Is Telecommuting the Right Choice for You?

How Your Personality Affects Your Suitability for Telecommuting

Personality can affect your opinion and suitability for telecommuting jobs. There are many sources of information describing all the benefits and potential downsides of telecommuting, but few that offer insight into the role personality and lifestyles play in making it work well.

Personality, in this context, means more than just your tendency to be the life of the party or being a shy person. It also involves where you are in your personal and professional lifecycle, your goals and objectives, and your longer-term career aspirations.

Spend some quality time with yourself so you can learn how your overall personality might react to telecommuting. Ask yourself some thoughtful questions about working from home.

• How do you feel about your workplace? Do you enjoy interacting with co-workers? Or is it more annoyance because of interruptions, gossip, etc.?
• How well do you work without direct supervision? Do you enjoy it? Are you good at it? Or, are you more comfortable being assigned a task and getting supervisor/co-worker feedback?
• Do you enjoy your commute to work? Or, might you be happier if you leave your car in the driveway?

These are but a few “personality” questions to ask and answer. Your honest responses to yourself will help indicate if telecommuting fits your lifestyle and personality.

Also, don’t confuse telecommuting with simply working from home. Working from home as a pure freelancer implies (usually incorrectly) that you can sleep until 11:00 am and work for a few hours in your fuzzy slippers. Telecommuting typically involves working a full day and being linked to your workplace via electronic connection. You should be clear about the important differences.

Pros and Cons of Telecommuting

You won’t be surprised to learn that telecommuting, like everything else, is not a perfect solution to workplace issues. Understanding the good, the bad, and the ugly of telecommuting helps you determine if you should explore the expanding opportunities in this area. Here are some thoughts to consider, as they are real world potential pros and cons of telecommuting.

Pros:

• More control over your workplace environment and conditions.  Set up your office the way you want to for comfort and efficiency. You won’t be subject to co-worker whining, gossip, or interruptions. If you must, you can still work in your bathrobe.
• Commuting time reduced to zero.  This achieves three positives. First, you’re helping the environment by reducing your carbon footprint and using fewer fossil fuels (gasoline). Second, you’re saving money by not needing to buy expensive auto fuel. Third, if your typical commute tends to be stressful, you will have eliminated this condition and may be fresher and more focused to perform well.
• Improved ability to concentrate on your job.  Without the constant noise, distractions, and meaningless phone calls of a typical workplace, you may focus on the job at hand more efficiently. Unless you’ve selected your e-mail notification to sound like a ringing phone, even your communication requirements will be less intrusive on your concentration.

Cons:

• May encounter promotional setbacks.  Since you are distanced from the everyday workplace, you may not have the opportunity to impress management as much as when they see you at work every day. Your career plans will normally determine whether this is a con or a neutral attribute.
• May replace workplace interruptions with small children needs or other home-related issues.  At times the initial belief that you can better control your work area revolves from a pro to a con. Should you have small children and child care issues, you may suffer with many small home fires to be put out.
• Risk of becoming a workaholic.  There is little separation of home and workplace. Your office is never more than a room or two away on a 24/7/365 basis. If you are strongly internally motivated, you may find yourself at 1:30 am working instead of sleeping.
• May find it difficult to get fast answers to questions or access to needed workplace “tools.”  Your need for an efficient PC, a multi-function printer/scanner/copier/fax, and high-speed Internet connection are basic. But, are there other tools or features you formerly accessed at your office? Do your co-workers, whether at the workplace or fellow telecommuters, respond quickly to your phone calls and e-mails when you have questions?

Telecommuting can be wonderful or lonely and inefficient for you. Answer some personal questions, consider the potential pros and cons (none apply to everyone), and make a decision that fits your personality and lifestyle.

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