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How much is telecommuting worth to you? People have all sorts of reasons to want to telecommute, money being just one of them. So when you’re job hunting, and you find a job that allows telecommuting, factor the cost and other savings of this benefit into the salary and overall compensation package being offered. It might just sway your decision on how good that offer looks!

Many people rate telecommuting as an important benefit in their jobs. And so they should. Telecommuting saves you the time you’d otherwise spend on the road and the cost of gas for the commute (which is getting more and more expensive) - and those are just the two most tangible benefits. The long list is, well… long.

I realize this is not news to most people. Yet somehow, people forget to factor these items in when making decisions on what job to choose. Let’s take an example. Say you have two job offers. Both look equally as interesting and rewarding and they offer similar salaries. But the one with the slightly lower salary will let you telecommute four days/week. What does that do for your family budget’s bottom line?

First there’s the actual cost savings:

Gas: $40/week. Let’s say you live 30 miles from the job and your car gets 25 miles to the gallon. That’s nearly 10 gallons per week you’re saving – at the current $4/gallon rates.

Clothing: $20/week. Consider the savings on your office wardrobe and dry-cleaning bills. Now that you’re only dressing in corporate garb once/week, how much will you save?

Food: $40/week. Grabbing something from your fridge at home may cost you a couple dollars for lunch, compared to the $10+ the cafeteria charges. And those fancy coffee drinks at $4 or more each don’t compare to the pennies it costs to make a coffee at home. Let’s say you save at least $10 on the days you don’t go in.

That’s $100/week right there. In the average working year you’re looking at close to $5,000.

There are also significant time savings:

Commute: 4 hours/week: You can probably save 1 hour each day just by avoiding the commute.

Increased work effectiveness: 2 hours/week. How much time do you waste at work from gossiping coworkers and idle chit-chat. Believe it or not you probably can save at least 1/2 hour per day just from avoiding that (and that’s a conservative estimate).

Then there are the less tangible benefits:

• Avoiding the high-fat, -sodium and –sugar content of the cafeteria food as well as the candies on your co-worker’s desk is better for both your waistline and your arteries.
• Avoiding the stress that comes with fighting heavy traffic to and from work in rush hour improves your physical and mental health, as well as your relationships with your family members.
• Use the time you’re saving to finally start up that exercise routine you’ve been meaning to do. A regular exercise program will reduce stress, improve relationships, reduce your medical expenses, increase your longevity, and make you look and feel better!
• Working from home gives you the flexibility to fit in an appointment, have the occasional breakfast with your kids or attend their ballet recitals.
• Taking a car off the road 4 out of every 5 workdays does so much more for the environment than putting in a couple fluorescent light-bulbs in your house!
• Avoiding public germ-ridden offices reduces your frequency of colds and other illnesses.

So remember those 2 jobs in the example? Suddenly the telecommuting one increases your relative salary by $5K after taxes (what’s that to you pre-tax?), reduces your workweek by 6 hours, and includes all the other benefits above.

Now which job are you going to choose?

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If you signed up for my Top 10 Telecommuter Mistakes list you’ve been getting weekly emails discussing each of the top 10 mistakes and what you can do to make sure you do not fall victim to these concerns (if you haven’t signed up, grab your copy for free now using the signup in the right-hand column of my blog site).

At the end of these emails I offer you a turn to speak up. I’d love to hear from you. This is your chance to tell me what you think of my tips and advice so far, what I could do differently to make your experience better, what other information you want from me, or just a quick hello to let me know you’re out there.

So don’t be shy - post a comment and let me know what you want from me!

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Doh - I forgot to eat lunch today. Now that’s a hazard of telecommuting!

When you’re in the office, around lunch time you start to notice the food smells wafting your way. And the increased activity of people around you starting to get up and head to the cafeteria or out to their cars. Hopefully you even have a coworker or two asking you if you’ll be joining them for lunch!

But at home you’re just working, working, working. I had a few meetings, had a bunch of work to get done in between the meetings. And before I realized it was 3pm and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Now I’m not one of those folks who often skips meals. I have a high metabolism and get hungry all the time. So I was really shocked to have gone so long without food - especially since I wasn’t handling any fire drills today.

Oh well, a snack at 3pm will have to suffice. Maybe I should set a reminder in my calendar to eat!

Technorati Tags: telecommute, telecommuting, work from home

I just took a 3-day training class where I had to be in the office all day, each day. I’m not used to the commute, but I survived. My hubby had to handle all the stuff with the kids - getting them up, fed, dressed, and off to daycare. I spent that time on the road instead.

What’s funny is now I’m back home again it actually seems strange. I mean I was only in the office for 3 days. But today, working from home, I had a couple moments when I felt a little lonely in the house all by myself. Just goes to show there really is an adjustment to be prepared for when you telecommute. But it’s manage-able - being prepared for it is probably the most important thing - just knowing you’ll feel some sense of isolation. But there are lots of things you can do (see some of my previous posts) to alleviate it.

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Don’t mistake working-from-home with hardly-working. Telecommuting means simply that you’re performing your work from home. Choosing how much work you do when you’re at home is no different than it is in the office.

Some people fall into the trap of asuming that since they telecommute, they can slack off a bit because they’re saving all that time commuting. And it’s true, if you’re used to a 1 hour commute every morning and again every evening, you’re going to get a lot of time back when you telecommute. You can probably sleep in a bit in the mornings! Heck, you can sleep in for a full 2 hours if that’s where you want to spend all your saved time. But then you don’t get to slack off for other parts of the day.

Keep track of your time - especially when you first start telecommuting. Figure out how many hours you *really* worked in the office (no, lunch with your teammates, unless you’re talking shop, doesn’t count). Then make sure you’re putting in the same kind of time at home. It may be during different parts of the day. You may start work earlier because you get up at the same time, skip the shower and getting dressed bit, and head straight for your computer. But then you may take a break to do some jobs around the house at lunch time. And you’ve still got to get your  shower in at some point - even if it’s not until 3pm!

The point is to make sure you’re getting your work done. After you’ve been telecommuting a long time, this will all become second nature - you’ll get your rhythm down. Just make sure you don’t start off on the wrong foot or you’ll either find your career suffering or just decide that telecommuting isn’t right for you. And that would be a real shame!

Technorati Tags: telecommuting, telecommute, work from home, productivity, work at home