Father's World | Home Office Know How

WORKING FROM HOME: MORE THAN JUST BUNNY SLIPPERS
by Jeff Zbar

So here I sit. Perched in a fully-functional home office and almost 10 years into this work@home gig, and I still don't have bunny slippers, a work-naked dress code, or a penchant for Oprah in the middle of the day.

What will they do with me, those home-office nay-sayers who poke fun at our apparent lack of business attire or respect for all things corporate? Likely chalk me up as an anomaly. But I can't hear them over the din of my mower as I take an hour's break on a slow weekday to do the yard. By the mass media's reckoning, the work-at-home set are slackers looking for an easy way out. Moms are more concerned with raising their kids, and at-home dads can't hack it in the "real world" of Corporate America. Or we're some neat demographic trend, fodder for the latest study or WSJ piece on where the American workplace is headed.

Truth be told, they've got us pegged all wrong. For those who haven't been introduced or indoctrinated to working from home, the hype and stereotypes mis-cast an otherwise effective and productive work arrangement. The work-at-home setting can be just like the traditional corporate office, except there's no commute, elevators, cubicles, water cooler schmooze, or other detritus that corporate ladder-climbers have willingly aspired to. No, we left that hanging in the bedroom closet with our ties, suits, stockings and brick-and-mortar aspirations for the corner office and 60-hour weeks.

What we now don every workday -- which often includes nights and weekends -- is a desire to churn out as much quantity with greater quality -- and quality of life -- and ultimately more satisfaction than our traditional office counterparts.

Our efforts have not gone unnoticed. Talk to people who work with home-based freelancers or contractors and you'll often hear high praise and commendations, albeit tinged with an envious tone. Maybe it's the apparently loose lifestyle they suspect we at-home contractors are leading -- what with the sounds of stirring sticks twirling in our mixed beverages as we sit on their patios, dogs prone beside us and checks flowing like a Brinks delivery into our mailboxes.

Yeah, don't we wish… Working from home is many things. But a daily walk in workplace utopia it isn't. Deadlines, distractions and occasional chaos are like nothing that ever buzzed around the corporate hive. Just try maintaining transparency with a client or tele-manager when the dog's barking at the FedEx woman, or the kids are watching Nickelodeon in the afternoon.
Middle managers would have you believe their subordinates can't effectively telecommute, or work from home part time. Drones -- even the most talented, focused and productive -- can't ply their trade from a home office with the fridge, kids and other diversions around, corporate lieutenants will proclaim.

Well, that may be so. But what about those teleworkers who realize they can transform the eight-to-six shift into a 24-hour workday? While their managers are stuck in the morning rush-hour, good teleworkers can be on their second cup of joe immersed in a project. When the boss is shutting the light for a night's slumber, the teleworker can be working the night shift.

Thus is the story of working from home. Sure, there are mid-day distractions: A walk with the dog, a chat session with kids returning from school, a trip to the store for office supplies or groceries. But what many are learning is that *when* someone works from home is not important. It's that the project or assignment is delivered on time that really matters. Besides, distractions can be cathartic to the soul, and the worker who broke for that 15-minute walk often returns recharged.

And as for those bunny slippers and housecoats? They're just a bunch of misconstrued Madison Avenue hooey about the ease and abandon that SOHO'ers revel in. After 10 years, I can say with all sincerity that it's not true. Sure, shorts and a tank top can be comfortable and acceptable work attire. But have you ever tried to mow the lawn in house slippers? Trust me, it's not a pretty picture.

Journalist and author Jeff Zbar has worked from his home office in South Florida since 1989. He recently published Home Office Know-How, a tips book on working from home. Get a copy at here at Father's World bookstore, or by visiting his Web site, www.goinsoho.com. His kids would appreciate it.

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WORKING FROM HOME: MORE THAN JUST BUNNY SLIPPERS by Jeff Zbar

WORKING FROM HOME: MORE THAN JUST BUNNY SLIPPERS
by Jeff Zbar