Now that we’ve got the huge transition we were doing under control, everyone’s taken a breath. E-mails have stopped coming out and business as usual has taken over. Only I’m not there.

I’m thinking of going out of my way to hit some of the meetings I generally don’t need to be at, call my boss once a day and leave a message if he doesn’t answer and finally hit some e-mails to other key members of the company.

In short, I think it’s time for maintenance.

Thanks for the insight!

Many people do think working from home is a skive. It’s not. It’s a privilege and on the days when I work from home I tend to additionally work for half my commute time.
The point about answering emails as early as possible is something I’ve always done … yes, followed by making a lovely breakfast!

I now work from home full-time as a freelance web marketing advisor so now I have no boss to convince! I have to work hard, for ME.

Keep it up!

You are right. The article is based on having a boss who actually has enough authority to let you work form home. I have been the person with that authority before. When I didn’t let someone work from home, it was usually because they were making mistakes that this article would have helped them avoid. I’m not talking about brown nosing. I’m talking about making a conscious effort to show that working from home isn’t going to be a bad decision for your boss.

The idea of having a culture that supports working from home is good. One of the biggest issues is coming up with metrics that measure actual productivity instead of just the number of hours spent at the office. I think over the next 5 years we’ll see some huge improvements in this area. Hopefully it will make it easier for people to work from home in the future.

One of my most useful ‘tricks’ is to take a quick look at my work computer last thing before bed, and again first thing when I wake up in the morning. Every time I field a late-night e-mail from my boss, I reinforce his perception that my job is my life. (The hardest part is to not get caught up in dealing with a work issue at 10 PM–most things can wait until morning!) And if I can catch a problem with our overnight automated processes at 5:30 AM, I may be able to fix it before anybody gets a chance to notice. A quick e-mail to the boss at 5:30 when I find the problem and another at 7:00 after it’s fixed, and there’s nobody (important) questioning my toddling into the office at 9:30-ish.

That’s really my most favorite thing about my remote setup. I still drive into work most days, but rarely for more than 5-6 hours, and I skip the rush hours. That probably saves me 4-5 hours a week, even subtracting the extra time I spend in the late evenings/early mornings dealing with the rare emergencies.

I wouldn’t suggest trying to do this until after the trial period. If you have to give something up in order to reach an agreement then having something in writing is vital.

For many people, if they can do something simple and get just one day per week from home that should keep them in sight and in mind, but eliminate one day of driving.

If you can get it in writing that you will telecommute full or part time for a guaranteed length of time, it could be the smartest way to protect your “strategy” to work from home.

Good luck! Novell’s ever changing team of managers dumped me without cause after 6 excellent years of service. The boss who pulled the plug was #5.

I now work for myself and advise all who will listen to avoid working for Novell like the plague.