Working remotely can be one of the most challenging things you’ll do if you aren’t prepared. I’m talking about those of us that are a 100% remote employee and not the occasional work from home day.
When I was searching for a new opportunity last year I had decided on the type of work I wanted to do, technical marketing. With this type of role I knew that I’d have to either move or take a job where I’d be working remote. Moving was not really an option, so I was faced with the idea of having to work from home, again. The negative tone I had at the time was a result of having gone through this before. About 5 years ago I left a job where I worked 100% of the time from home. The main reason was that I couldn’t stand working from home anymore.
With that job, there were so many things that contributed to this.
- I didn’t feel like I had a good understanding of where I stood as an employee and it wasn’t until I left that I found out I was in line to be promoted. I often felt like being remote I had something to prove and spent a lot of time in some ways trying to justify my existence. Mixed with the constant outsourcing that was going on at the company I was left with a lot of doubt.
- On top of this I quickly got sick of my own house. I had just moved to the area and had no friends, colleagues, etc and found myself not leaving the house for days at a time.
- I felt like work never left. I had a VPN phone/router setup and due to the role I had, the phone range at all kinds of hours due to the global presence of the company. Any type of support job was probably out of the question for me.
Do I really want to do this again?
When I started thinking about if I really wanted to go down this route I realized in many ways some of these things were now solvable.
- I had since moved and now have and office that is detached and about 100 feet of the house. I could now ‘leave’ work behind in some ways.
- Having now been in the Richmond area for over 6 years I now had friends, or at the least people who’d be willing to meet up once in a while to get lunch together.
- The final hurdle was the communication barrier that became an issue from my first foray into telecommuting. I suppose I had proven that I was capable of being successful my first time around, but at the time it definitely didn’t seem like it. Looking back on that some of it certainly had to do with the mass outsourcing that went on, but some of that was also due to communication barriers that I didn’t know how to manage at the time.
As I began my search this aspect became even more important than the job being in a technical marketing type role like I had desired. As I found jobs and started talking to people I felt out how the organizations were setup, if remote employees existed, and where they didn’t how they would function in the role. I had the opportunity to talk to some great companies and while there were many deciding factors, the biggest was going some where I could be successful.
Mission Accomplished
So I now had a job where I was 100% remote, again. While there are days once in a while where I really wish I worked in an office, they are few and far in between. It really only takes making some lunch plans to both help break up the day, and remind myself through others experiences the implications of having to go to an office every single day.
No matter how well you think you are prepared, issues will arise if you are a new or experience telecommuter. The following are the most common things that tend to come up from my perspective either past or present.
Separation of Work/Home – Despite having a separate work space, that doesn’t always stop my son from coming a knocking. I’ve spent time explaining to him what work is and he understands most of the time. With that said I’ve found it is easier to accept the interruptions and use them as a break in your day. Remember having the chance to be around your family more is a perk of the job, well most of the time at least.
Isolation – . Not only was I adjusting to telecommuting again, but my new job also much more solitary. The quick fix for me is to email a few people and setup lunch. And back to the previous point taking a break and doing whatever you want for a a little bit works great.
Communication - To be honest I haven’t had a single issue in this regard with my new job that I can think of right now. This probably has a lot to do with lessons learned from my first time doing this. There have been at times a feeling that I ‘could’ be missing out on something from not being in the office, but there are so many internal broadcasts, and extra-curricular type groups and content that I’ve never felt like I didn’t know what is going on. I feel closer to the core objectives of this large company then I ever did working for some of the smaller companies I have where I did work in an office.
The Tools of the Trade
There are some basic things that every home office should have, but if you work from home these are some things that I find being crucial. I will cover in a future post some of the apps I use, etc.
A Big White Board - I have an 8’ x 4’ whiteboard(http://www.rakuten.com/prod/quartet-melamine-whiteboard-aluminum-frame-96-x-48/216677847.html) , and another project type whiteboard that is 4’ x 3’.
Printer/Scanner – If you don’t have something already, think about the functions you’ll need even only occasionally. You won’t have access to company resources any more.
Postage Scale – This falls under the not necessary for work category for me. It is however crucial to have things like this since you won’t have access to things like this now that you don’t work in an office. Alternatively just going to the post office is not a bad idea if your looking for a way to break up the day when you need to.
Mat – I stand most of the time and got this recommendation for a mat (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BYRDLG/ref=pe_385040_30332190_pe_175190_21431760_M3T1_ST1_dp_1). It is pricey but it is a small price to pay considering how much you’ll use it.
Are you a part-time or full time telecommuter? What are your tips and experiences?