Is It For You?:
Telecommuter Profile
Telecommuting Self-Assessment

Telecommuting is not for everyone:

• You can get lonely and miss being with people every day.
• You may feel isolated and invisible.
• You might lose sight of goals and feel de-motivated.
• You could detest some of the mundane aspects of working from home.
• You might experience more conflict with your family.

And it's not easy:

• You may find yourself working more hours than before you telecommuted.
• You could be frustrated by the hassles of technology when it fails.
• You can run into problems with co-workers who resent your telecommuting.
• You might experience breakdowns in communication with your boss or your team.
• You could find yourself spending more time than you imagined serving as your own maintenance person, computer technician, electrician, office designer, furniture mover and filing clerk.

But the rewards are tremendous! As other telecommuters will tell you:

• "I'm so much more productive than when I commuted to the office everyday."
• "Now I can actually concentrate and think clearly without all the distractions and interruptions I used to deal with in the corporate office."
• "I love telecommuting…and my kids like having me closer to home. We see more of each other now, and that's worth any trade-offs that come with telecommuting."
• "It's helped me increase my output, be more responsive to customers, have more time for exercise and eliminate much of the stress I felt from my long commute everyday."

You're certainly not alone if you find yourself wanting to telecommute or you've already jumped on the telecommuting bandwagon. There are distinct skills, attitudes and behaviors essential to that success. Many of these can be learned, developed, reinforced and honed once you're aware of them and understand your own strengths and weaknesses with regard to the criteria for successful telecommuting.

To learn more about the likelihood of your success as a telecommuter, check out the following:

Telecommuter Profile
Telecommuting Self-Assessment