Telecommuter Tips and Best Practices
There’s a great article in the Washington Post this week on advice for people working from home. It outlines some of the many disciplines people need to adopt when working out of a home office. I think the best advice was to make sure to schedule regular meetings with people outside of your home office. Often times, home workers get so ingrained in working that they forget to get out and socialize a bit. This is a common mistake. The simple act of getting up to go someplace for lunch will do a number of good things for your mind, in fact I try to make sure I’m not cooped up in my office just working for more than 2 days straight. I find that anything over 2 days of solidarity and silence starts to play with my mind a little bit. I find I am more antsy and fidgety and that it is harder to concentrate on the projects I am working on.
The other main point that I thought spoke volumes was to be sure and “assert your presence.” This is critical if you are working with a team. Just because you are out of the office doesn’t mean you are any less productive or reachable. Make sure to schedule regular conference calls and meetings. We always tell people to have an “office-buddy” of sorts to bounce information off. For many telecommuters the responsibility to stay in-sight and in-mind is yours. You have the freedom and flexibility, but with those benefits come some unique requirements that probably aren’t in your job description.
For more information on this please feel free to contact me directly.
Brandon Dempsey
SuiteCommute
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com
