Did you know that it’s National Work from Home Week? Yes that’s right, January 20th-24th is National Work from Home Week; a week designed to promote flexible working and the wellbeing of the UK’s employees. Remote working has many benefits including no commute, creating your own schedule and focusing on outcomes instead of hours put in. It also has its pitfalls too. Remote working is remote, you are removed from the office and this can have negative effects: decreased productivity, poor communication and frankly loneliness!
To fully understand the benefits and drawbacks of remote working I took the initiative to approach my boss, Maureen, and asked her if I could work from home to research this topic first hand. Maureen wasn’t born yesterday. She knew I wanted to spend the day in my pyjamas, but she smiled and accepted my proposal and here I am: at home working in my pyjamas.
So here is my hour by hour account of my day working from home.
9am: Well let’s face it; it is 9am on a Wednesday where I find myself at home, so I’m taking advantage of a good lie in.
10am: I’ve managed to leave bed but I’m still in my pyjamas. This is when I normally start work, (Cullen Scholefield is no stranger to flexible working) so I’m checking my emails. I have received several acceptances to our first Circle of Peers Collaboration on Friday 14th February and I have been able to document these all from the comfort of home. Trying to fill up your 2014 calendar? Come spend Valentine’s Day with us! Check out the event here.
11am: Productivity is going down… It’s hard working so close to a kitchen full of food and away from the judgement of your colleagues…
11:30am: They call it elevenses for a reason! My mid-morning snack has done the trick and we are back on course! When discussing working from home with Maureen we agreed that the success of the day should be ascertained by outcomes achieved, not hours put in. If you are considering embracing flexible working it is important to focus on the outcomes of your employees and not try to micromanage them.
12:00pm: I am feeling very comfortable working at home at my own pace. I have four outcomes to achieve today and I have achieved two already. As part of this mini project I have been tweeting my progress on the Cullen Scholefield’s twitter page. Follow us @Csdevelops to keep up to date with everything from Cullen Scholefield.
1:00pm: Starting to feel one of the drawbacks of home working: loneliness. One benefit of flexible working, however, is not being limited to the weekends for your social activities. I always work well with background noise or with other people to chat to so I have scheduled a Skype date with a friend working towards a deadline today. With Skype we can encourage each other to work while minimising the risk of being distracted. If you want to give remote working a try then it’s important to figure out a routine that works for you to ensure maximum output.
4:00pm: Ok so I let some time pass but I was in the zone. Some of you may know about Cullen Scholefield’s work with Cineworld. We worked closely with their Learning and Development team to train a new generation of general managers and qualify them with an ILM Leadership and Management qualification. I’m currently writing a piece on how the programme was designed and its outcomes. It will be a good read if you are considering an ILM qualification for yourself or your team. It should be available by the end of January, but in the meantime read up on what ILM qualifications we offer here.
5:00pm: All of my outcomes are nearly complete, I have spent the last hour brainstorming ideas about the video stories that we will tell at our Annual Awards Presentation next week on Tuesday 28th January in the Isle of Man. You can see the stories we told at our last Awards Presentation at the Cullen Scholefield YouTube channel. And with that I can finish early for the day!
So my conclusions on working from home? I’m for it, but I miss the office. While I was able to complete all of my objectives remotely, I felt removed from the action which was a bit of a downer. I would, however, work from home again if the need arises.
If this got you fantasising about working in your pyjamas then have a discussion with your boss today. National Work from Home Week is the perfect ice breaker.
The first time I started working from home was 1997. The office had just relocated to Reading and I was facing a 70 mile commute each way. 5 days a week commuting was killing me! I approached my boss and he said “No way. People need to know you’re there when we need you and your staff will not work hard”.
6 months later I asked my boss again. Same response. Then I told him I had already been working one day per week (not the same day) from home for the past 6 months. I had my office phone on redirect. I answered all my emails quickly and talked to my colleages, customer and staff as normal. Even my staff liked the day when they could “do stuff” without me badgering them. No-one had noticed, especially not my boss.
Years later, it’s become almost the norm to have virtual teams in virtual offices, and many of these team members never leave their home office. Yet some organizations still don’t allow homeworking. It’s all about trust and focusing on deliverables. If you’re the sort of person that can be trusted to be the job done, then you can homework. If you procrastinate in the office then you’ll be worse at home.
So for me, homeworking is effective if you have the right personality. Don’t do it it all week, or you will go “stir-crazy” but flexible home working is a skill you can learn like any part of an office job.
Totally agree Pete – we have been working flexibly for so long that it just comes naturally now. I amazed that so many organisations still do not see the benefits. All our consultants are home based and our lovely Nicola Drewry who updates our database and carries out research for me is also home based.
In order to have social interaction with the team I organise quarterly meetings and this includes an overnight stay so we can talk business and play. The cost of this is minimal when compared to the cost of having a more formal office environment.