Adventures in Teleworking

OWJ: Office Worker Jealousy

Every telecommuter has come across this. Someone at the home office is green with envy that you get to work from home, in your pajamas and slippers, while they have to put on a suit and tie and trudge to the office each day. This Jealousy manifests in many ways, can break long time work relationships, friendships, and more.

Whatever the reason is for your having to work from home, there's someone at the office who is quite upset at the idea. There are signs of OWJ all over the place for a telecommuter, and it's in your best interest to have a defense for them when they arise. A few that I have come across are:

• Calling you out in meetings or conference calls as to your home working attire ("Wearing your bunny slippers today?")
• Asking you if you have caught up on all of the daily soap operas/daytime TV.
  
• Wondering if you have put any miles on your car now that you don't have to drive anywhere.
• Leaving a voicemail while you are in the bathroom that basically accuses you of not being at your desk or doing work when they called.
  
• Always asking what your weather is like if you are in a different part of the country or have access to an outside window, versus their cubicle view.

All remote employees know that there are as many negatives to working from home as there are positives. Some OWJ is innocent, and some is quite harmful, creating a hostile work environment. That's no fun if your work environment is your own home!
I'll cover a bunch of the OWJ issues on this blog, and I hope you will write in with some OWJ issues of your own. We can open a dialogue on how to address OWJ and make a great work environment for everyone!

Labels: OWJ, welcome

Hi there, and welcome to "Adventures in Teleworking"!
I have been a webworker for over a year and a half, and when I started there were very few resources out there for people like me. Transitioning from the office to the home office was a bit confusing, scary, but fun! And while I'm no means an expert, I'm happy to share what I have learned along the way.
I hope you find these tips encouraging, and hopefully we teleworkers (or remote employees, or web workers, or digital bedouins, or telecommuters, or whatever you call us) can find a common ground and share ideas that will help us be as productive as we possibly can be.
There are many blogs focusing on technology tools you can use as a remote worker, so I'll leave that kind of direction to those blogs that do that well. My focus will be on the day to day things that may help us get up, get dressed, and focus on our work. After all, we have a job to do!
Right now, my plan is to post about once a week. Please feel free to comment, send me links to articles, blogs, or other tools we can all use.
Thanks for reading!
-TeleworkChick

Labels: Teleworking tips, welcome