How'd you like to change that? You can still have your job, but also have more time for the rest of your life. And you can save on expenses. It can be yours if instead of taking yourself to your work, you bring your work to your virtual office.

A virtual office is a work site outside of the traditional office where you do the same thing you did in a traditional office. You might be a telecommuter--someone who works for an employer in or near their home all or part of the week. Or you can work for yourself. It's virtual because you equip it with technology that lets you create whatever you need for the traditional office.

Your company benefits too. People who have more balance in their lives and can work at their peak times and manage their time, are less stressed and make better employees.

Alice Bredin, author of The Virtual Office Survival Handbook (Wiley) quotes independent studies showing telecommuters are more productive, take fewer sick days, are less likely to leave their companies for other jobs (which reduces high turnover and retraining for your company.)

This doesn't have to be an expensive venture. A virtual office can be as basic as paper, pen and telephone. Many telecommuters work on their own computers or share laptops with other employees.

Technology can allow you to use a single phone line as a modem, fax and phone while downloading a graphic.

Because of the 1990 Federal Clean Air Act, some companies with 100 or more employees at one work site are mandated to reduce the pollution their employees generate getting to work. Telecommuting is one way to do that.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires businesses of certain sizes to employ a percentage of disabled people. "Instead of going through the time and hassle of arranging for private transportation or dealing with the aggravation of public transportation, both companies and employees alike prefer setting the employee up in a home office," says Lisa Shaw, author of Telecommute! Go to Work without Leaving Home (Wiley.)

If you're going to be an effective home office worker, says Bredin, you must have the ability to manage your time, deal with challenges and distractions, manage business support relationships and balance business with the rest of your life. She gives a Quick Home Office Readiness Survey to test yourself.

First you have to sell your management on the idea. Be ready to hear objections, she says, such as: "It's not our policy...If I let you do it everyone will want to do it...What if we need you and you're not here."

Some jobs don't make for good telecommuting such as managers at high levels in a company, employees at lower levels who need feedback, manufacturing workers and some health care professionals, says Shaw.

But if you have a job such as writer, data-entry clerk, computer programmer, sales representative, engineer or stockbroker, check out her book for details on how to propose an arrangement and a Telecommuting Agreement sample.

© by Andrea Kay