Second Post

Learning to work from home

Achieving a good work-life balance is becoming increasingly important to most of us. Working from home is one way to accomplish this and is becoming a popular option with employees and employers alike.

More and more people are enjoying the additional freedom working from home allows but beware! The temptation and opportunity to procrastinate is ever-present. The key to making a success out of working from home is discipline; here are some tips to keep on the right track.

You’re not on holiday
Keep in the mindset of ‘going to work’ foregoing, of course, the daily commute. Get out of bed before 8 (am!), shower and get dressed. Very few of us can get away with sitting at a desk and working in our pyjamas. Have a separate work area free from obvious distractions (Richard & Judy for example), where you can shut the door and be focused, 100% on your work.

Research has shown that home workers often suffer from the ‘ISO factor’. People miss the day-to-day interaction with co-workers and can suffer effects similar to those of cabin fever due to lack of regular human contact. To counter this, find out who is around and go out for lunch with friends, or invite them around for lunch.

Wherever possible use the telephone over emails – you will be expected to be in regular contact with your company, clients, suppliers or investors and talking to people is far healthier than constantly staring at the screen.

Set Boundaries
External perceptions of you - from friends, neighbours or family members - will influence your chance of success. People need to understand and respect the fact that although you are at home - you’re at work. Don’t allow yourself to become the local babysitter, or the place to go for a cup of coffee during the day.

An effective tactic is to get separate home and business phone lines and have the discipline to ignore the home phone during your working hours – there is always the answer phone. Remember, if you have successfully negotiated a home working system with your boss, he has placed his trust in you (if self-employed you will need to trust yourself), so make it work for both of you.

Enjoy it!
Working from home is a quality of life decision so take advantage of the benefits. You can go and sit in the garden or go for a walk for half an hour when you want to. Don’t work too hard: research suggests that many people working from home do more hours feeling the need to justify themselves to bosses and colleagues.

The UK has both the longest working hours and the longest commuting times in Europe. Small wonder then, that working from home is becoming an increasingly attractive and viable alternative.