Are you working from home, or "working from home"?
This article was originally published on LinkedIn on 29 September 2017
I have a confession to make. I love working from home. Some of my best work has been done wearing jeans and sneakers, with the background hum of the washing machine and dogs barking. In fact, I’m not sure how I could manage a professional career and raise four children, while living in a regional area, without the ability to work from home on a regular basis.
But working from home is not without its challenges. Consider the following situation:
“Where’s John* today?”, asks Sally*, one of your team members. “Very Important Client just called and asked when they can expect to receive our report. John was working on it yesterday, and I’m not sure where it’s up to.”
“John’s working from home today, why don’t you give him a call on his mobile and ask him where the report is up to?” you reply, remembering John’s email to the team last night - “WFH tomorrow”.
Several hours later, Sally returns, having been unable to contact John via email or phone. You start to worry. Is John OK? Has something happened? What should you tell Very Important Client?
It turns out that John is fine. However, the team culture you work in has an unspoken rule that while “working from home” is an acceptable reason to not be in the office (it is the workplace of 2017, after-all), other reasons such as “I need a day off”, “I have a sick child”, or even “I’m sick” are not looked upon favourably. John was “working from home”, rather than actually working from home.
There’s a whole range of problems with this approach, ranging from inefficiencies for the team and potential OH&S concerns for staff supposedly working at home. But one of my main concerns with this approach is that it undermines the practice of staff members who genuinely work from home.
Who actually works from home?
I’ve worked from home on a regular basis (at least one day per week) for more than a decade. I’m a naturally organised and self-motivated person, and I am very productive when working from my home office. I also enjoy face-to-face contact with my colleagues and clients, so I personally prefer a hybrid model where I work from home sometimes and work onsite with colleagues and clients at other times. While we have a base office to enable face-to-face collaboration, the Guardian Actuarial team uses a remote working approach, which enables us to assemble the right teams based on skills, irrespective of geographical location.
I’m not alone in working from home. ABS statistics[1] from 2015 suggest that 3.5 million Australians, or 30% of employed people, regularly worked from home. This rate has increased from 24% in 2008[2]. The main reason people work from home (both in 2008 and in 2015) was to catch up on work. Business owners and managers also indicated that working from home allowed them to have an office without the overheads of a commercial office. Of employees who worked from home but weren’t business owners or managers, 15% worked from home as part of agreed flexible work arrangements.
It’s important to note that the majority of the workforce does not currently work from home at all. Working from home is certainly not for everyone. I know my husband prefers the busy bustle of an office and can be less productive being isolated working from home. Some jobs do not lend themselves well to remote work. Further, many colleagues like to keep work and home separate, and prefer to leave work at the office.
What are the benefits of working from home?
I’ve already disclosed my bias towards working from home. For me, working from home reduces my commuting time (often 4 hours per day) and allows me the flexibility to do other important things such as seeing my kids during daylight hours. I also find that if I need some quiet focussed time to do some complex actuarial modelling or report writing, I am more productive when I can do this in my quiet home office than in a noisy, open plan corporate office.
But working from home can benefit people without long commutes or caring responsibilities. Ian Grubb, a fellow Actuary who lives close to the office and does not have children says that he likes to work from home because it gives him uninterrupted time to complete client reports and deliverables. Working from home also gives him time for creative and innovative thinking to generate new ideas, as well as time to get across new developments in his industry.
Our younger workforce wants the opportunity to work from home also. The Deloitte 2017 Millenial Survey[3] showed that 64% of Millenials[4] surveyed wanted to be able to choose where they performed their work – either in the office, from home or somewhere else.
A New York times article[5] in May this year quoted statistics from a recent Gallup survey, which suggested that 43% of American employees work from home, and that they are most engaged when they work 3 – 4 days each week from home.
But what’s in it for employers? Well, many studies have suggested that employers also benefit from allowing staff to work remotely, as team members are more productive, more engaged and less likely to quit.
For example, a Harvard Business Review article[6] from 2014 shared the findings from an experiment where staff members were given the option to work from home for 9 months. Half of the volunteers worked from home and the other half worked in the office. Survey and performance results were compared between the two groups. It was found that employees in the group working from home were happier, more productive and less likely to quit than those working in the office.
Closer to home, many Sydney firms have introduced options for staff to work from home as a means to save on expensive CBD floorspace, while allowing their employees the flexibility they are increasingly demanding.
Tips to make working from home work (for you and your team)
So if working from home is on the rise, how can we make it easier for both team members working from home, as well as team members working in the office? Depending on the nature of your work, and whether you work full or part time from home, here are some tips that might make working from home easier for you and your team:
Communicate clearly with your team about your whereabouts. Since you are actually working from home, not having a day off, you need to make a bigger effort to help your team understand your whereabouts. Let them know when you’ll be working from home, flagging any time you will be unavailable. Be honest if you are taking a day off or have another priority such as needing to care for a sick child. If you have a day where you are neither in the office, nor working from home, but are happy to be contacted, clearly state this to this your team, e.g. “I’m not working today, but am available on the mobile for anything urgent”.
Organise regular time with the team in person. Technology is a fantastic enabler, and between mobiles, email, video conference, instant messaging and fast internet, remote working has never been easier. However, having some “in person” contact, particularly in the early stages of business relationships, can help make technology assisted working relationships smoother.
Be clear to your manager(s) about your career aspirations. Often, if you are working from home you may be “out of sight, out of mind” to key decision makers in your organisation. This may be a benefit (especially if you need to get some quiet, focussed work done) but can also be potentially problematic if you are wanting to be considered for interesting projects, promotions etc. Regular communication through the day can help here, but be mindful of this in terms of your career planning. Discuss frankly with your manager what your goals and objectives are, and be clear about what opportunities you would like to be considered for.
Carefully consider your caring responsibilities. While an occasional day getting some urgent work completed while a sick child sleeps can be a helpful option, think carefully before utilising remote working as a regular option to save on childcare. As a parent of four and foster carer, I am acutely aware of the time and energy required to raise children. If you are working from home with (particularly small) children, consider whether additional assistance, or a shorter working day, might be required to meet your required work outcomes.
Be flexible and adjust if necessary. If you (or your employer) are new to the concept of working from home, you might find a trial period is helpful. Over the years I’ve had various combinations of full time, part time and working from home arrangements. As you and your responsibilities change, your working arrangements may also need to adapt. Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky to have had very progressive managers who have supported my requests to work from home. However, if your manager is less open to the idea, suggest you start working from home for a small number of hours or days per week on a trial basis. Keep the above tips in mind and if it doesn’t work, be open to adjusting the plan in consultation with your manager, or in the worst case scenario, find an employer who supports flexible working.
Conclusion
The proportion of Australian employees working from home has increased over the last few years. The documented benefits to employers and employees, as well as the needs and wants of the growing Millenial workforce, suggest this trend is likely to continue.
Clear, regular and honest communication is critical to the success of teams with remote team members. Building in regular “in person” time for remote workers is also important to help build strong, smooth working relationships. If you (or your employee) wants to work from home, consider a trial period to see how this could work for your team.
*Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. However, I’m pretty sure many people have a similar story they can recall.
References
[1] 6333.0 - Characteristics of Employment, Australia, August 2015, 7 EMPLOYED PERSONS: Selected employment characteristics–By status of employment in main job http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6333.0August%202015?OpenDocument
[2]http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/6275.0Media%20Release1Nov%202008
[3] https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennial-survey-freelance-flexibility.html#trust
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/us/remote-workers-work-from-home.html?mcubz=0
[6] https://hbr.org/2014/01/to-raise-productivity-let-more-employees-work-from-home
