6 Work-From-Home Snafus--And How To Fix Them
Yes,
cuddly critters can disturb your workflow. And no, you can't take video
conference calls in your underwear. Working from home isn't a vacation.
Plenty
of people work from home on occasion. According to the American Time Use Survey, 38% of those with a
college education or more did some work from home on the days they worked. If
working from home is a remotely regular thing for you, then you probably have a
home office. But if you have a home office, you can have things go wrong there
that don’t go wrong in the “real” office. Here are several common snafus and
how to avoid them.
Most
parents who work from home get that they need childcare. An 18-month-old can’t
fend for herself while you’re on a conference call. But pet owners don’t
necessarily think the same way. One woman wrote to me of her cat crawling over
her computer keyboard during inopportune moments. A barking dog can undermine
an entire presentation. “Plan ahead for times when you need to be on the phone,
and have something to keep your dog occupied, whether a new bone, some quality
time in the backyard, or a trip to the doggie daycare center for the day,” says
Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs, a job board devoted to
flexible and telecommuting jobs. If you live in an apartment, make friends with
neighbors who might take your dog for a doggie playdate in a pinch (you can
offer the same during a time you’re not as busy).
If
you get a lot of packages, put a note on the door telling the delivery guy to
leave them. If you have a landline and a cell, you might turn the ringer off on
the one you’re not using if you’re giving a presentation. Carrie Rocha, who
runs the coupons and deals website Pocket
Your Dollars
out of her house, says that “Inevitably, my mom will call my cell phone when
I'm on a business call so I don't answer. Then she turns around and calls my
landline to try and catch me there. At least, with the ringer off, the person
on the other end of the phone doesn't know I'm being summonsed.” If you’re
working at home to meet the plumber, understand that, inevitably, he will show
up right as your boss calls, so plan for it.
At
the office, your company probably pays for a real chair and desk. At home, the
temptation might be to make do, but if you’ll be sitting there for 10 hours a
day, you need your rear end to be comfortable, and you need a desk that’s the
right height for you. Camille Noe Pagán, author of the novel The
Art of Forgetting, says that “Because I'm on the short side, I had mine cut
down a few inches, and I also use a slide-out tray for my keyboard, which has
made a huge difference in minimizing my back and wrist problems. I have an
elliptical in my office, and I often hop on it for 10 minutes when I'm stumped
or feeling sluggish. It does the trick every time.”
People
aren’t just looking at you. They’re looking at what’s behind you, too. If your
laptop camera is facing your bed with dirty laundry on it, you may be creating
a different impression than the one you want. Even if you live in an NYC
apartment and your bedroom is the only spot available for an office, you can
angle the camera to take in a less bedroom-y piece of furniture, like a wardrobe,
or perhaps a potted plant.
If
you do a lot of video calls, you’re not going to be able to work in sweatpants.
Deal with it. “Make sure you're dressed appropriately so that, in case you do
have to stand during the video conference, you're not caught with your PJ
bottoms on,” says Fell. You don't want to pull a Costanza and broadcast to the world that you've given
up.
One
of the biggest problems people cite with a home office is the lack of
boundaries between work and one’s personal life. Amanda Altman and her husband
used to run their company, A3 Design, out of their Charlotte
home. “If you’re in the dining room, and constantly walking through the office,
you are never going to be able to get away from it, really,” she says. “You’re
constantly being drawn and nagged back there.” Indeed, Altman and her husband
had even more problems with boundaries because they had employees for a bit,
and “our entire house was our office. Our bedroom was our place we slept in our
office.” If you’ve got employees working out of your home, and someone needs to
stay late to finish something, you really won’t be able to shut down for the
day.
So
if you think your home-based work will expand to that point? Start thinking
about additional or separate space. The Altmans bought a property in Upstate
New York with a barn that is becoming their studio. Perhaps it’s not working
from home per se, but it’s only a 90-second commute. “You need to be able to
close the door on your business,” she says.
Good
call, we might add.
By Laura
Vanderkam
http://www.fastcompany.com/3021599/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/6-work-from-home-snafus-and-how-to-fix-them?partner=newsletter
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