Two days a week I am 5 minutes from my office workshifting at home. This lets me see more of my children and helps me better understand both the products I market (GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting, mainly) and the audience I market them to. Sometimes it's convenient to be just 5 minutes away - if something comes up that requires my physical presence, I can change out of my pajamas and go in.
But sometimes I wish I lived farther away. I think I would commit more fully to being a workshifter then, because I wouldn't have the security of an easy out. I would be less likely to accept in-person meetings on my workshifting days. I would create a better home office environment. I might even get dressed before noon.
One thing I'm sure I would do is devise a workplace continuity plan.
Most people think workplace continuity is only for big corporations that need to minimize losses in the case of weather disruptions, natural disasters or epidemics - for which the solution is commonly workshifting. But if you're already workshifting, you can have disruptions, too. And whether you're an independent contractor or an established employee, when people depend on you to get a job done, you can impress them by delivering the goods in spite of obstacles that may come your way. Plus, if you're not salaried, you keep the money rolling in.
What kind of obstacles would you need to plan for? Here are a few common ones to think about:
You lose your Internet connection.
What do you do? Go to a friend's house, a coffee shop, the library? Designate a Plan A location that's close by and a Plan B that's far enough away that you can escape regional outage problems.
You lose electricity.
Is it just you (go to Plan B then) or is your whole area affected? For the latter, plan who you'd need to call to tell them you couldn't work - and make sure their numbers are not just stored in your computer.
Your computer crashes.
If my work-owned laptop crashes, I drive to my office, request a new one and work there while the order is processed. Then I'm usually back to workshifting in a day or so. When you own the computer you depend on for work, you've got to rely on yourself. If it's not economically feasible to have your own back-up computer, plan how you would continue working until you could fix or replace yours. Does a friend have a computer you could borrow? Could you work on a public computer at the library or somewhere else?
Your home office is invaded by unexpected guests.
Insects or in-laws (you may consider them synonymous, but I happen to like my in-laws) may make your home office temporarily unworkable. If you can't find a way to divert them elsewhere, make an escape to your Plan A or B location.
This is just a start. What other disruptions would you recommend workshifters plan for?
Photo Credit: stewf
