Working from home, working past the guilt
Today is day three of my work-from-home adventure in Northeast Baltimore. Both my wife and I work in downtown Baltimore, with normally a 15-minute commute that is now all but impossible.
Our city neighborhood wasn't plowed through until yesterday (Tuesday) and our 15-month-old girl's daycare has been closed, or we just haven't been able to drive there.
Thanks to technology, I can do much of my work from home. But barely. My Verizon home telephone line is down, which means my DSL connection is down. If not for my laptop, which has a built-in wireless 3G broadband card, I would be of little use to the Baltimore Sun. If we lose power today, I am only as productive as the juice left in my gadgets' batteries. (Oh, and I'd probably have to move my family to a friend's house because we'd lack heat.)
Technology aside, I have wrestled with feeling guilty about not slogging into work this week, even though I have worked long and hard in my dining room.
Torn between caring for my daughter and helping our newspaper inform the public, I've settled into an uncomfortable middle ground for now.
At times, it can be hard to concentrate on work while worrying about your gutters falling off or your flat garage roof caving in. (Yes, that photo is a view of my backyard and my flat garage roof.)
Working at the office and outside the home, it's easier to put all that stuff out of mind. Being forced to work from home, I'm finding, is just as stressful as work at work, if not moreso. Yesterday, we hired a babysitter to help watch our girl while I worked on a story. In addition to the tons of money we spend on regular daycare each month, yesterday's work-from-home adventure cost us an additional $80.
Today, my wife took a personal day off from work and is acting as primary caregiver while I try to do my job. Still, I can't shake tinges of guilt for not being able to make it in. Though technology can keep us connected in these instances of disruption beyond our control, I have to think there are a lot of workers in the Baltimore area right now who are anxious and wish they could be at work, in an office. (Though many of you on Twitter also seem unfazed and are even accustomed to telecommuting.)
Am I off the mark? How are you feeling about not being able to make it into work today, or this week? Let's start a conversation about where technology and our own personal work values intersect and/or diverge. Afterall, what else do we have to do today?
Comments
I find that when I work from home, the pace is less frenetic, but the time I spend on getting things done increases. I can take a few minutes to enjoy watching my daughters' art projects progress, but don't feel guilty when I take the evening to follow up with candidates. I don't know that I'd do a complete trade off to the home office (I really do enjoy feeding off of my team's energy), but I believe it is a productivity enhancer (so long as we have electricity of course ;-)
Posted by: Jed Davis | February 10, 2010 11:53 AM
You feel guilty about not going to the office? You seem to be getting your job done from this reader's perspective so I don't understand why?
Personally I like working from home, it is much more peaceful than a noisy office.
My only distraction is occasionally watching the TV news coverage and keeping up with shoveling my front walk (and the neighbors when I beat them too it).
Posted by: Paul | February 10, 2010 12:41 PM
I've been working from home since 6/09 and I love it! Not sure I ever want to go back to being office-bound. I am more productive at home and much happier ... and I am saving a small fortune on gas, lunches out, dry cleaning, etc. And having my Maltese on my lap while I work is a nice perk!
Posted by: Bekye Eckert | February 10, 2010 2:11 PM
I've never felt guilty about working from home, my employer should feel guilty about making people risk driving.
Plus I'm twice as productive at home
Posted by: drunk richard | February 10, 2010 2:35 PM
I only wish I could work from home, have all the technology, could get a lot done, but if we are not in the office we have to take a vacation day. So instead I read the sun and look for a new flexible job.
Posted by: Mary | February 10, 2010 2:36 PM
I feel the same way, Gus, so I slogged my way to work this morning. And now I'm stuck here.
Honestly, you made the right decision.
Posted by: Jamie | February 10, 2010 4:44 PM
I spent the day working from home and only felt guilty for a while...then I realized that the alternative was to take a vacation day (according to my employer's policy), which I think is not right. PTO is designed for when the employee can make it into work, but wants to take personal time to do something else. Being involuntarily stranded by a blizzard/snowstorm, IMHO, does not qualify as PTO. So, I trekked in on Monday and Tuesday and am working from home today and maybe tomorrow. They'll pry my PTO days out of cold, dead hands, to paraphrase someone.
I would only feel really guilty if I sat around all day and didn't go any work when I was supposed to be telecommuting. But I spent my day working so I earned my salary for the day.
Posted by: Guilty? | February 10, 2010 5:02 PM
I work at home as well so I'm used to this, but I feel like I'm in a holding pattern. I'm feeling a little guilty--like I should be taking advantage of this and tackling house projects like organizing my closets, painting, etc.
Posted by: Betsy | February 10, 2010 5:12 PM
Telework is a wonderful. I have done so for several years and it has worked very well for me and my office. We are allowed to work up to 3 days per week at home, so tasks are completed and the office is covered as well.
Posted by: India | February 10, 2010 6:03 PM
I worked from home for 2 years. Had to cover conference calls in US EST and also in Mumbai...
While I enjoyed work at home and was more productive..... I missed a-ha moments beside the water-cooler....
Posted by: Chang Kun Yoo | February 11, 2010 3:06 AM
Working from home takes a lot of discipline but, personally, I find it way more fun!
Posted by: harry eldridge | July 29, 2010 1:08 PM