Angela Crocker - Work From Home Zone: Helping Entrepreneurs and Employees Integrate Work and Life

At first glance, working from home shines as a romantic solution to many on-the-job problems. Ideally, you can eliminate your commute, reduce your childcare costs, avoid the seasonal germ fest, reduce annoying co-worker distractions, fit in more fitness, and, in some cases, be your own boss. While all these things are true to some extent, a sober second look sharpens the realities of how to integrate your professional life with your home life. Its not as easy as it seems but it is possible to thrive as you work from home. This book is filled with practical strategies and skills to help you do that.

The goal is to reduce friction between your work and the rest of your life. By finding ways to integrate the things you do every day with the work you need to accomplish, both areas of your life are enriched. In part, youll look at how and when you spend your time. Youll also optimize the space youll use for work and fine-tune the technology that enables you to do your job. Meanwhile, youll find rhythm with the ebb and flow of daily life. This gives you the opportunity to prioritize the people and activities that are most important to you while still nurturing your professional life, or, at a minimum, earning an income to support your family.

Working from home is not a new concept. My grandfather, for example, ran a successful bookkeeping practice from his home starting in the 1960s until his death in the 1980s. During those same years, political volunteers, civil rights organizers, seamstresses, an army of Avon and Tupperware sales representatives, and many others worked from home.

As computer technology was developed, it became increasingly possible for families to have an in-home computer. While the computers of the early 80s were not nearly as capable as todays laptops, they did allow for word processing, spreadsheets, and other data entry. At the same time, the World Wide Web was maturing. Home access to the internet evolved from dial-up connections to high-speed. All of this technology made it feasible for even more of the workforce to work at home or, in many cases, for better or worse, to take work home.

In 2020, more workers than ever before experienced the work-from-home life for the first time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opportunity was thrust upon them as health officers ordered the immediate closure of workplaces in many public health regions. While this abrupt change was a stressful transition, workflows adapted to remote work and, in turn, remote workers adapted to working at home.

Many employers who, in the past, had resisted their employees working offsite learned that productivity remained high and there were cost savings in terms of commercial real estate, security services, cleaning expenses, and more. Several major corporations such as Microsoft, TELUS, and others announced that the majority of their workforce will no longer routinely work from corporate offices. More and more companies are following their lead as commercial real estate leases expire and workers seek greater flexibility. Some want to work from home full-time while others desire a hybrid model with some at-home days and some in-office days. Moving forward, working from home as a standard business practice is now an option for many categories of employees.

Admittedly, not all jobs can be done from home, at least not entirely. Grocery stores, restaurants, and more must serve their customers in-person. While numerous retail outlets offer online shopping, there is still a demand for brick-and-mortar stores, even if only for warehousing stock and curbside order pick-up. Similarly, industrial jobs in construction, manufacturing, and food processing all require their skilled workers on site. Further, personal care services such as hair styling, pedicures, and relaxation massages arent easily done at home.

Notably, first responders from paramedics to police officers to firefighters must be on the job, in person. Their medical counterparts in hospitals, diagnostic services, medical clinics, and complementary medicine provide mainly face-to-face care for their patients, even when some telehealth appointments are possible.

However, even businesses that provide in-person goods and services likely have some staff that can work from home, at least some of the time. Consider the work of business administrators in finance, human resources, marketing, and so on. In some cases, part of that work can be done from home so employees have the option to split their time between a home office and a companys business address. How does a hybrid workweek sound to you?

Meanwhile, entrepreneurs have more control over how and where they work. Often they work from home during the start-up phase because the business cannot yet afford office space or commercial premises. But not all entrepreneurs move their work outside their home when resources allow. Many design their businesses assuming their global headquarters will remain in their homes to reduce commute time, increase available working hours, accommodate childcare and eldercare, or for health reasons. In some cases, the decision is made based on real estate prices. The cost of a home in a suburban neighborhood or a smaller town is much lower than urban centers or high-value real estate markets like New York and Vancouver.

Ive been working from my home headquarters since 2009. At various times, Ive worked for myself or for an employer from my home office. Sometimes, Ive done both at the same time with a part-time job and part-time client work. My employment has included paid work and volunteer work in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. From big organizations to small businesses, Ive worked within several industries.

My clients included many small businesses and solo entrepreneurs so Ive seen an unusual number of home office configurations. From gloriously messy artists studios to clinical in-home physiotherapy setups to dining-room table takeovers, Ive seen it all. Some of these spaces are filled with garage sale furnishings while others are the elegant, functional product of an interior designers handiwork. Suffice it to say, no two home offices are alike!

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) conducted research into Canadians internet use. The report, Canadas Internet Factbook 2020, affirms that Im not the only Canadian who finds benefit in working from home. The report states, Despite not necessarily choosing to do so, many of us are seeing the benefits of working remotely. More than three-quarters say that spending less time commuting is the top benefit, but two-thirds say they are saving time in general. Fifty-four per cent of Canadians feel theyve achieved a better work-life balance and half are enjoying better flexibility with doing chores and errands. See www.cira.ca/resources/factbook/canadas-internet-factbook-2020.

In my own work-from-home experiences, Ive navigated the challenges of sharing space with a spouse who is also working from home. Ive done this through a series of parenting phases from toddler to teenager each with its own necessary accommodations. As a member of the sandwich generation, I navigated complex dementia care and hospice care for family elders. Ultimately, I acted as executor to settle two of their estates: an extra full-time job! During those same years, I faced some difficult medical issues that were, thankfully, resolved with surgery after five years of struggle. The only way my professional life survived was to integrate my work with the rest of my life.