The Hardest Part

What’s been the hardest part, for me, about working from home?

You might think I’d say something like missing my friends, feeling lonely, feeling less engaged in meetings, feeling distant from my company, etc., etc., etc. And while those may be valid obstacles (which I like to think I’ve overcome), they haven’t been the hardest. For me, the hardest part has been taking a stand.

When I started working from home, I went all in. I wanted to do it right. Partially because I wanted it to work for myself. And partially because I had staff accumulating across the country that were counting on it to work. This caused me to place extra burden on myself to really represent. Some people’s jobs were depending on it!

This forced me into some awkward positions that can still be hard to deal with to this day. I’ve talked before about how I’m not coming in for your meeting… But sometimes that stance is really unpopular – especially with executive leadership. I even had one executive state said if you had any meetings with X-level leaders or above, you HAD to come in.

This really bothered me. What if my staff in other states had been asked to participate in these meetings? What if they were trying to move up the ladder? Would they be held back because of geography? Would it reflect negatively on them that they couldn’t attend in person because of distance? I certainly didn’t want that to happen to my people, let alone me. I felt like I needed to be overly diligent about fighting for at-home rights to protect us all.

In the short term, that was extremely hard. There’s nothing like purposefully disobeying your leadership to make a name for yourself. A not so good name. And that’s why this was the hardest part. For every meeting, I had to judge how much it would hurt me in the short term and what “trouble” I would be in for my mutiny.

I mostly stood firm, and stayed at home. I’d get called out in meetings about it. I’d get lectured. I’d get a black-eye or black-balled. Yet, I still did it. Some leaders would stop putting remote options on meetings all together trying to force the in-person transaction to take place. And for some of those, I’d ask someone else that I knew at the meeting to call me from the meeting. Yeah… that pissed some people off. And on the few occasions where I felt I had to go in or might be on the receiving end of a pink slip, it was rarely ever worth it. Nothing was so special about meeting in-person that it couldn’t have been done remotely.

I probably still have a bad reputation with some folks that have yet to get on the at-home boat. I know I ruffled their feathers. But that was a risk I was willing to take for something I believed in. Now, four years later, I believe all of those fights paid off. I believe I helped provoke a movement.

No one wants to be the black sheep. And that is why knowingly putting myself in that position was the hardest part about working from home. I risked my job for an ideal I was passionate about. Thankfully, it worked in my favor. I learned a lot about myself through that engagement:

• I am a strong person. Knocking me down doesn’t knock me out.
• I have conviction. If I truly believe in something, I will fight for it.
• I am an advocate. Advocates don’t always do what is popular. They do what is right.
• I have a lot of courage. It would have been easier to fold, but with great risk can come great reward.
• I am a leader. I work for my team, and in the trenches with them. I don’t just “manage people”.

Most of my battle scars have healed. And the result is a cult-like following of people that want to learn more about how to work at home successfully and the proliferation of the at-home program. The pain and fear resulted in ever-reaching positive outcomes. I’d say it was a good gamble.

They say it's easy

One of the common misconceptions about working from home is that "it's easy". Sure, it's easier to throw in a load of laundry on a break or get supper started, but that's not the job. Those are the perks that come with the job, which is actually harder (and why those perks are important).

When you remove the perks (comfier clothes, no commute, your own environment, etc.) and just focus on performing the work, the at-home worker must put in extra effort on every activity to match, or hopefully exceed, their in-office counterpart. The reason? Distance. The exact same reason that those long-distance relationships from college didn't work out!

Imagine that you want to have an interactive brainstorming session with multiple people, free flowing ideas, and collaboration. In the office, you just grab a conference room and shove everyone in. When you are differently located, however, you must find a technology solution that will perform many of the same functions, such as whiteboards, chat, sharing documents, telephone, etc. These may cost money, and they are certainly more overhead to set up than booking a room. And then you actually have to get people to participate on a platform they may not be familiar with. This results in extra preparation to become an expert yourself and being able to teach others. Which then also adds on to the meeting time. Whew! I'm exhausted just talking about it!!

Let's look at an even simpler example now. Assume that you like your coworkers and care about building a relationship with them. In the office, you'd probably say "Hi!" on your way to your desk, you'd chitchat at the water cooler, and probably go out to lunch every now and again. When you don't work in the office, these same people aren't within arms reach for such impromptu conversations. Once again, you must turn to technology to fill this gap, using mechanisms such as phone, instant message, and social media platforms. This comes with the same knowledge curve previously mentioned, for both you and the other parties involved. This also comes with more intent, which increases the effort. It's not just a convenient walk-by. You must go out of your way to be social. And with all that we have on our plates (those deliverables you are late with...), this can easily be curtailed to having social feel more like a burden than enjoyment.

Then, of course, there is the fear of being out of sight, out of mind. There is truth to that if you don't put energy into self promotion. You could be doing more work and receiving less recognition just because you are in the shadows. The physical person has the benefit of being seen each day, which creates a little marketing billboard for them each time. Without any effort, they are branding themselves. You, on the otherhand, need to make effort. You need to speak up on calls. You need to actively engage with senior leaders and peers. You need to toot your own horn. You must practice the ABC's of at-home promotion:

Always Be Communicating

Next time someone tells you that at-home work is easier, just smile and say "That's because I make it look easy!"

No, I won't be there in person

Usually I like to write articles that help the remote worker be the best at their job while away from the office. But today, I'm writing for you in-office folks.

When a person is full-time work at home, they will NOT be attending your meeting in person.

Read that one again: They will NOT be attending in person. Period. 

It is up to work at home people to be fully engaged in their job, with their teams, and with their customers. This requires extra effort and attention, making even the easy meetings tougher. But we do it because we love what we do, and where we do it. We're willing to burn extra calories and put in more time to make it work.

But it's a two-way street!

We need the people in the office to put in a little more effort in on the meetings they schedule. If you are only meeting with a handful of people, you should be able to look at their work locations (or even time zones for that matter) and select a meeting medium that works for all parties. If it's a larger meeting or you didn't have time to check that, you need to assume that someone typically cannot be there in person and always offer an alternative.

It's also not enough to give offer a phone number and expect that everyone receives a fair ability to participate. It's up to the host of the meeting to ensure that all participants can properly hear, see, share, and participate. Some tips to help:

• Ask if listeners can hear, and make sure you can hear them.
• Ask if listeners can see your video, and make sure you can see them.
• Ask if listeners can see your shared screen, and vice versa.
• Talk slow enough to allow for people to inject comments. There may be phone delays, or people just waiting for a pause in conversation.
• Purposefully pause to check in with listeners.
• Announce where you are when presenting materials, so that if there is a delay people can speak up.
• Eliminate in-room options from the meeting. Commit to an all-virtual meeting to keep everyone on equal footing.

It's a common misconception that people working from home are really in-office people electing to be at home that day. Employees that are truly work at home are there full time. All the time. They are not "popping in" to the office today because of your meeting. Don't treat these workers like second class citizens because they are at home. And don't insult them with comments like "in case you could make it in." They won't.