Do you feel weird working from home/telecommuting even if it's "allowed" (work from home, fired)
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Not at all. I only work from home on Fridays (unless there's a meeting), but I find nothing wrong with it.
I can almost guarantee you that your coworkers also want to take advantage of the ability to work from home. They only don't because you (and the others) don't.
Do you have a group of coworkers you're friendly with? If so, maybe you can all agree to start using that privilege. Once others outside the group see that it's safe to do (because others are doing it), it will reset the norm.
Not at all. I only work from home on Fridays (unless there's a meeting), but I find nothing wrong with it.
I can almost guarantee you that your coworkers also want to take advantage of the ability to work from home. They only don't because you (and the others) don't.
Do you have a group of coworkers you're friendly with? If so, maybe you can all agree to start using that privilege. Once others outside the group see that it's safe to do (because others are doing it), it will reset the norm.
i work in a very old school industry (finance and trading) that still believes you actually need face time in order to truly be "working". it's absurd, but i was told i could telecommute occasionally. i only have 2x so far this year and only due to weather.
it would make life much easier if i could work from home every once in a friday or so throughout summer, but i am afraid to even bring it up as it might make me look like a slacker of sorts.
Nope. I work substantially longer hours on the days I work from home (by choice), get more done, and there's nothing I'm unable to do from home (except see people in person).
I don't like working from home. I've only done it a handful of times -- mostly during snowstorms or OT on the weekends. I like to keep work at work and not have it infiltrate my house. But then, I have a tiny commute. Some of my colleagues who work mostly at home are saving themselves hours of commuting and the stress that goes along with it.
Here's what you need to do, in a nutshell. This is paraphrased from Tim Ferriss's The Four-Hour Workweek:
1. Very slightly scale back your productivity. Not enough to be noticeable, just a tiny bit.
2. Call in sick/injured on Thursday. Maybe you have pinkeye or something else that is contagious, but won't impact your ability to work, or you have some type of injury that will take a couple of days to heal, but won't lay you up for too long. Tell your boss that you will work from home for the next two days.
3. Work diligently the day you stay home. Because you've cut back a bit on your productivity at work, it should be easy to outdo yourself. Push yourself to do even a bit more.
4. Go back to work, and ask for a meeting with your boss. Tell him that you were surprised to find how much more productive you could be while at home. No distractions, you know! Ask what he thinks of the idea of you working from home every Friday. If he hesitates, ask for a trial period; if your productivity falls on your telecommuting days, then you'll come back to the office full-time.
5. Do not allow your productivity to fall on your telecommuting days. Remember to keep it slightly down on the days you're in the office, though.
6. After a few months of this, report back to your boss. Show him how much more productive you can be at home, and see what he thinks of you also taking Thursdays to telecommute. Same deal as before, if your performance suffers on your telecommuting days, you'll go back to working four days in the office and one day at home.
7. Repeat as necessary. You might want to stick with just one or two days at home, or you might want to go for the full telecommuting package. Your productivity needs to stay high on your days at home, and you do need to go into the office for meetings, of course... unless Skyping in is an option.
(I work from home, but I'm self-employed, so I really do need to keep my productivity up. If I don't, I won't get fired, but I will have a problem paying bills!)
do you feel weird eating lunch even though it is "allowed"?
why do you feel guilty about where you work? If you get the work done, it's done...
if you skip out on work, you are guilty... doesn't matter if it is at home or in the office
thats the thing. in my job, i eat at my desk. always. i can run down for 10 mins to grab food but i cannot take a 30-1hr break. nature of the industry (trading) and no one else does so i don't.
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