A recent change in my company gave me the ability to work from home. When people think of working from home, the first benefits that pop into their mind are probably saving gas money and commuting time. Thinking a bit further, they may realize that using less gas is better for the environment and staying off the road means less traffic which means other people waste less gas.
After just a few weeks of developing software from home, I realized my situation greatly benefited my company. The most obvious benefits are that my company requires less office space and saves money on utility bills. Besides those, I work more efficiently from home and therefore produce more. I attribute my better productivity to the following:
(1) Greater Sense Of Responsibility
If I get distracted, I feel like it is on my own time. When I was in the office, if I did not produce a lot one day, it was a “bad day”. While working remotely, my boss knows I am actually working when he sees results. To me, this means I better not have “bad days”. If I have a “bad day”, I will probably be doing work at night.
(2) Work “In The Zone”
I would venture to guess that most people do not work at their peak productivity level 40-60 hours a week; yet many are forced to spend that amount of time behind a desk. While working remotely, any time I do not feel in the zone I can take a break and do something much more interesting than walking to the kitchen to fill up a cup of water. This means that while I am working, I am usually “in the zone”: working at very high productivity levels. When David Heinemeier Hansson was developing Ruby on Rails, he only had 10 hours/week to devote to the project. 10 hours/week can go a long way of you are working at a high productivity level.
(3) Healthiness = Happiness
Since I have started working from home, I have more time to get good sleep. Now I can exercise in a well-rested state every day, and after working out I can cook myself a well-balanced and generally healthier meal because I have access to a full kitchen. If you think eating healthy is mainly a physical health concern, watch Super Size Me, because you are incorrect. That movie reminded me (of course I already knew) how much eating can affect your mental health.
If you are thinking about negotiating a remote work agreement with your boss, I hope you find the above points useful. If you feel uncomfortable about the proposition, take Timothy Ferriss’s advice and ask for a trial period!
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One Comment
This sounds really great, Tony. But I think you forgot one very important thing: you probably save dozens of dollars a week on handcream, since you don’t have to spend two hours a day gripping a rough, dirty steering wheel. Now your hands can stay baby-soft with mininimal effort!