Working From Home
Our company utilizes telecommuting a lot. Most of our sales people work from home all the time and some departments let people do it a few times a week or month. Our department lets some people work up to 1 day a week from home.
Not so much the managers, though. We have an "at the discretion of the Director" clause on our home days. That pretty much means we don't but that it's still an option.
I optioned the clause and had my first ever telecommuting day yesterday. It was a matter of life or death. For my co-workers, that is. I needed a break or someone was getting maimed at the very least. Because I'm a lover and not a fighter, I figured it would be better to have a trial separation.
One of our telecommuting rules is that you must have daycare if you have kids at home. Fifteen minutes into my morning, I was wishing I had hired a sitter for George. Seriously.
Besides her usual "let me help you work the computer" bit, she tried to steal my pen off the table. When I got up to get some water, I came back to find her planted in my chair. I tipped it to slide her off and she dug in and crawled up the back so as not get dislodged. I had to forcibly remove her.
She did get bored after she realized I was just going to sit there and type so she started her daily routine. Apparently, it consists of deciding where to nap, napping, deciding where to move for the next nap, napping. Lather, rinse, repeat. There were a few baths in there as well.
I don't think I could be productive consistently working from home with my current job. I certainly wasn't distracted by cleaning my house or doing dishes (despite the fact that my place is a disaster area). It was the lack of face to face interaction that bothered me. If I could be on the phone like our sales folks, I think I could do it. But, just sitting there with my computer and IMing when I needed to talk to someone was not enough to keep the social butterfly happy. In fact, it made me antsy and it was then harder to stay on task.
Not to say I won't do it again for life saving purposes. I just can't see myself doing it more than once every few months.
Not so much the managers, though. We have an "at the discretion of the Director" clause on our home days. That pretty much means we don't but that it's still an option.
I optioned the clause and had my first ever telecommuting day yesterday. It was a matter of life or death. For my co-workers, that is. I needed a break or someone was getting maimed at the very least. Because I'm a lover and not a fighter, I figured it would be better to have a trial separation.
One of our telecommuting rules is that you must have daycare if you have kids at home. Fifteen minutes into my morning, I was wishing I had hired a sitter for George. Seriously.
Besides her usual "let me help you work the computer" bit, she tried to steal my pen off the table. When I got up to get some water, I came back to find her planted in my chair. I tipped it to slide her off and she dug in and crawled up the back so as not get dislodged. I had to forcibly remove her.
She did get bored after she realized I was just going to sit there and type so she started her daily routine. Apparently, it consists of deciding where to nap, napping, deciding where to move for the next nap, napping. Lather, rinse, repeat. There were a few baths in there as well.
I don't think I could be productive consistently working from home with my current job. I certainly wasn't distracted by cleaning my house or doing dishes (despite the fact that my place is a disaster area). It was the lack of face to face interaction that bothered me. If I could be on the phone like our sales folks, I think I could do it. But, just sitting there with my computer and IMing when I needed to talk to someone was not enough to keep the social butterfly happy. In fact, it made me antsy and it was then harder to stay on task.
Not to say I won't do it again for life saving purposes. I just can't see myself doing it more than once every few months.
