Home Is Where the Office Is

Welcome to the wonderful world of working from home! The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered many new faces to this particular environment, and I want to offer a little perspective as a remote worker since 2006. A little background - I worked in both health care and corporate office environments from 1997 - 2006, then began my own productivity consulting business until 2008 when I had my first daughter, and then signed on as a remote employee for a company located on the opposite coast  So, I've: a) Worked full time in an bustling office b) Pioneered a sole proprietorship - working from a home office /workspace c) Assimilated into a remote work environment with team mates and clients in a variety of time zones d) Attempted to conduct regular business responsibilities with young children when childcare wasn't available or a child was sick And as of March 16th: e) Struggled to feel productive and/or successful as a - full-time remote worker - parent - short order cook -...

"Wow! You look great! Where did you have to go today?"  These are the words that completely changed my work life about 10 years ago. What caught my husband's eye when he came home from work that day?  Well... I had showered and washed, dried, and styled my hair. I was wearing jeans and a casual, but clean, top. I may have slicked some Vaseline on my chapped lips. In other words, I was not in my usual home office attire: yoga pants, loose sweatshirt, pony tail. The thing is, I didn't have to go anywhere that day.  Yes, I had put some effort in preparing for the day, and, interestingly, I felt satisfied in a way that I had not for quite some time. I had been really productive and focused all day. My interactions felt more animated and engaged during my conference calls.  It was in that moment - seeing and hearing my husband's reaction and realizing how such a small investment in self-care had positively impacted my whole day - that I decided I needed to st...

"I'm so jealous! You get to work in yoga pants." Or, "I'd love to be able to work from home and spend more time with my kids." Here's the thing: working from home can have a lot of benefits. For employees, it can provide flexibility and improve the work-life continuum (or as I like to define it, the balance of love-to's and have-to's ), and for employers, it can reduce overhead costs, increase productivity, expand the pool of potential employees, and reduce employee turnover. Without the proper guidelines, however, what should be one of your company's greatest assets can become a major liability. Here are the 5 Steps to making telecommuting or working from home work for you and your boss: 1. Enclosed Office Space While many experts recommend setting up a dedicated work space, I'll go one step further and say it's most beneficial to set up an office space that has a door that you can close to remove yourself from your person...

“I really see this as an opportunity to have better work-life balance.” I’ve heard this more times than I can count from newly initiated home officers. My usual response is to smile and nod. No need to rain on anyone’s parade. But it’s a topic that unfailingly pops up within a few months – sometimes within a few weeks. “Why does it feel like I’m working even more ?” Here’s the thing.   While many companies claim to value the importance of work-life balance for their employees, the reality is that no one seems to have a solid definition of what that means. That’s one of the most difficult things for a working parent – especially a work-from-home parent – to discover: the fallacy of work-life balance. Small Business Trends put out a nifty infographic that breaks it all down, and one little nugget that stood out to me like a neon sign was that out of the 38 countries studied, the U.S. ranked 30 th in work-life balance. [1] (The Netherlands ranked #1, by the way.)...

As we home officers know, there are so many advantages to working from home. For one, you're always home, so the issues of scheduling the cable guy, the plumber, signing for that critical package - no problem! On the other hand, you're always home. It can become way too easy to become a hermit, and so I, like many others who work from home, have made a commitment to leave the house for an hour at least 3 workdays a week. Stumped on ideas of what to do? - Join a local gym and do a 30-minute workout - Schedule lunch with a friend or neighbor - Take the dog for a walk - Get that oil change - finally! - Run that errand you've been putting off forever - Pick up the birthday gift(s) for any upcoming birthday parties - Do your weekly grocery run (remember to make a list! Or even a meal plan !) - Go to the local park and read on a park bench for awhile - Indulge in a hobby: visit that craft store/tea room/art gallery/bookstore/Apple store/arcade - whatever - ...

I'm so thrilled to have Tami B. as this Wednesday's guest blogger. We've known each other since elementary school, and it's so fun to be able to learn from this side of her life - the professional home officer side.  She was smart, witty and organized then, and she's even more so now! Enjoy!  Wife, Mother, Home Officer From the time my son was born and my daughter was 16-months-old until they were 3 and 4, I worked part-time from home with them at home with me. That was one of the most challenging – and exhausting – things I ever tried to do. I often think of that time as the “Dark Years,” as I finished up a great many work “days” in a dark house at 2am. When the opportunity came up for me to start working full time, I knew it was time to get the kiddos in preschool. Leaving them each day was hard, but I was also a little giddy at the thought of getting to work in a quiet house. During the day! I was working on two separate projects,...

Home Office "Pro" #11 (I'm arbitrarily starting with #11 just because I'm sure there are at least 10 other "pros" I've mentioned to working from a home office since beginning this blog): Have Office, Can Travel. This is something the Man of the House and I have talked about frequently for many years but have never actually exercised. The fact of my job is that all I need is a phone, a computer, internet access, and a door, so it doesn't matter if I'm at home or in a train cabin en route to Paris (as long as it has Wi-Fi). I can do my job. So, when the annual family reunion came around 1000 miles from our home, and I pointed out I have zero PTO hours available, we decided this was the time to take advantage of this working reality. Welcome to my temporary office at Ye Olde Residence Inn : As the horrible saying goes, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a relative around here, so this provides multiple child care / family entert...