Remote work arrangements are all the rage these days. Since COVID arrived, many companies have embraced some sort of flexible work situation. It is not a new concept really. I am part of the tax world and have been for the past 15 years. Throughout those years I utilized and remote and flexible work environment. In the early years, I was a new mom with an infant and later went on to have another child. Now those children are ages nine and fourteen. Normally I would work a few days a week in the office, and during tax season work remotely on the weekends. So I was introduced to remote working and it’s pros and cons. In 2020 everything changed, and to protect my family I have spent most of it remotely working.
Is remote work for you?
Telecommuting (a remote working arrangement) is great in some respects. BUT… I do think that people that have not done it have some common misconceptions of the reality of working at home. Working from home can be difficult to juggle at times. That was very evident last spring when my children’s school closed suddenly. With a demanding job, I had no idea how to juggle schooling my children at home while simultaneously doing my job. It was quite a challenge to put it nicely. Above all, we did survive and made it work as best we could. But it brings to mind some “best practices” to use when it comes to remote working.
One thing that not believe is very true is that post-covid there will be much more work from home opportunities available in the world. So let’s talk about how to make those work for you!
BENEFITS OF REMOTE WORKING
- Being comfortable in your own home – Let’s face it, home is just more comfortable!
- Wearing whatever you want – Hello, comfort! Who wouldn’t want to wear sweat pants every day!
- Improving work-life balance – It is much easier to maintain this balance when you are already in your home. When you are done working, walk right out and you are home.
- It is easy to focus without interruption and therefore be more productive. – Some days in the office are spent with many interruptions and as a result, you get little done. At home, I seem to be more focused. Check out my post on focus if this is something that you would like to improve on.
If that doesn’t make you sign up, then what about these…
- Using less gas and eat out less for lunch – These are big money savers. Gas itself is a huge savings and not to mention the money you save on lunches, I have personally saved a bunch on both.
- Having more time at home – Without the commute, obligatory happy hours, and interruptions, if you focus you can get work done efficiently and finish up. The result is more free time at home.
CHALLENGES OF REMOTE WORK ARRANGEMENTS
- Working with babies and children is difficult – Listen, I have done it with both. The truth is that this is hard. Really hard to actually get work done while sharing your attention with babies and children of any age. It can be done, but just understand that it is hard to log many hours. Try to plan for this. Can you get help for a few hours? If not, plan activities to keep them occupied during your most demanding hours.
- Remote working can be isolating – This is absolutely true. While you may not miss all of the things from office life, there are some things that you miss like collaboration and camaraderie with others. That time to bounce ideas off of others on the fly. Working from home can make you feel quite alone.
- There are work from home scams – Scams are out there for everything. Work from home jobs is a hotspot with the scammers. They take advantage of people looking forward to a better situation. All I can say about this is BEWARE.
Other things to consider…
- You can’t escape work – This is a hazard of the technological world that we live in. When work is at your home, and on your phone….well you can’t really get away from it. Setting boundaries is really important here in remote work arrangements.
- Separating work and family is difficult – When your job is in the other room, it sometimes happens that family sees you as “always working” or attached to your computer. Do a little planning to try and have dedicated time for work, and dedicated time for your family.
- It is hard to stay connected in the working world – In the office world, if your colleagues don’t see your face, well they kind of forget about you. It is important to make an effort to stay connected via video calls, and occasionally in person if at all possible.
YOU WILL HAVE TO DECIDE IF THE BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE RISKS…
Making a flexible work from home arrangement is difficult, but not impossible. Give these benefits and challenges some thought, to plan for telecommuting. Discuss expectations with your employer, and make sure that you are on the same page. Make a dedicated space to work (this is fun, you can decorate any way that you like!). Have dedicated hours to work, and stick to a routine. Stay in touch with colleagues and find other ways to get noticed than face-to-face. Work on staying focused, and stay on task. And when it is time to spend with your family, do just that! Unplug and let the emails wait until tomorrow.
Making remote work arrangements work for you…
My hope is that this post has given you some ins and outs for remote working. And this is only the beginning. This type of work can make many things possible including traveling and doing mobile work, being more available for your family, and working wherever you like. While 2020 brought challenges I believe that it opened up a whole new world for remote working, and therefore many more opportunities than we have never had. Though there are things to consider, I suggest embracing remote working and let’s see what is possible in the world.
Mrs. Accountable
Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash
Octavia says
Awesome post. I was sent home during the craziness of COVID with two littles and it was definitely an adjustment, but I’ve loved the befits of telework so much that I’ve decided to stay remote long term.
Nisha says
It´s really challenging to work from home with so many distractions. Creating an office space and planning my working hours has helped a lot! Thank you for sharing this.