A few months ago I floated the idea to my supervisor (when he asked what he could do to improve my working situation and "a raise" is not one of the options...) of telecommuting. I've been with the same employer for over twenty years. In that time I've thought about what it would be like to work at home, but it always seemed like something out of reach, something that happened to other employees.
But not me.
Three weeks ago, I met again with my supervisor and he mentioned that if I was serious about telecommuting, I needed to send him and his boss an e-mail. "Sure," I told him. That was on a Thursday. The next day I worked--the next Monday--I sent the e-mail not really expecting anything to come from it. Not that my boss or his boss didn't want to help, mind you. It's just that things like this don't happen overnight.
Apparently, I was wrong.
The next day I got a message to call my boss. I did and he said my request had been approved and that I should get my house ready for me to work from home. Exactly one week from that call, my new computer and a new phone were sitting on a desk we bought off of KSL Classified and I was working in my basement, surrounded by food storage. We do not have an extra room in our little home, or a home office, but that's okay. I don't need a lot of space and what we cleared out works.
Not every employee can work at home. They have to keep up on their work and keep a better-than-average efficiency rating. In exchange, the employer trusts the worker to do their job on their own, to be driven to keep up on their work, and to take initiative with little supervision. And, the commute can't be beat.
I've worked and even supervised telecommuters in my career. I don't know what I thought it would be like, but it is strange. It's like I'm at work, except without cubicle walls and the occasional ping-pong battle. Pluses (beside the lack of a commute...) I can just come up for lunch and I get to use my own bathroom. So far for me, it's a win-win-win.
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