Most people are familiar with the typical reasons people and
employers have work working at home: saves commute time, less money on cloths
and dry cleaning, less office real estate needed, environmental impact, etc.
And these are all great reasons to get started. However, if you dig a little
deeper, you will find that most folks have a deeper, more personal reason for
working at home.
It’s important for people at-home to recognize this, so that
they understand why protecting this privilege is so important to them. It’s
probably even more important that people in-office are exposed to this, for
each time they belittle the at-home experience, they are hurting so much more.
I personally became an at-home worker through a number of
office circumstances. However, today’s primary reason for its importance is my
older dog. Gidget is now 16.25 years old. And yes, we count months at this
point! She has health problems, is mostly blind, and somewhat senile. She
doesn’t remember where she is, she gets lost, and she panics. That is, when
mommy isn’t around! Mommy has become her ability to keep calm. She doesn’t
impact my work; she sleeps all day in the corner of my office. I don’t notice
she is there, but she would absolutely notice if I wasn’t. On rare days when I
have to go to the office, mass hysteria ensues, and I come home to a freaked
out little baby and a giant mess (in more ways than one!) My husband and I are
both convinced that if I wasn’t working at home, she wouldn’t still be with us.
The ability to work at home has extended our time with our little girl and I am
eternally grateful.
I have friends that have equally honorable reasons for being
at home, if not more so. I have a colleague whose family was having such a hard
time with local allergies and asthma that it was almost killing them. Their
family moved out west to the dry air to be healthy. If they couldn’t work from
home, they wouldn’t still be with our company. I know other folks that are at
home to ensure their kids get to and from school safely. There are some that
work at home because our company literally has no offices in their location,
and if we want to keep their skills, it’s the only option. I know people that
moved to be close to family. Another person works at home to take care of their
ill husband, ensure he gets his medicine, respond to any emergencies, and more
easily take him to the doctor. Others do the same for ailing parents. Some are
at home because their commute is hours. A few have medical conditions that make
an in-office job impractical or impossible.
As you can see, there is more to being work-at-home than
meets the eye. When you provide proper resources and engagement to these
individuals, you are not just impacting their work deliverables, but also the
health and well-being of their entire family. Before asking someone to “just
come in tomorrow” like it is no big deal, consider that it just might be, and
then consider if working differently will help reach the same goal without
disrupting their world.
