Work Home Journal

There’s a quote from Studs Terkel’s book Working that goes like this: This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence. This reflects a common feeling many of us have about our jobs: we don’t like them. however, not all of us want to escape the horrors of commuting and office work because we hate our jobs. Some of us want, no, need to work from home, for more practical reasons.

These reasons are as varied and many as the beetles on the floor of the rain forest, but some common ones would include having a newborn that you don’t want to put into day care or having a live-in parent that needs more attention. Whatever your reason though, assuming that your employer has already given you at least a partial green light, know that the transition to a work from home opportunity can be tricky and that you’ll need to prepare yourself for it.

Maintain a professional relationship with your employer

Just because you’re not in the office anymore doesn’t mean your behavior towards your employer bears less consequence. This may seem obvious, but it’s the whole parents are away for the weekend thing. just because you supervisor doesn’t see you as often,doesn’t mean that they can’t terminate your employment.

The easiest way to maintain this relationship is through frequent, but necessary communication. the rule of thumb is one email now saves five emails later. By consistently keeping them in the loop, you’ll save yourself a whole lot of explaining down the road.

Set boundaries

Despite that you may have a legitimate need to work from home, you’ll need to make sure to manage the time and energy you expend on that need. For example, just because you need to take care of your child while you work from home, doesn’t mean that’s all you do. again, this may seem obvious in foresight, but when deadlines loom, a practical approach to managing time spent with child will need to be in place.

Remember your needs

Yes, you may be a bit of a super man or woman by successfully doing this multitasking, but it can all go to hell real quick if you are neglecting yourself. just like you set boundaries for the needs at work and the needs at home, you’ll need to partition time off for yourself. whether that’s a whole night or two away from everything is up to you.

How To Transition To a Work From Home Job