The Telecommuting Mom

Maybe. At least this article from Business Week says so. Using research from Pearn Kandola the article states that “employees who chase socialization thrive in the land of virtual work. The office gabbers. Those who are life of the break-room party. Left on their own, these types of workers are the ones who work closely with clients, chum around with colleagues, and talk it up with bosses. They stay connected no matter where they are. It comes naturally to them.”  And that “Mobile workers are far more organized, personally, than their office-bound counterparts. They have to be on top of their game the whole time.”

As a work-from-homer I  agree with this . Just ask my husband. My organization skills sometimes drive him crazy. In fact one of my favorite “hobbies” is purging the house of stuff. If I haven’t used it in the last six months it’s outta here.

To maintain productivity in the home office and simply keep track of what projects I am working on I create folders for each of the three societies I manage. The folders are key to my organization, though my system certainly wouldn’t work for everyone. I have one file drawer next to my desk for Open Projects. In that file drawer are three file folders, one for each client. Within each folder is a notepad with a list of current projects, notes for follow-ups, etc. On any given day that I am working I can take out one file folder and know exactly what needs to be worked on and what needs to be followed up. I also keep a master calendar with the dates for each Board meeting I attend as well as the workshops I organize.

Each association also has it’s own filing cabinet. Each cabinet is well organized and I credit that to lack of actual paper. I could have years of membership applications stuffing the files full, however I digitize the past years materials every month, using a document scanning service called Pixily.  This not only provides greater ease when searching for a document, but I can also create multiple back-ups to distribute to the Presidents of the societies. I once heard a horror story about years worth of paper destroyed from a flooded basement where the files were being kept. No one wants boxes of materials filling their office or their basement, but a few discs are okay by most everyone.

As a telecommuter I really believe organization is key to success.

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