How To Telecommute from an Apartment

It has become increasing popular for employers to offer telecommuting, working from a remote or home location, as an option to their employers. Frisco is home to many young professionals in the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex. Since there are several large employers with offices in the Frisco area, such as major hotel chain Hilton and large technology companies such as Sprint and McAfee, offer telecommuting options to a portion of their workforce. These employees are required to complete their daily tasks and duties from a home office. Whether you live in Frisco, or an apartment in another area, if you are entering the telecommuting workforce and will be working full-time from your apartment, here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind.

Ensure connectivity

Since you will need to maintain stable internet and telephone connections, you will need to make sure that your apartment accommodates both. If your apartment community offers internet connectivity as an amenity at no extra charge, you may consider getting a secondary or wireless card connection to avoid any outages that may occur. If you are using a VOIP (voice over IP) phone connection, you may consider getting a landline so that you don’t lose your ability to make or receive phone calls in the even of an internet outage. Likewise, if you’ll use your cell phone as your primary line, you want to ensure that you have good signal coverage as well as an extra battery for extended battery life. Finally, if your current apartment community doesn’t have a business center that can be used by tenants, you may consider finding a property that does. This will allow you to have another backup plan if all else fails.

Determine best schedule

When working from home, it is necessary to maintain a consistent and dedicated schedule that allows you to work with limited interruptions. You should ensure that if you’re allowed to set your own schedule, you eliminate the distractions that could detract from your ability to work productively. In addition, because you are living in a shared community, you will need to consider other factors as well. For instance, if the landscaping servicing company comes weekly and your home office is located by a window, it may be necessary for you to schedule around that time so that any phone calls you receive won’t be interrupted with the sound of a lawn mower. Other things that you should consider are your neighbors and their habits if they tend to have higher noise levels.

Have a dedicated office and work routine

When you are working from home full-time, it is necessary to make sure that you have a dedicated area that allows you to concentrate on work. Working in the living room with the television tuned to your favorite news program is probably not a wise decision. While it may seem fun to work all day in your pajamas, you may find you get going faster by showering, grabbing coffee and breakfast, and getting dressed just as if you’re going into an office. Not only will this help to wake you up and start your day, but it will also help you to remember that even though you’re working from you’re expected to be professional and productive. Having a dedicated office area will also help to keep your work documents and files separate and organized for easy access.

Have a quitting time

This may seem like a given but many people that work from home find that they have a hard time transitioning from their work day to their personal time. Because you will already be home, it’s easy to keep churning and burning to accomplish your to-do lists and check off your tasks. While this is an admirable trait, it can also develop into a bad habit if you’re not careful. Have some hard stop times and don’t get into the habit of sacrificing your lunch or personal time just because you’re already home. Likewise, once you have called it quits for the day, don’t be tempted to complete tasks off the clock. Not only is this not allowing you wind down time, but it can also set up false expectations of your production levels. You want to be able to account for your time and work completed, especially if you have a skeptical boss, but you want to be careful not to give your boss the wrong idea of how much you can accomplish in a dedicated work day.

Telecommuting is not a great option for all employees but for the right employee, it’s an option that can be mutually beneficial for both the employer and employee. In addition, working from an apartment introduces some unique dynamics. However, it is not impossible to be a successful telecommuter if you plan and prepare.