Telecommuting for Baby Boomers: Take a
Getaway Break
Calling all
baby boomers: try telecommuting as a way to get out of
town and still earn a living.
Am I suggesting you take your laptop computer on your
vacation? No, not that. Definitely
not!
Instead, consider a seasonal escape where you do your
usual work in the salubrious setting of your choice for
six to eight weeks.
Imagine the following temporary work
set-ups (but come on, not all three!):
- February and March at your Florida condo
- June and July at a vacation rental in Idaho or Ireland
- Thanksgiving through New Year's at your son's home in another state
Sounds lovely, you say? But how is it possible?
I've outlined 5 steps, below.
This tactic assumes you are a “knowledge worker,” i.e., a
professional who commutes daily to reach a computer and
a phone to do your job.
We'll turn it around so that the laptop and phone goes
to the worker (you) instead.
It's a progression of steps over six months. You can
start today.
STEP 1: Change your thinking about how your job
gets done.
Begin to recognize that you can work from anywhere.
This may be a new idea for you so the biggest obstacles
are probably in your mind. (We'll deal with your manager
separately).
While not
widespread, there are employees who work full
time from home. Your intended gig is working full time from (a
temporary, faraway) home for only a season. You might be
inspired to read
Telecommuting Full-time and Long-Distance: Can It Be
Done?
STEP 2: Arrange to telecommute from your home.
First, redesign your job into telecommuting.
Don't be put off if there are some job tasks that you can't imagine being done from thousands of miles away.
We'll get to that further down.
Set up
remote access to your work computer.
If you can't arrange that via your employer's network,
do a free trial of remote access software such as GoToMyPC or LogMeIn.
Over a
period of weeks, work an hour or so on a few job tasks
in the evening or a Saturday from home. (Don't make it a
habit; your goal is to prove to yourself—and eventually
your manager—that you can perform your job well from
home.)
After you've
proven to yourself it can be done, present a
proposal to your manager to work from home two or three days of each
five-day workweek.
The
Telecommuting Proposal Package is the proven tool for
that.
Assuming approval of your request (most long-term,
trusted employees get the green light for at least a
trial period), you'll move to Step 3.
STEP 3: Nudge telecommuting from home up to the next
level.
After three months of telecommuting two or three days a
week, request to work four days a week
from home. (You'll use the bonus Evaluation Memo
Templates included with the Telecommuting Proposal
Package to
document the success of your trial period.)
STEP 4: Arrange an in-person meeting with your
manager to assess your telecommuting arrangement.
Your mission is to gauge your manager’s true comfort and
confidence level about your work set-up.
With six months or more of solid telecommuting
experience, you will have likely improved your output.
(Most remote workers see double-digit productivity
increases; with fewer interruptions and no socializing,
what's to do but work?)
This
foundation, paired with your positioning as a reliable,
well-performing employee your manager doesn't want to
lose (right?), sets you up to get approval of your
request.
Yet, you need to get a clearer view of the situation
from your manager's perspective.
Is your s/he blown away at your productivity output (at
which time you can reinforce the value of remote work
and how it adds to your job satisfaction and
achievements)?
Or is your manager suggesting that four
days a week working away from the office is excessive?
What else? Listen carefully (especially between the
lines). Do a subtle probe of the attitude environment so
you can figure your next move. STEP 5: Request your seasonal remote work
arrangement.
Based on the outcome of Step 4, you'll know (or
sense) if and when it's a wise move to go forward with
your request.
Let's say you have a good vibe about it and you're
planning to ask.
Make your request at least two months before your
anticipated start date; given approval, you'll need the
time to make travel and accommodation arrangements.
Ask for eight weeks of long-distance telecommuting so
you have room to negotiate for fewer.
If you meet little resistance and you really only want
three to six weeks, confirm your travel arrangements
first, then immediately alert your manager to the
adjusted dates.
Fine-Tune Step 2
Looking back
at Step 2, are there job tasks that can not be
performed from a remote location? Let's tackle that
issue by considering the possibilities.
Could those particular job tasks:
- be skipped during the weeks that you're away from the
office?
- be deferred until your return?
- be delegated?
- be done in a collaborative way via telecommuting
tools?
- be given work-around treatment*?
If you've set up a job sharing arrangement,
Step Two has fewer obstacles.
*Imagine you had to take
several weeks of FMLA leave to be with your
elderly parent in a faraway state during his or her hip
replacement surgery, rehab and recuperation. Beyond your
ability to access your office computer from your
parent's home to do some work, how would you and your
employer manage the other aspects of your job? There's
no perfect solution, but there's usually a work-it-out
solution. Think in those terms. Make it Happen
Is this an unusual arrangement? Yes.
Is it really possible? Yes, if you follow the steps
above over a sufficient chunk of time, you may be surprised at the work lifestyle you
can craft for yourself.
Redesign your job into telecommuting
Get
the Telecommuting Proposal
Package
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