Some People Can Work at Home, Some People... Can't

Working at home requires discipline. Anyone who has tried to do it, even from time to time when it snows, knows this. Telecommuting has gotten a lot of press lately. When it works, it makes life easier for employers and employees. When it doesn't, you get a story in the Wall Street Journal. (A free story too; it must be Christmas.)

Conditions at home can be more dungeon than castle, and in contrast to turf wars at the office, you can't escape the enemy at night. Contract manager Bill Hall started working from home in mid-August, setting up shop in his basement, which has two small casement windows stingy with light. His son, a high-school senior, gets frustrated that he can't blast his music or the enemies in his videogames the way he used to. And while Mr. Hall squeezes in tasks like doing the laundry, loading the dishwasher and reorganizing the refrigerator, that 110% effort isn't always appreciated.

There's other tales too, of nosy neighbors and family members, annoying pets, and co-workers and supervisors who don't give people who work from home credit for the work they do. Like a lot of things, telecommuting depends quite a bit on corporate culture. If it's going to lead to suspicions you aren't pulling your weight, then maybe you work for an organization that should keep people in cozy little cubes. If you aren't pulling your weight because... I don't know... your cat slept on your laptop and hit a bunch of buttons while dreaming about the Manx next door (as did one cat in the article; Manx excluded) then perhaps you're not cut out for working from home. That's all from this cozy little cube.