It sounds great, no commute, no one to bother you; but there are several considerations before making the change to working at home. First, obviously you have to work in an environment that allows you to work from home. At Avtex that is what we sell everyday so the transition is easy. With the right technology you can be working from home with the same tools and equipment that you have in the office. In fact…once you get things established it is often easier to work from home (at least with regards to the technology.) When I go to the office now it is more complicated to get a phone call than when I’m at home.
Technology aside, the real factor for working at home is YOU. Can you handle it? It takes the right personality to stay focused and engaged on the job. (It helps when you have a ton of work to do.)
In my experience there are two things you need to work from home; and to have that work be productive. 1) The right technology. If it is difficult to get calls, to find documents and to find resources you are not productive. In today’s world of geo diverse offices (multiple locations) this should be a no brainer. If you can share a document to another office you can share it to someone working at home.
2) The right person. This is the hardest thing to qualify. Do you enjoy working alone? Sometimes it can be lonely…email and phone calls are your only outlet. Do you have young kids? Teaching them that you are actually at work is hard…especially if you don’t have the ability to close a door or get away. (I would say a dedicated work space is a requirement.)
In the end I love working from home. I feel as though I get more accomplished and am much more productive than if I were driving to an office everyday. The keys to my success are enjoying my job (sort of important) and having the rght technology at my fingertips so I don’t feel left out or like I can’t “see” what those in the office do.
What is your experience with working from home? Are you the type of person who would enjoy it? Do you have the right technology to allow you to?
As a footnote to this Blog, I ran into this article that helps support some of my personal findings: http://lifehacker.com/5940580/why-remote-workers-are-more-yes-more-engaged
