Are You Really Ready to Telecommute?

You think you might want to work out of your home. It sounds awesome, but a little bit of preparation can go quite a long way. It’s good to know that employers are becoming more and more family friendly, offering flexible work options and telecommuting as benefits. Even so, you need to ask yourself a few questions to find out if you’re ready to telecommute.

Here are a few to get you started:

Is it possible to combine telecommuting with your current lifestyle?

If you have several small children in the home, or if creating a dedicated home work-space would otherwise cause you great difficulty, you may need to think hard about starting telecommuting. One of the main things that non-telecommuters fail to realize is that telecommuting is work, and you need to be able to get your work done in your chosen workspace - usually part of your home.

Does your current employer have telecommuting options available?

If your current employer doesn’t offer telecommuting agreements or have a remote work policy, there are generally three things you can do: 1) help them create one, 2) find an employer that offers telecommuting for employees like you, or 3) drop the issue and keep physically commuting to work at 5 am every day.

Is your current job something that can be done from various locations as long as you have access to the right equipment such as a computer, phone line, and internet?

If you’re an assembly-line worker, then you may not be able to telecommute. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because telecommuting isn’t your only option. Telecommuting is generally defined as working from a remote location, usually your home, for your employer. Even if you’re a factory assembly line, or a dental assistant, if you have skills that you can use online (writing, editing, programming, accounting, etc.) and you have access to computer and some other office equipment, you can still get paid to work from your home. Many people have their primary job, and they supplement their income with telework.

Are you capable of getting work done without constant supervision?

This is a pretty big one - if you’re the sort of person that requires constant supervision to get things done, then do you really want to put yourself into a situation in which you have to work without the supervision you need? If you’re an office worker, and you spend most of your day chatting with your coworkers and surfing your favorite coupon sites, only to try to look busy when the boss walks by - then telecommuting may not be for you. On the other hand, if you can get more work done when your co-workers leave you alone, then you might want to look into telecommuting more deeply.