February 19, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Aren't you bored working alone at home?
I start working at home for a few weeks now. I communicate with my co-workers through email and telephone. However it is so boring just me sitting in the room doing the work.
I miss the human interaction. When I email and talk to the person on the phone, I cannot see their expression, I want to know if I am doing fine but I don't want to ask my manager all the time. He has 9 people reporting to him and he is always busy. BTW all developers work at home so I am not the only one. Everyone seems to be fine except me!!!!!!!:crazy:
February 19, 2008 at 8:38 pm
If it's not too far from work, go into work once in a while. Otherwise, you're fine. Just continue to make sure that they know you exist. It seems like people who work from home have to get twice as much done to be appreciated.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
February 19, 2008 at 9:00 pm
For what it is worth, even when I am working in the office, it can feel like no one notices you. I don't whether it is open plan offices or what, but it seems that you are surrounded by people but they deliberately ignore you.
Whilst I don't work at home all that often, at least there I don't get the feeling that everyone is too busy to talk.
I also tend to prefer working at client sites instead of the office. Usually, there seems to be more interaction. Maybe this is because there tends to be more non-IT people in those places.
February 19, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Take breaks, communicate on the phone or even IM to get a better feel for people, go out with friends, try to get face to face contact. I know you don't like the social stuff that much, but it matters. Maybe get a weekly lunch setup and just invite people and see who shows up.
February 20, 2008 at 6:42 am
This company has no physical office. Even the CEO works at home. When I interviewed for the job, I went to the CEO's house. It is a e-commerce company started in 1999. They don't think a physical office is needed since the sales and developers can work at home.
Happycat59- you are right. In my last job, I worked at the office but no one cared to stop to talk to you. Even I initiated to make a conversation, in two minutes, they would pretend they had a lot to do and I had to leave the office. No one knew I was there for months.
That is the reason why I take this job. I figure since no one cares when I work at the office, why don't I work at home.
Last Friday my manager initiated a coffee break at 4:00pm on Friday so people could gather and talked, only a handful of people showed up. This is the first time I go to a social event and no one else does. Usually it is the opposite way.
February 20, 2008 at 7:29 am
Sometimes things like that take a little while to catch on. Just because there wasn't a lot of attendance doesn't mean that it won't pick up. Of course - Friday night might not be the best timeframe to do that. Perhaps get him to rotate to some other timeframe (even if it became something like "bag lunch day", where you just meet up somewhere for lunch (might get more atttendance that way).
It can be hard to work alone all of the time. Just stay focused and if need be - find the social aspect elsewhere. It's often just a matter of refocusing your expectations, and finding the social interaction where you need it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
March 3, 2008 at 10:28 am
I work from home when I need to. If I really need to focus on something I'll work from home.
I can't say I am bored working at home though. Infact, I find the time actually goes faster when I work from home. I just throw on some cd's and away I go.
Although I could not do that every day. As you mentioned, you miss out on the interaction....And working from home would also mean missing out on the quick pint (or six) after work! hehe
As Steve mentioned, suggest lunch so you can all get together and go through work issues....not forgetting to kick back for a while and just have a chat and a joke.
March 3, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I've worked primarily from home for the last 8 years, and my advice is to get a dog. At least you won't get lonely.
Perhaps more importantly, stay in touch with your coworkers via email and, when necessary, the phone. The lack of body language means that you'll develop a keener sense of voice inflection and choice of language to convey subtext.
Go out for lunch just to get out of the house. This is also a good excuse to walk your new dog. Join a gym and take an hour during the afternoon to work out. Think of it as a tradeoff for the commute you're not having to take.
In other words - get a life. Make work part of it, but not all of it.
Relax - it's just different is all.
March 4, 2008 at 8:33 am
Since I don't work at home, I can't comment.
But let me try it for 4-5 years, and I'll get back to you. 🙂
March 4, 2008 at 8:47 am
I worked from home for 7 years, now I am back in an office environment. When working from home, I found IM really helpful in keeping me in touch with my coworkers. It's kind of like yelling something over the cubicle wall, but only electronically. It's much faster response time than email and if someone is busy and can't talk on the phone, they can just type a quick response.
Sometimes I get bored in the office too, at least when I was bored at home I could do some laundry or take the dog for a walk and no one would care. 😀
March 4, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I get bored or can't focus at times and one thing I've learned is that if you can't work (and it happens), don't work. Don't worry about it, take care of something around the house (laundry, dishes, cut the grass, work out, etc.), and get back to work when you feel refreshed.
You're not robbing your employer. If you are effective at telecommuting, you'll likely work more, and more effectively. However you can also be more efficient with your entire life and get all kinds of things done at home, freeing up more time for family, hobbies, etc.
Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply