Security Changes Leading to Increase in Telecommuting?

Some Recommendations for Making it Work

I’m not an advocate of changing your lifestyle due to the fear of attack. So now I can’t bring my lip gloss and big bottle of water on flights. I’m already feeling a little chapped, but I will get over it. Fashion and hydration be damned.

Having said that, anything that makes air travel less convenient, less comfortable, less expedient…well, it will cause people to seek out alternatives. Some may try travel by train but having done that once, I can attest to the fact that convenient, comfy and speedy, it is not (frankly, it was downright depressing and I’ll never do it again).

I’m not one for frivolous work trips (there don’t even have to be snakes on the plane for me to want to take a pass). Each time, I assess the need to actually travel. If I don’t need to be there then I don’t need to be there. Some people in other occupations, though, live the life of the road warrior. They rack up the frequent flyer miles and know the exact spot to relax in all the major airports. But given the security changes and the technology available today, I am wondering if all that travel is really necessary and if some companies might be evaluating some remote work arrangements.

As someone who works quite a bit from home (because I can, not because I need to), I can offer some pointers to people that are exploring telecommuting. I was hesitant at first, partly because I live close to the office (is it justified?), it blended at-home Heather with working Heather (would I be productive?), and it was different (how would I do it?). Having gotten over all that, I’ll share what I learned:

• You have to spend time socializing. Sounds really productive, right? Hey, humans are social creatures. It’s how we build relationships. There’s a reason why work peers seek each other out to chat. We need to feel part of a community. Working from home should be no different. Invest time in socializing with your co-workers. This could mean a chat on IM or spending the first few minutes of each meeting catching up on what’s new. It’s important to do it.
• Get out of the house. Your state of mind depends on it. For me, it’s about going to the gym or the track and scheduling the occasional lunch/coffee meeting with a peer inside or outside the company. Working from home has caused me to be more of an initiator of these get-togethers (and become more disciplined about the gym…less excuses to use), which is good.
• Schedule meetings by phone and keep them. Conference calls might feel like phone calls, but really they are meetings and we need to treat them as such to show respect to others on the team. Speaking of respect, get a good phone with a mute button and a headset.
• Create a separate space for work. For me, it’s a separate room, painted red and with a great view of the backyard (and my new office chair…a necessity as the rattan chair was not cutting it). For others, it might be a small desk in their living room. I think the key is making it THE place you do work and nothing else. There’s a reason they call it work/life balance, not work/life blending.
• Develop a routine. And please let the routine include showering. For me, I wake up at about 6:30 and jump online for a few hours, shower and change into my good sweats (you have them too, right?) or my gym clothes. Then I am back online again until lunch time. Then a couple more hours of work, the gym and then a couple more hours of work before I log off.
• Speaking of logging off, you need to. It’s hard to disconnect at the end of the day, but of you don’t, work stays on your mind and your work and life start to muddle together (and nobody wants to receive e-mail from you after you have had a few glasses of wine). This is something I still have to get better about (the logging off part, not the wine part). The days I can pull it off are great.

It will be interesting to see if companies report an increase in telecommuting alternatives for employees. One benefit they will realize is exposure to additional talent pools (with the market being competitive and some candidates not wanting to relocate).