Life in the Work From Home (WFH) Age

I've had the rare good fortune to be working from home full-time since 1994, and part-time since 1988. Full disclosure: During this period I've had 2 "real jobs" each of less than a year's duration (Tivoli/IBM: 1997-98 and NetQoS/CA 2006). Other than those addenda -- I've kept on with my full-time, freelance writing schedule and commitments regardless -- it's been strictly WFH for me.

I'd like to think this gives me some basis to dispense advice to those who may have come to WFH more recently. Certainly, in the wake of the ongoing pandemic, many more of us are engaged in WFH than ever before. As a writer, my real work -- researching, writing, and editing -- is mostly solitary, so that explains how early and often I came to be part of the WFH world.

Making WFH Workable and Comfortable

Numerous elements must combine to create a sustainable WFH situation. Please, let me summarize how I've managed to make a decent to good living as a WFH person for over 25 years now. Here's a list of elements, all of which are worth pondering as you figure out how to do WFH for yourself:

1. Situation: work requires a workspace, even if it's just a desk in a bedroom, study, den, living room, or whatever. Ideally, you will have enough room for a PC, ready Internet and phone connections, and such other gear as you may need to do your job (more on gear in the equipment item that follows later in this list). It should be quiet enough for you to concentrate on what you're doing, and far enough away or acoustically isolated from other residents at home. You're going to be on the phone (or its PC-based equivalent) a fair amount, so you want to be able to converse without too much background noise, and without disturbing your housemates. Go ahead and spend the money on one or two good desk lamps, depending on how well-lit you like your workspace.
2. Equipment: I work in and around IT, so equipment is my raison d'etre. For others, a single PC (laptop or desktop) will probably suffice. I strongly recommend spending the extra cash (or inveigling your boss into approving budget) for two desktop monitors. I myself have 2xDell UltraSharp 2717s on my desk. I use one for writing and e-mail, the other to run applications or Web browsers to look stuff up, test things, and so forth. You'll also want to make sure you have plenty of storage (2x what you normally consume means you can back everything up -- which you should do daily, for anything work-related). I spend US$80 a month on a putative 1 Gbps Ethernet hook-up through my cable company (Charter/Spectrum; actual maximum bandwidth is 940 Mbps, with typical max rates in the 500-600 Mbps range). When you WFH, you live on the Internet, so the faster your connection, the more productive you'll be.
   One more thing: it's worth spending the extra money on a good wireless telephone headset. You'll be spending at least an hour a day on the phone doing WFH, so why not be comfortable while doing so, and make sure your audio quality is as good as possible both coming (speaker) and going (microphone). I use a nice Jabra Engage 75 myself (retail cost ~US$270) but you can find tolerable low-cost headsets for under US$50 (I used to use a Logitech H570e, which retails for ~US$45, until one of the companies I work with regularly sent me the Jabra as a gift, in the interests of improving our voice communications).
3. Routine/Structure: The secret to writing, it is sometimes said, is to "plant your butt in the chair and start typing." Certainly, the secret to working is to do some, regularly and consistently. While all the temptations of home -- snacks, TV, music, other people, and so forth -- are around those who engage in WFH, the best way to work is indeed to do some on a regular schedule, for a predictable or perhaps even fixed number of hours per day. This means setting a schedule, establishing a routine, and sticking to it. Working as a writer is easy from this perspective because everything I do has a deadline attached. Meet my deadlines, and submit acceptable work, and I get paid. Other WFH professionals who don't write will have to figure out how to set milestones, measure progress, and figure out how they can meet their work objectives and (ultimately) get paid.
   My routine works something like this: First thing in the morning, I shuffle through e-mail and see if there's anything I need to take care of immediately or today. Next, I review my calendar and my deadlines and determine what I MUST get done today. Then, I start doing it. I try to keep my family apprised of scheduled phone calls and meetings so that nobody is vacuuming (my wife) or practicing his euphonium (my son) when those activities are underway. Occasionally, I've had to ask the lawn crew to mow somewhere else for 15-20 minutes while I'm on the phone (my office is in the front of the house, so it's better not to hear a mower, blower, weed whacker or hedge trimmer while I'm trying to conduct business by phone).
4. Take scheduled breaks: Sitting at a desk all day, concentrating on what's in front of you can be surprisingly tiring. I've learned to schedule a short (5-10 minute) break every 90 minutes or so. During that time, I get up, walk around, move and stretch a little. Some neck and shoulder rolls, arm and leg extensions, and maybe a trip or two up the stairs. After lunch, I usually shoot pool for half an hour, or however long it takes me to shoot 5-7 games of nine-ball. The older you are -- I'm 67 -- the important it is to stay as fresh and limber as possible.
5. Maintain work/life balance: The good thing about working from home is you only have to walk down the hall to get to the office. Consequently, most people who WFH spend the time working that they would normally spend commuting, in addition to the normal work hours they put in. For many, the productivity boost that WFH delivers is a direct result of simply putting more time in working than they did when they were also commuting to/from a not-WFH location. The temptation is to check in on things at off-hours, and perhaps even to try to "catch up" early in the morning or after dinner. Don't go there, except in cases of a dire emergency. When you work at home, maintaining the work/life balance is MORE important, not less, as so many expect. Ignore this advice at your peril, and to the detriment of those, you live with.

I could go on at greater length on these topics, but this is a good place for me to stop. I hope you'll find some information of value and interest in the blog post. To learn more about me, Ed Tittel, please visit my website at www.edtittel.com, where you can read some of my other blog posts. Or, check out my Win10.Guru website, which I co-own with my good friend and business partner Kari the Finn. Cheers, and best of luck in making WFH the positive, life-enriching experience it can and should be!

--Ed--