problems understand that you are really at work, even though you are “at home.” Home = Work honey. You’ll just have to wait.
  3. Your kids think that your being homebound is great, now you can drive them anywhere, anytime.
  4. Your boss only calls when you are upstairs answering mother natures’ call. Or in the shower at 3PM,(see #5).
  5. You find that you will get dressed later and later. At first, you’ll wait until after you check your e-mail. Then it’s after you answer your e-mail. Pretty soon, you realize it’s noon, and you’re still in your pj’s or whatever. Then it happens, you work a whole day in your underwear (pj’s or whatever).
    Shaving,(men, some women too), can skip a day or 6, so you get a tad scraggly. The whole shower thing takes on a new meaning, it requires scheduling, it’s no longer instinctive. (was that the phone?)
  6. Lock, better yet, time lock, the refrigerator door. Really, lock it… Seriously, lock the stupid thing.
  7. Oh, and the ~Shift to Dark~. That’s how you transformed into a nocturnal being. 7AM becomes bedtime. The nights are just too quiet and peaceful to waste sleeping. This is especially true if you’re not interacting with others.
  8. The neighbors and their transparent "Oh you’re home, can you do me a favor…could you watch (my monsters) for me…just for 10 minutes…”
    “No, I’m not home, I’m at work, I work here, I live there (pointing at the other room) Go, be gone, take (your monsters) too…”
  9. That load of wash. Go ahead, toss it in. Hehehe, (that’s how it starts, better get the choirs done before the weekend comes, why waste a Saturday on choirs)
  10. Missionaries. Telephone solicitors (new number, no matter, they were waiting for you)
    10.The relatives, They’ll call, and trust me, this is what they’ll say
    “You’re not busy now are you?” or “You can take a break now can’t you?”

I’ve been doing it for over 2 years now. It is great -IF- you have good discipline, and IF you get a little cooperation, and IF you get a lock for the refer door. Did I mention locking the refer door?

I worked at home years ago and am now again telecommuting. In my first job, we were all home-based workers due to the nature of the business. This time, though, I asked to telecommute and was very lucky my bosses agreed. I am the type of person that despises traffic and early mornings. Throw a craving for freedom (wear what I want, work when I want, go to lunch when I want, or even skip it altogether, work 16 hours one day and not at all the next…that sort of freedom) into the mix and I’m a natural for working at home.

Neither time did I have “boundaries” between work and home. I guess whether or not that is needed depends on your personality type, the type of work you are doing, and if you share your home with anyone. I have never felt like I needed any kind of structure in my life, so my “desk” is whereever I happen to feel like being. My first telecommuting job mostly involved calculations, so I usually did it at the coffee table while watching TV. Now most of my work is done at the computer, and since the only place to have it is in the living room, there really is no way to have an established, seperate “office”. But I often have my briefcase spread out on my bed, on the floor, or at the dining room table. I also have only one kid - he was a preschooler the first time, but since I generally did my work after he went to bed he was never a distraction. Now, he’s a pre-colleger and is not home much, so again he is no distraction. And on both jobs, the work I did could be done 24 hours because it rarely involves interacting with other people or companies. So I really never had the need to set up any kind of boundary or structure, whether regarding work hours or workspace set-up.

The only real problem I have is when I do need to make a call and can’t reach the person. I can leave the office number, knowing full well it will only prolong the phone-tag since I am not even there, or I can leave my home number, and then for certain they will call when I have run to the store or jumped in the shower, and then they will get my home anwering machine. But it sounds like your company is covering that problem by installing their phone lines into your home. I wish I could do that!

Although I don’t have personal experience because I LOVE working at home, I know other people don’t becuase they lack the self-discipline and goal-setting it takes to telecommute. Others crave the social contacts they have working in central locations. And then others get dumped on by friends, neighbors, and family, like has already been mentioned.

That’s my $.02, FWIW!

I would give a nut to be able to work from home. I’m a network admin, so I know I could do at least some of it from there, but I also do the computer support, phone support, and anything else that needs doing so I doubt it’ll even be an option for me.

I’ve found when I telecommute, AIM is a great way to stay in touch with other people.

If you have a detached garage (that can be easily used for an office), consider using that so there is a physical break.

Set up the phones so you don’t hear personal calls at the office and the other way around (so you must be at work during working hours to get a call AND it will stop you from combining the 2 when your off). You will need 2 phone lines at least.

Don’t use the same computer, have them set up differently so you know one from another.

Set up a clear sign to others in the house as to when you are at the office, easily done by closing the door, but if you like the door open set up some other sign (other then when your in the room your at work - make it visable).

Don’t accept walkins - have them call you or email you at work - If it’s something that can wait till you get home, let them know that you are working right now and tell you when you get home.

When I worked for the Shite Corp. down the road, they had “work at home” positions that were more-or-less awarded to the top performers, as long as they owned thier own home. Or at least thats what they claimed.

Bullshit! The bosses friends, pumps and relatives all got them. Being a single mom was the primary criteria. They had a hard time justifying why certain folks who were consistantly the top performers and home-owners were passed up for single-mom-apartment-dwellers that the whole program began to turn sour. It was thinly-veiled company-paid daycare, if you ask me.

In short, I have nothing to tell you about my experiance with it, cause I ain’t got any!

Sounds nice however. I now work at the most kick-ass place!

More info:

  • The phones that are now ringing in our physical office (which will be closing its doors) will be forwarded to a second line in my home that the company is installing and paying for; therefore I will work the same hours as I currently do M-F, 8-4.

  • Two separate computers provided by the company will be moved to my home office. The same two computers my work is currently on so I hope the transition will be easy.

  • The only two of our six children still at home are almost 11 and 12 years old. They will be in school. This company is extremely family friendly and our kids have always been welcome at the office - not to mention that if there is an emergency - company policy is family comes first. I don’t envision them as a problem at all.

The issues I’m more concerned with are being able to finish my work day and say it’s complete, without being pulled back to do “just a little more” since it’s so conveniently in the next room.

Additionally, Mr. Adoptamom is self employed - there are days he will be at home with me. He knows I love what I do and has always been helpful and respectful of the time I spend at work. I wonder though, if he’ll be able to separate my being at home, but at work; therefore not available for a bit of afternoon delight <g> Anyy suggestion on this type of boundary? I don’t think potential clients will appreciate a breathless response! lol

Neighbors are another issue altogether. I don’t live in a coffee clutch type neighborhood, but all of my surrounding neighbors stay at home and may invite themselves over for a chat. Any suggestions for tactful ways to tell them that I’m here, but I’m not really available without offending?

I sent a letter to my representatives proposing a national telecommuting plan.

You do still get a lunch break, right? :wink:

I’ve been telecommuting for several months while my wife is pregnant (so I can help try to keep our 2 year old out of her hair) and it has been great. I’m thinking of asking to make it permanent.

I’m a software developer so telecommuting is easy for me. My setup is:

  1. Phone forwarded to my home number - I don’t get too many calls so it isn’t really a problem.
  2. High-speed internet with VPN so I can get on the network at work.
  3. Windows XP remote desktop so I can remotely use my work machine just as if I was sitting at work.

I can pretty much work any hours I like as long as the work gets done. Since everyone else is working during the day I tend to work then as well but I can make up the time at any point if I have to do something in the middle of the day. I’ll often run errands or do chores during the day and then just work a bit later that night.

The best part is that this saves me 90 minutes of commuting time each way. It is like getting an extra 3 hours to my day.

I don’t do anything official to separate my home time from my work time - I just work until I feel that I’m done. :slight_smile:

Let them know ahead of time that you will be working at home, and that there will be times when you are not available to socialize becaues you are working. Then stick to it. If they show up and you’re busy, say, “I’m sorry, but I can’t chat right now; I have a lot of work to do today.” Offer to call them back in the evening, get together for lunch tomorrow, or whatever (if you want to). Then politely say good-bye and close the door or hang up the phone. If they get pissed at you, it’s their problem. You warned them ahead of time.

I have done this to many friends (granted, a lot of them are also self-employed) and even MY MOTHER with no ill effects.

Get a speakerphone with mute. Honestly, I wouldn’t tell the neighbors you are working from home, especially if you usually park in the garage. For a good long while, they won’t realize it and will leave you in peace.

I would take some time to ask yourself if you consider yourself upwardly mobile in your career, or just happy in a job with good work-life balance. If you are upwardly mobile, be diligent in maintaining your visibility in your field. Some will assume you’ve plateaued/ gone mommy-track, even though obviously in your case the company is driving the decision.

Tough advice to follow, but the best advice is to get up, get clean, and dress in something you’d wear to a casual office every day. Depending on your job, there may still be impromptu needs to interact with customers and coworkers, and these rare impressions will mean a lot.

No need to wear heels, hose, or your security ID badge, though!

Adoptamom… if it wasn’t for Parallax’s telecommuting and the afternoon delight on his ‘lunch break’ (basically the munchkin’s nap) I don’t think I’d ever get any :slight_smile:

But I try and respect that he’s working and needs some space. I have a tough time explaining it to our two year old though. I’m much more paranoid about taking up too much of his work time than he is. We had a spare room to use as a computer room until I got pregnant again… now the computers are in what was our living room. I’m sure your hubby may be extra friendly while your new working arrangement is in its novelty phase but things should settle in for you pretty quickly.

If the neighbors do knock you can always play ‘lights out’ or if it becomes chronic and they don’t get the ‘I’m working right now can we talk after 4’ message … hang a do not disturb sign on the door. :slight_smile: