by Stephanie Kempa on February 4, 2010
There’s a shift occurring in what defines a workplace and it’s clashing with traditional ways of working. Most workplaces are still several years out from widespread adoption of flexibility in the workplace. The speed of the shift will be driven by how fast we can change the mindset of the traditionalists.
Telecommuting, or telework, is not all-or-nothing. Telecommuting can be as infrequent as needing to work from home on occasion while waiting for the refrigerator repair person, or mostly full-time like me, or anywhere in between. While many companies accept the occasional work from home, far fewer embrace the full time teleworker. Why? Too many myths about telework, and not realizing that it doesn’t work for everyone.
The truth about telecommuters
Most of the articles about the pitfalls and perils of telework are not written by people who telecommute. How can you tell? Easy. They provoke fear and doubt about whether telework can actually work. They talk about how teleworkers could get distracted by bright, shiny objects at home. They don’t show a clear understanding of how global and virtual the world of work is becoming. And they don’t recognize the mutual benefits to employees and companies.
The truth is, telework works. Here’s what highly effective teleworkers do:
- We don’t lose time commuting. More often than not, we give that saved time back to the company by working instead of commuting.
- We don’t have any more distractions than the office – the distractions are just different.
- We’re skilled at eliminating distractions. The best teleworkers have separate, dedicated workspace where we can shutout interruptions and anything that could be distracting. We have child care so we’re not trying to work and take care of kids.
- We have the technology and we know how to use it. Conference call lines, headsets, phones, laptops, VPN, and webcams for those companies that rely on face-to-face rather than voice-to-voice.
- We get to know our colleagues, just differently. We share pictures and small talk just like everyone else.
- Our problem isn’t motivating ourselves to work, it’s allowing ourselves to step away from work. With your work always close-by, it takes effort to call it a day.
- We don’t spend our days watching TV, talking to friends on the phone and doing household chores (just one look at my piles of laundry will prove it!) We often eat at our desk. We’re not sitting around in our PJs, but we wear whatever puts us in the right frame of mind (for me, it’s jeans every day I’m in my home office, or business attire when I’m at the office or anywhere representing my company). By not stressing about how to dress for success, we can focus on getting good results.
Telecommuting is a skill and a competitive advantage. With the world of work become more global all the time, it’s a critical skill to know how to work effectively with people who aren’t in the same physical place as you.
The folks over at Inc. magazine have just announced they’ll be experimenting with telecommuting for a month. That may be too short to become skilled at it, but it’s a good effort and it’ll be interesting to follow and see how it goes for them.
What’s your experience with telecommuting? Has it worked for you?
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by Stephanie Kempa on January 30, 2010
If you’ve seen the TV show Man vs Wild on the Discovery Channel, you’ve seen Bear Grylls, a former British special-forces-Everest summitter-turned-survival guide extraordinaire. He shows how to survive in the wild in all kinds of amazing places using only minimum tools and resources. Even better, as this season’s ad say, he shows you “not only how to survive, but how to be alive”.
This got me thinking – what if Bear’s next assignment was to survive and thrive as a working parent in a corporate world? What are the few tools and tips he’d need to make it through the workweek in one piece?
First priority: Food – feeding the family is often the main challenge for the working parent. You get home from a long day at work, kids are hungry, have to feed them. The tools Bear Grylls should take with him into the wild of the family meal?
- The 4-6 quart slow cooker / Crockpot – nothing better than getting home from work and dinner is done and ready to serve. Make enough to have leftovers for lunch the next day and you’ve got two meals all taken care of.
- Quick-scratch cooking instructions. Quick-scratch cooking is taking modern convenience food and turning it into something that’s closer to homemade. The best cookbook for this is “The Dinner Doctor” by Anne Byrn. Easy, fast, yummy recipes, many of them kid-friendly and worthy of serving to guests. Also very good, fast and healthy is “The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook”.
- Meal prep help – two great options here are Schwan’s and your local meal prep kitchen.
- Schwan’s is a home delivery service in the U.S. of restaurant-quality frozen food. It’s the same company that makes many of the brands of frozen foods in the supermarket. The great thing about them is that the Schwan’s truck shows up at your house on a regular basis and you can pre-order if you’re organized (www.schwans.com), or you can order right from the truck. Better still, a lot of the food can be cooked from frozen so you don’t have to be clairvoyant two days ahead of time about whether you’re able to make dinner or need to order out.
- Local meal prep kitchen. This is where you go and make or buy several prepared meals to have ready to go at home – favorites have been Main Dish Kitchen and Super Suppers. Bonus points for turning this into a parent’s/girl’s night out opportunity with other busy parents. Find your local version at Easy Meal Prep, select Locations. Mostly U.S., but there are a few other countries listed too.
Second priority: Time – the other resource working parents can’t seem to get enough of is time. How can Bear create more time as he navigates all the responsibilities working parents juggle? He’d need:
- A really good calendar – More Time Moms has a big calendar called the Family Organizer – it has a lot of writing space and activity stickers. Put this in a central place (i.e. kitchen) so the whole family can keep track of what’s going on each day, appointments, practices, special events, days off school, etc.
- Meeting invites – in addition to the family calendar, use your work calendar to track your home commitments. I block-off the kids’ appointments by setting a meeting and inviting my husband to the meeting – that way we can coordinate who is taking the kid the appointment, kid event, etc, and both of us have it on our integrated work/life calendars in case we need to set aside the evening or shift things around due to work priorities.
- Microsoft OneNote. Not enough people seem to know about OneNote – if they did, it’d be as common as email. Basically works like a computer version of your notepad and a file cabinet, and helps you keep random thoughts organized and in one place, so you don’t waste time looking for things.
- Tivo – not just any DVR will do, I’m talking brand-name Tivo for best user interface and best time savings. If you watch any TV and don’t have a Tivo, you’re wasting time. Perfect for all stages of parenthood, from midnight feedings, to the kids taking over the tv or just needing attention or having activities during the time your favorite show is on. Get a Tivo and never worry again about what time something is on. Busy parents don’t have much time for TV, but we all need a little down time now and then.
What tools and resources do you rely on to survive the workweek as a working parent? Use the comments to share.
Note: I have no affiliation with these companies or authors, I’m not representing or speaking for any of the mentioned brands. I’ve left out my favorite resources from my own company in the interest of staying objective. Please do the same if you suggest any of your favorites, or disclose your bias. Thanks!
