10 Foolish Tips
Working at Home
January 21, 1998

1. Decide who pays for what. Both you and your employer are going to be saving some pretty substantial bucks with you working at home. Make sure you agree on who will be paying for the things you need to do your job. Consider the following: computer, printer, software, telephone charges, faxing, printing, copies, secretarial services, insurance and service on your equipment.

2. Establish yourself as an independent contractor or an employee. This will affect your tax status and insurance. You're probably aware of the drill if you're an employee. The difference in being a contractor is that you would be technically outside of the organization. You would get the tax benefits of having your own business and you probably would be able to freelance for other companies (which you may not be able to do as an employee). The stickler is that the government has very specific guidelines on what constitutes an employee and what constitutes a contracted worker. Check with your human resource department for the skinny on the regulations.

3. Get a pet. You're going to get lonely. Guaranteed. Check out our series on getting a pet and see if that might not help some of your "being-alone blues."

4. Schedule regular lunch dates. Feeling isolated is a frequent complaint from telecommuters. Make sure that you stay in touch with your buds out in the real world. They'll envy you all the more when you show up in jeans and a sweatshirt for your lunch at the Hyatt. Or it might give you a reason to put on "real" clothes every once in a while.

5. Keep good books. Religiously keep track of all of your expenses. You'll either be able to turn them in to your boss to get reimbursed or you'll be able to deduct them from your taxes. Either way, it is to your advantage keep stuff straight.

6. Keep a schedule. Even though you're working at home, you are still working. Let your co-workers and family know when your working hours are and stick to them. Your boss, your clients, your kids and your sanity will all thank you.

7. Make sure you have access to gizmos. You're still going to need more than just your computer sometimes. Make arrangements with an office superstore or a secretarial service near your home to do things like faxing, copying, binding, and getting your computer serviced.

8. You will still need daycare. Staying with the munchkins is probably one of the main reasons that you want to work at home. But there will come a time when you will need to go into your "real" office and you'll need daycare. Or, actually, what will happen even more frequently is that they will drive you crazy just as you're on deadline for a big project. Make sure you have a place for them to go when you really need to be alone.

9. Keep in touch. Make sure that "out of sight, out of mind" doesn't mean you. Keep in touch by phone and e-mail with your co-workers and supervisors.

10. Accept the fact that you may not be on the fast track anymore. The statistics claim that telecommuters get 18% more promotions and pay increases than their like-skilled office based co-workers. On an anecdotal level, I question that. It's hard to rise up the corporate ladder if you're never there to really know what's going on. Think about that long and hard before you take yourself out of the rat race.

--Trudy Bowen (TMF Hoyden)