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Telecommuting Transition
How to Switch Smoothly from Corporate Life to a Home Office
By Johnathon Allen
Software engineer Steve Miller of San Diego, Calif. was in an ideal position for telecommuting last year, but the opportunity fell through. "Our client at the time had a more traditional mindset and was highly averse to the idea because he wanted to have his staff 'always within reach,'" he says.
When trying to telecommute, your first obstacle is often management reluctance -- the 'how do I know you're working if I can't see you?' syndrome, says Nilles. "A good approach in this situation, particularly with numbers-oriented organizations, is to give the boss factual numbers in the form of a cost-benefit analysis form. Usually, the net annual benefit to the employer is several thousand dollars for each telecommuter, because the employer reduces operating costs while getting improved worker performance."
"Most telecommuters don't do it full time -- they're typically in the office half time or more -- so it's not as if they're disappearing off the face of the earth," Nilles says. "The trick is to rearrange your schedule so that solo work, plus interactive work that doesn't require face-to-face interaction, is done in telecommuting mode and your face-to-face interaction is clumped into as few days per week as is feasible."
Dr. Michelle Weil, a clinical psychologist in Orange County, Calif. and author of "TechnoStress: Coping With Technology @Work @Home @Play," makes the following recommendations for workers who want to "click" their way around rush-hour: