Seven Tips for Successful Telecommuting
August 18th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
A recent piece in U.S.News & World Report about telecommuting closes with a piece of advice from Telecommuting for Dummies author Minda Zetlin:
Post a picture of yourself at your office desk with a note that says, “I really am working from home. Call me!”
Here are some more tips in a similar vein:
1. Stop by the office a few times a month and steal somebody’s lunch from the break room refrigerator. Leave a note that says, “Now that I work at home I worry that you have forgotten about me. Bet you’ll remember me now!”
2. Set your alarm so you can wake up every hour all through the night. Send your boss and your coworkers e-mails. No one can compete with someone who literally works around the clock.
3. Call your boss every hour during the day. When she asks why you’re calling, say something cool like “You know, just workin’ . . . just workin’” or something impressive like “You cannot believe how swamped I am today!”
4. Sleep at the office a few times a week. When the first person arrives in the morning say, “What took you so long?” When the last person takes off for the day say, “Leaving so soon?”
5. Call a friend. Speaking in a loud voice, record your half of the conversation and burn it on to a CD. Put the CD in a boom box in your cube. Press play, press repeat and turn the volume up.
6. Pick a morning a few times a month and park across the street from your office before everyone arrives. Bring binoculars. Note anyone wearing weird, inappropriate or trashy clothes. During the work day, call random coworkers and gossip about what you saw.
7. Make a life-size cardboard cut-out of yourself. Have it attend meetings on your behalf. Some will grumble, others will give you credit. Whoever said “face time” had to involve a real live face?
What other tips would you add? Come on - we know you have them!
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Some fun news: Check out the article we wrote for this week’s issue of BusinessWeek.
Have your kids use your work computer to play Webkinz or Noggin.com so that it looks like you are continually “available” on your IM program. If the boss logs on, your name is always there and “active”.
I have finally broken myself of these dumb mind games…but you know people still do it constantly! What waste of energy!
I hope that’s satire. Otherwise it’s just sad.
@Nicole K - very nice addition. And gets right to the point - even if people are at their computers, at their desks, in a meeting, or logged onto their IM program, it doesn’t mean they’re working. Similarly, if people are taking a walk, doing laundry, getting a haircut, or laying in the sun, it doesn’t mean they’re *not* working. We can’t use any of these to make judgments about the one thing that matters - and you know what that is!
@Heather - if you’re referring to the advice in the actual article, sadly, we don’t think it’s satire. It’s an expert that thinks it’s helpful advice. We’re with you - just sad.
[...] at home I worry that you have forgotten about me. Bet you’ll remember me now!” Read more at Cali and Jody. Filed Under: Tips and HowTosTagged: cali and jody, howto, humor, office workers, telecommuting, [...]
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Thanks for this fun post ladies. I enjoyed it so much I linked to it from my own telecommuting blog - http://nicolebachelor.com/telecommuting-and-a-sense-of-humor/ And added an entry of my own there too!
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