A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (click here), describes a picture of what it is like to work from home. More importantly, it raises the issues of what others think about you when you are the home-office worker. It’s not a favorable article.
The article states that a home office worker is often distracted by their own family, their pets, neighbors who think they “are home” and household chores. I’ve been working from home for almost 15 years now and I can say they are right. People, including my Mom, are more apt to call me during the day (my “work hours”) than they would if I was in an office. But on the other hand, I can say I’ve seen wives that call their husbands at the office a million times a day so it wouldn’t matter where they work.
I especially laughed at the part where the wife comes into the husband’s home office several times with little issues. It’s been a training issue in my home to get my family to respect that I am “working”. I don’t mind that they interrupt me, but it needs to be for a good cause. If I wasn’t here, would they pick up the phone and call me?
There are times when I am on the phone coaching a client. It’s totally not ok that I get interrupted for an unjust cause. Shutting my office door wasn’t enough. Instead of getting upset about it, I looked for a solution. I put a sticky note on the front of the door that says “On a coaching call”. I’ve trained them to respect the note. There had better be a fire or someone bleeding before they come in! Now…I just have to remember to put the note up. Wish I could figure out how to get my big dog to stop barking! 🙂
Don’t let my ramblings fool you. Right now, I wouldn’t trade working from home for a minute. When I look at my financials and see my profit, I know a large part of that is due to a low overhead rate. The challenge is to be productive in a small space with some interruptions. This issue has been weighing on my “writing” mind.
In the next few months, you’ll see more about this issue. I personally have an assistant in my home-office 4 mornings a week so I have to work elsewhere. Right now, thanks to a wireless network in the house, my laptop at the dining room table works. I also purposefully schedule heavy “analysis” projects when I know no one else will be here so I can think quietly.
I am watching a client of mine struggle with how to measure the effectiveness of a key worker he has in another state. He’s ready to let another employee do the same but unless he gets clarity about his expectations, he will continue to be frustrated.
These are all “real” issues that can affect morale and productivity. The trick is to know how you will adapt and track if it is working. If you feel like you can share some insights on this, either as a case study of someone who has worked it all out or as someone who needs helps, let me know. I’d love to talk to you.
Just remember…no pain, no gain. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it!
I lift my coffee cup to those who work out of the house. Whoops, my robe got in the way. Guess I’d better get dressed! 🙂
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