I know I would love to telecommute, but I also know that could be the impetus for my company to realize that someone in a cubicle in a developing country could be doing for job for a fraction of the cost.

Would I trade it for a day gig? Nope. What would I want to see in 2008 for myself to improve productivity even more? Probably an actual room that I call an "office". The distractions of working in my living room are many.

Also one of the more annoying things (as most home workers have found out) - is people calling you in the middle of the day and going "What are you doing?" and you say "I'm working." and their answer is "Yeah, right!" and than start to babble on about something you could care less about, or something they could talk to you about later!

Rex

As for this: "This is one of those rare moments when humans are in harmony with the planet - what is good for us, is good for the environment as well." I don't think those moments are rare at all-- I'd rather not spend time on the road, most companies that cut energy usage do it to save money, well-insulated homes are both more comfortable and cheaper to operate. In fact I'd say what's truly rare is the case where something really bad for the environment is good for us. I specifically don't drive, use LED lighting, low-flow shower heads, etc. because it is in my own self-interest, not because I've bought into ever-changing theories on environment. It's not a theory that it saves me money.

nhick
http://www.itrush.com

For me, the productivy level drop because my workspace is in my room. Very easy to get on my bed.

Another issue is I never stop working once I work from home. I always stick to my computer and work.

You guys and any recommendation to solve my problems?

I recommend checking out various freelancer blogs about this topic, since most freelancers work from home, they've similar problems.

1. Get Up & Get Dressed on a Schedule - You feel like you have come to work, you feel more professional
2. Keep a Routine - If you don't you will always end up watching TV or doing something else til 10AM
3. Setup a Secluded Workspace - Whether its in another room, or just a corner, make sure you have a place to call "office"
4. GET OUT! - If you feel an unproductive twinge in your gut, get out and head to the coffee shop with your laptop
5. Keep a Daily Schedule - Make sure every hour of your day is marked down in a calendar and keep it in front of your eyes. It will keep you focused on what you should be doing and what you shouldn't.

I cannot overstate it enough that working from home takes discipline. But I agree that it is far more flexible than working everyday in an office.

Vince
Illumini, LLC

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

When we were simply repositioning departments around various floors in our building during our most recent office move I was grateful that our department got to stay on the main floor. Departments on other floors are veritable outcasts as far as our company leaders are concerned - it would be exponentially worse for telecommuters.

IMO an ideal mix would be splitting time between work and telecommuting (and that seems to be where more and more businesses are pushing.)

I think being a freelancer works better doing the "work from home" thing. Not only can you work from home, but you can move anywhere! (so long as you still get enough clients in the states)

I'm calling this "reverse offshoring" -- Europe here I come in

Your point #4 about the good things indicates that you must not have children.

Why the 9-5 Office Worker Will Become a Thing of the Past

Entropy is the amount of disorder in the system. I used it in this post to indicate that your brain would transition from order to disorder if you spend too much time alone.

In other words, people in the closed room locked up for a while go nuts.

I've found this to be a huge problem, not just with telecommuters but also at companies where the cube-n-computer environment discourages face-to-face conversation. It's not just brainstorming and creativity that suffers, but communication in general suffers. It's just too easy to misinterpret a colleague's meaning or intention when you're missing out on more than half of what they're actually saying.

At most every company I've worked at, I've had a reputation for being a "nice guy" who is "easy to work with". I honestly don't think that I'm any nicer than anyone else, but I was one of the few who actually got out from behind the desk to have face-to-face conversations with my coworkers. That made it a lot easier for me to get my projects completed quickly and with a minimum of complications. And the extra exercise didn't do me any harm, either!

Working from cafes etc enables me to have interaction with other people when needed, here's an example of my portable office, including the tools I use to do this.

The other thing to consider is your personal skillset. Are you easily replaceable ? Do you count beans all day long ? Or are you a hotshot designer/developer/writer or other creative type ? You can outsource creation, but creativity is a different beast. Don't expect India to be on the forefront of modern web design - they only know the things that are popular. Likewise if you're working for a startup, or a company that releases unique products, chances are they won't want to risk their exclusive portfolio with someone earning a tenth of your salary. In western culture, less money equates to less trust.

That said, there can be good points to outsourcing. Why not try it yourself ? Outsource some of your work and see how it goes, though I'd suggest doing it yourself in parallel the first few times - just to be safe. That's how some people have made their 4-hour work week, by outsourcing their own job and cashing the difference. Think of it as a tiny staffing agency whose sole client is you :)

The next time you're in your beloved coffee shop, ask your barista how many days per week he/she can work from home.

Then after that, ask the same question of the people who made your car, built your house, cut your hair, did your nails, flipped your burger or took your order at Olive Garden.

Or how about doctors, judges, policemen, teachers, professors, atheletes, actors, politicians, bus drivers, crane operators, welders, plumbers, electricians, airline pilots, baggage handlers, taxi cab drivers or photographers?

Apparently, none of them are part of your "new, rapidly growing generation". Perhaps someone should tell them.

Telecommuting obviously only works for information careers, but if someone's greatest achievement or aspiration is to be a barista, I don't think they're going to be complaining about telecommuters. Actually I don't think they understand what they're complaining about in the first place.

Telecommuting works, because it works for everyone. Being another sheep stuck in traffic never helped anyone, except maybe the depressed traffic cop whose broken enterprise needs yet more money to perpetuate its grief upon the world. Me, I'd rather not have to deal with all the drones every morning and night, and I'm sure they'd be happier too if there were less cars in-between them and home.

It doesn't take much brains to see the value in telecommuting, but it takes even less to be jealous of it.

And while we're at it, the author proports to know that productivity increases when working from home. On what exactly is that statement based? I'd say the posters here are at best 50/50 on that point. I say this not out of cynisicm, but merely because I'd like to know if there is authoritative information pointing one way or the other about this notion.

I think you are a bit off. Of course there are people who can't work from home but 2 things:

1) My wife works for a major pharmaceutical company and works 2 days a week from home. She is not in IT

2) We are talking about office jobs here, clearly a person in Starbucks needs to be there.

I think the future is in local "co-working" setups.

--Phil.

I have been working from home for a while. I don't earn enough to live off it yet, unfortunately, so I have a part-time job.

I'm sure that one day I will not need to do this. But when I reach that stage I think I'll still do some work in an office or other workplace.

It's good to have a "real" job somewhere else simply because it creates some variety. It's healthy to get out of the house for extended periods.

Then there are the social aspects of a workplace. You can go crazy if you spend too much time alone.

I hear you buddy. Not all office workers can work from home. I would be interesting to know if Steve Jobs or Steve Balmer work from home? Over the last 5 years my employers ( a 45,000 person pharma ) outsourced networking, application development, database engineering, systems engineering, help desk, human resources, and the operations center. The only people left are those who have "face to face" interactions with the business. That's one of the reasons I am still employed. Someone has to build the relationships.

If you have a family, or a close group of friends you see very often, or even share your home, then its better as there's still people around, but if you're single, and friends are not around I find I can go a week easy without actually talking face to face with anyone.

Luckily, the company I work for has an office not far from me (its not the one I'm part of) and they let me hot desk. So when I feel like I need some company I just pop in there and work for the day amongst everyone else. Quickly recharges those "social" batteries.

I have owned a business and worked from home for about four years now. The spouse worked with me for two of those years. We learned that he cannot tolerate working and having two toddlers running amok at the same time.

So he got a full time job. He wants the office, the cubicle, the water cooler. I like working for an hour, going and playing with the rugrats for an hour, working for an hour, cooking/serving/cleaning, playing for an hour (lather, rinse, repeat).

I don't want to get inside help because a)I'm thrifty b)I want my kids to be around me and see what I do. The ability to work, play, and relax in the same environment is something that I want them to see as "par for the course" - it's my job to teach them work/life balance (insofar as it can be taught).

May as well start from birth if I want them to view it as normal. Then, later, they can decide if they want to work for someone, own a business, or fly to the moon in rocket ships powered by cold fusion. Whatever :-)

That assumes that "office politics" isn't what your work consists of.

Not only does the article assume that you're an office drone in some sort of knowledge worker capacity, it also doesn't account for people who have to manage other people or teams.

Very little of my job has been about sitting on the computer and typing/researching stuff -- that I could do at home, yes. But getting people to do what you want, to prioritize and allocate resources for your projects, to assign the choicest/high-profile work to you and your team, to think about giving you raises/promotions... that requires some finesse and some "office politics". You and your work are never "top of mind" when people can't remember what you look like.

I moved to another city and began working from home for my employer last summer. I worried about the same issues you raise, since I lead a small development team.

To my surprise, the exact opposite has been true for me. By managing the project well even while working remotely, I've gained enough trust and confidence from my bosses that they now want to open a new office in my city and hire more employees here for me to manage.

I may just be in the right place at the right time, and I agree the office politics are still more easily played in person. I had the advantage of having an existing track record working there in person -- I can guess that a new employee who has always worked from home would be at a major disadvantage.

I'd also echo most of the other comments regarding the lack of social contact... this is the biggest downside for me as well, to the point that I'm ready to go back to working with other people.

One other point is that I find it much harder to work on any kind of personal projects involving a computer when I'm through with work. When I'm done for the day it's very difficult to get excited about staying in my office at the same desk for another 3-4 hours.

The comments about getting out of the house to work are good ones, but my job is much easier with 2 monitors and a desktop. People who write/research for a living seem like they would have a much better chance of pulling this off.

Many of us who are home disabled, can't find valid work at home jobs without having to pay someone to give you a listing.

It can be quite frustrating.

Personally, I've embraced the new "co-working" model to help get a balance. Today I'm working from Independents Hall in Philadelphia, which is a really nice coworking space. If I ever need to get out and interact, I come down here.

Chris

I work for a PR agency that has employed this model for ten years...and my boss, the CEO, ran a company before this one where he and his employees worked from home, telecommuting via email, fax and "wired" home offices. Of course, technology has advanced rapidly since then...and the trend has grown exponentially. It's always nice to be on the front-end of a business model with long-term success.

CNN ran a piece on our CEO back in 1995 about the virtual office "phenomenon. It's on our blog. The video is priceless if only for the footage of his antiquated Mac and cell phone.

I worked in an office for two years and despite 14 hour days, I did more this afternoon between 1 and 2:45 than that whole wasted experience.

Be free. Stay long enough to suck the "how to" out of them and then go make it on your own. Leave before they make you believe that them wanting you to do something is a compliment. Leave before its too late.

Take someone nice looking with you though. Offices are not a complete waste.

Bob

In most of my career, I worked in a luxury research building where everyone had an office with a door. I feel much more connected to my colleagues in the virtual world than I did to those in the real world. When I get up in the morning and drop into my chair in my home office, dozens of people are already up and available to greet and interact with.

The most important thing is to be results-oriented and to have a way to measure actual productivity instead of counting noses. Once companies have a better handle on how to do that, the other arguments for work at home predominate.

Where I live, freeways are expected to be at a near standstill in about 10 years, and when I do go to a nearby office the commute time is doubled on public transportation. Look around for cheap local co-working spaces that provide quiet space with power and networking if you need to get out of the house.

The Young Entrepreneur Society from the www.YoungEntrepreneurSociety.com a source of inspiration for starting entrepreneurs.

I've seen it done before, but I have a hard time imagining that it would work for me and the kind of work I do... *especially* if I'm trying to build a team/department from scratch, as opposed to continuing to manage an existing team.

Maybe that will change someday, but working remotely (full-time) is not something that seems to fit my goals right now.

We've had a decade to figure out how to make brainstorming effective - fostering a strong team environment is crucial to our business. We've found clients are often blown away by how well our team works together and this is due to consistent efforts to keep everyone connected, even if we are not in the same room. Not all companies are able to do this well - it takes a committed effort from management and making "work from home" work options effective cannot be an after thought.

We do find the biggest challenge is #2 "You Never Leave Work." Although we do get out for a lot of client meetings, it is difficult to "close the door" and leave the office at night...I'm pretty sure my kids think the laptop is a part of my anatomy.

It's important that management helps virtual staff to stay connected, yet disconnect when appropriate. Treat a virtual workforce just as you would a physical workforce - they still need management, recognition, interaction and support. We'd be happy to share our insight over the last decade if you ever write on this subject again.

Christine Perkett
PerkettPR, Inc.

If you area contractor or work at home employee and you have negotiated the right to telecommute, then think about the client or the person you report to - would you trust a person that is walking around in their stocking feet?

Put the damn shoes on and do your work. It will help you concentrate.