Careers
Dress for Success -- In Your Pajamas
Sky-high fuel prices accelerate the trend toward telecommuting.
By Anne Kates Smith, Senior Associate Editor
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, October 2008
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A couple of years ago, when Lynne Varney asked her boss if she could work at home occasionally, she got a quick no. But with gas prices at $4 a gallon and an 80-mile-a-day commute between the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, Varney, 46, finds her supervisor more sympathetic.
"Now, telecommuting is more accepted," says the Department of Agriculture program analyst. At home on Thursdays and alternate Mondays, Varney saves $100 a month.
A 2007 survey by Hewitt Associates found that 38% of employers allowed some form of telecommuting, up from just 14 companies surveyed ten years ago. James Ware, a consultant with The Work Design Collaborative who counsels companies on telecommuting, predicts that five years from now some 40 million workers will telecommute at least part-time, up from between 20 million and 24 million now. "The combination of gas prices and climate-change issues is going to push a lot of people in that direction," he says.
If you're a knowledge worker whose tasks can be done remotely without disrupting clients and colleagues, your career needn't suffer for lack of face time. Suggest telecommuting a day or two per week for a trial period, and then get feedback halfway through the test.
Practice remote-meeting etiquette: Speak into the speaker, always announce your name before talking, and resist the urge to put your phone on mute so you can multitask. Never use working at home as a substitute for child care. And above all, be reachable.
Reader Comments (1)
Posted by: aullman at 09/09/2008 08:07:10 PM
Home telecommuting is only one telecommuting option. Workers who prefer getting out of the house to work can consider working out of a Remote Office Center. Remote Office Centers are fairly new. They lease individual offices, internet and phone systems to workers from different companies in shared centers located around the suburbs. You can't work in your pajamas in a Remote Office Center, but for some people that is a good thing. Remote Office Centers can be found in many cities by searching the internet for "Remote Office Centers" in quotes.