I am a consultant in a large global firm and my official office is a good four-hour drive away. Whenever people hear that I work from home, they wistfully sigh and say, “you’re lucky, I wish I could do that?” I smile politely as they prattle on about how cool it would be to work in their pajamas, forgo showers and personal hygiene, and not have to worry about the mouth breathers at the office. There are others who shake their heads with furrowed brows and say, “I could never do that; I just wouldn’t get anything done.”
I’ve found that while it’s true that for many hygiene is the first casualty of the home-office employees, productivity doesn’t have to be; with a little discipline and by establishing clear and distinct boundaries between your work life and your home life here’s how you can make the most of your stay at home work experience:
Dress for success.
I have had friends meet me for lunch and look at me shocked because I am wearing business casual (if not a suit). “Why are you so dressed up?” they ask incredulously, “I thought you worked from home.”
By dressing no differently (or these days perhaps a little better) than you do at the office it puts you in a work mindset; it also has the added advantage of allowing you to go on a last minute sales call. I remember once when I was working from home, resplendent in my suit and tie when I got a call from my boss with his boss on the speaker phone, “how soon can you be in Toronto?” they asked. I said I could leave immediately and either fly and be there in about an hour or drive and be there in four.
They were amazed until I explained that I keep a bag packed for last minute business travel and I work at home dressed in a suit (at which point there amazement turned into a morbid curiosity). I hung up the phone, grabbed my bag and headed to Toronto. Being more prepared to spring into action than Batman gives you confidence which comes through in everything from conference calls to answering the door and telling the cable guy who is going door to door conning people into switching cable providers that he is interrupting your work. It’s a lot tougher to be convincing with disheveled hair, three day’s growth of beard, and crusty and wrinkled Transformers pajamas. Dressing the part…