Telecommute America `97
Survey Results
Where does your pet
40% Dog
33% Cat
5% Bird
3% Rock
13% Other
stay while you are working?
34% Under my feet
15% Outdoors
13% Shut out of my office
11% On my desk
26% Other
Do you wear shoes in your home office?
51% Sometimes
32% No
15% Yes
What is your favorite lunch when you telework?
42% Leftovers
35% Sandwich
12% I skip lunch
11% Soup
11% Something you’d never guess
6% Yogurt/cottage cheese
Would you qualify for the messiest home office?
65% Sometimes
25% Never
10% Always
Where do you store all your stuff?
51% Neatly filed
32% In piles on the floor
11% Crammed into closets
2% Under the bed
23% Other
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Getting started
• I get my first cup of coffee and take it into my office. That first sip says the business day has started.
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Taking breaks
• Even though it’s a temptation to eat at my desk, a regular lunch break helps me pace the day. I try to do something completely different on my lunch break that I take from 1 to 2 p.m. Occasionally I go out to lunch with a friend or read while I eat my sandwich. Of course taking a walk around the block would be the healthy thing to do.
• When I feel housebound or isolated, I take a few minutes telephone break and call a friend. Sometimes I notice I’m keeping a coworker on the phone a little too long just because I’m enjoying the socialization—but I guess that happens around the office water cooler, too.
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Being Professional
• It’s not easy to maintain a professional image if you have a dog or other people in the house. If you hit the mute button on your phone to hide the sounds of a barking dog don’t forget to turn yourself back on when you start talking! To get away from noise a friend runs out to the patio with her portable phone but she has had customers ask about the chirping birds!
• You really have to be consistent in setting rules for your family and friends. They’ll constantly be testing to see if you really mean it when you say you’re going to work (at home.) I have doors to my office that I close when I don’t want to be interrupted. One lady put red, yellow, and green lights over her office door to signal to her family when it was okay to come in!
See how other teleworkers get down to work! |
