Last week, we shared some tips about how to make the most out of working from your apartment. While you can really benefit from the increased flexibility, working from home can dampen your productivity and make you feel isolated - unless you follow a few simple steps to creating balance. Here, we finish off a few key ideas for those work-at-homers.
Find Ways to Stay Connected. Despite its benefits, working from home can make you feel like you’ve been exiled. There is no one shouting your name from the office next door, no colleagues to run out to lunch with, and perhaps most important, no co-workers who make the day go a little faster. Working from home, you’ll have to work at staying connected. Call people rather than always relying on email. Also, check in with people when you don’t necessarily have an issue to discuss. If you can, find reasons for face-to-face meetings.
Treat it Like a Job. While it can be nice to roll out of bed and head over to your desk, get up, shower and get dressed. It helps to put yourself in the same frame of mind as if you were working outside the home.
A Little Less Taxing? You may be able to deduct some of your apartment costs on your tax return. That includes everything from rent to utilities. It could be like getting a raise! There is helpful guidance online, but check with your tax preparer and keep good records.
In the end, it’s all about balancing the benefits and challenges of working at home – and, remembering that you’ve got a job to do.
Do you like working from home or find that it isn’t for you? Let us know by commenting on this blog by November 30, 2009, and receive five entries in the Williampaid.com Free Rent Sweepstakes. (Please be sure to include your email address so we can contact you if you win. Your email address will not be published as part of your response.)
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we loved reading the blog, you totally knocked it out of the ballpark! I have forwarded a link to my dad, and shall surely be back for more.
These are great tips for those who WFH. Staying connected to your coworkers is key to not only alleviate the isolation but also to remind everyone that you are still an employee and still a part of the team even if you don’t see each other face to face very often. That means responding to emails and voicemails quickly and initiating IM Chats and quick check in phone calls.
The one challenge with having a room-mate (especially if they don’t have the option of working remotely) is getting them to realize that you are in fact At Work. You can’t just hang out, or take a 3 hour lunch/shopping break or run them to errands. In that instance, it helps to have your home office set up behind a closed door.
Last, assume that your boss can stop by your house at any moment to check up on you. That means “getting dressed to the shoes” daily and staying sober during your working hours.
Ms. Genevieve:
You sound like one who knows! Your tip about working from home when you have a roommate is great - we hadn’t thought of that one. We also particularly liked the thought of staying sober during work hours
Thanks for visiting our blog as well as your comments. We hope you’ll come back.
William Paid
p.s. Shoes and all? That’s hard-core!
Thanks for this info. Additional discussions similar to this topic can be found at the World’s Largest Forum.