Thursday, October 06, 2005

Working from home today...

First, let me get out there and say it - I LOVE working from home. Prior to fleeing, er - leaving, ClientLogic, I worked from home more days than I actually went into the office. It was just easier. I had no real reason to be there. I was more productive at home and I didn't have to worry about finding a matching shirt-khaki combination. Pretty nice gig if you can get it.

However, working from home does create it's own source of challenges. First, other people have a hard time believing that you are actually working. With all the potential distractions folks often assume you are sitting on the couch watching TV. Along with this, people often don't believe you when you say you need to be at work by a certain time. Now in this, I need to be a little more flexible - just ask Amy. I wanted to be up and working by about 7:30. However, both of us overslept and we haven't worked out a decent morning system yet. The process gaps were glaring this morning. And while I love my cats, they are occasionally a distraction. Either walking across the keyboard, sitting on my hands, purring into the phone during a conference call or digging their claws into me at inopportune times.

In the end, it takes the same, if not more discipline to work from home, but I'll take it over going into the office any day...

4 comments:

Teri said...

Must be nice :) I am glad that you are much happier at your new job.

LoraLoo said...

It's unfortunate more companies haven't figured this out - think of the expenses saved by not having to give you real office space, right? I have everything I need to work from home, but the Gov't doesn't trust us to actually work. Go figure, the Gov't doesn't trust us! ha! It would be so wonderful to work from home, truly an advantage.

Ken said...

Teri - Yes. I am quite happy so far.

Lora - I think more and more companies are realizing it. About two years ago, ClientLogic bought a company that didn't have a corporate HQ and that allowed them to reduce their costs. At Slash, HQ is rather small. They provided me with a laptop and Crackberry, er BlackBerry. More than enough to be productive. I'm going to go buy a wireless card for my laptop either today or this weekend so that I can work whereever I want - Starbucks if I wanted. That's what I need - more caffeine!!!!

Darryll said...

If I liked my house I would work from home but currently I really really really hate my house.
Maybe after I get a new one I might change my tune.