Where Do You Prefer to Work?

My preference is to work from home as much as possible. I have a large, airy, quiet home office, ergonomically comfortable and optimally configured for working productively. I have a Power Mac G5 with 4 monitors, a Balans kneeling rocker, a keyboard table at a comfortable typing height and distance, printer and scanner close at hand...

And have I mentioned that it's quiet?

I was surprised, recently, when a co-worker said he was going to stop working from home regularly on Fridays. When I inquired if there were too many interruptions during the summer days when the kids aren't in school he said, "No. Actually, it's too quiet."

I wondered (but did not ask) how it could possibly ever be too quiet?

Apparently, my co-worker is not alone. Although a newsalert.com article from 2003 (no longer available online) was entitled "84 Percent of Employees Say Telecommuting Option Is Important When Looking For a New Job" other studies indicate that some workers are very different (and, from my viewpoint, just plain odd!).

The following posting to Good Morning Silicon Valley (the weblog for SiliconValley.com) was... "interesting". It certainly doesn't describe me!

Must be that tasty office coffee ... With gas prices in the United States hovering near $3 a gallon, broadband penetration at an all-time high, and staff meeting tedium a general bane, you'd think people given the option of telecommuting would do it full time. Not so.

According to the National Technology Readiness Survey (PDF), most folks prefer the home office to their office at home. Only 2 percent of workers telecommute full time and just 9 percent telecommute one or two days a week. And of those who could feasibly telecommute, less than half would choose to do so more than two days per week. An astonishing 14 percent said they have no interest in telecommuting at all.

"It seems the professional and social environment of the workplace wins out over money and time savings," said Charles Colby, president of Rockbridge Associates, a firm that helped conduct the survey. "Though a fourth of the population could be working from home, most American workers still choose the office environment for the majority of their work week." Too bad, because if everyone with the potential to telecommute did so just a few days a week, we'd see some enormous savings in time, money (perhaps as much as $3.9 billion) and productivity.

Personally, I've found that telecommuting improves my productivity and reduces commute hassles, thereby lowering several stress inducers. I'm calmer and feel better on the days I telecommute.

So, my hand is up! I'm ready and willing to do my part to support enormous savings in time, money, and productivity. The article didn't specifically cite the related reduction in cars (with sleep-deprived drivers) on the road, gas usage, air pollution, and accidents. And, of course, I could personally do without the never-ceasing, intrusive babble of office noise.

Comments

[jburrtucaz]

I've found that my biggest challenge in working from home is just trying to stay focused on the task at home. Being at home, it seems very easy to get distracted and not do the things that need to be done. It got so bad that I now maintain a small office outside my home for the times when I'm slacking off too much at home! lol