Telecommuting - Sleeping on the Job
The way I see it, there are three factors you need to consider when you are working. And while these are important wherever you work, I believe they are even more significant to take stock of when you work from home:*Are you getting your job done?
Remember, most salaried employees are being paid to do a job and not (in theory) paid for a certain number of hours worked. When you"re telecommuting, your manager can"t measure you as easily by when you "clock in" and "clock out" of the office, but needs to rely more on true measures of productivity. Are you accomplishing all the work he gives you in a high quality, and timely, manner?Ò
*Are you working close to your expected 8+ hours per day?
While in theory, a salaried person is not supposed to track his time, we all know the reality that management expects us to put in a full day, consistently, every day (barring special circumstances). If you"re a super-star, you may be able to get 8 hours worth of work done in 4 hours. But even then, your manager probably expects you"ll work the full 8 hours, do twice what your peers can achieve, and he"ll reward you for it through bonuses, etc.
I"m amazed at how many people I know say they can work twice as fast as the average employee - apparently there are a huge number of below -average people out there I"ve never encountered! Reality check - even if you do think you outperform your peers, put in a full day anyway and let your boss judge the quality, and quantity of your output.
*Are you available during the hours that your boss and co-workers need to reach you?
Barring any special arrangements you may have worked out, there"s probably an average time frame during the weekdays that your team expects you to be around. This can vary from industry to industry, company to company. But in general the hours that you work should roughly coincide with those that your peers work. They need to be able to reach you via an Instant Message (IM) or get a quick response to an email, most of the time, on a typical day. Otherwise they"ll start to wonder whether you really are working hard in that "cushy" telecommuting job you"ve got.Ò
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So long as you take these 3 factors into account, using some discretion with how you spend every minute of your day is reasonable.
When people work in the office, they often choose to take a long lunch with friends, or take a break mid-afternoon to do a workout, or even spend the first Ò½ hour they get into the office reading the news online and attending to some personal tasks. They may come in a little early or stay a little late to make up the time, but these kinds of non-work activities are perfectly acceptable and accepted within our working culture.
So why should it be any different at home? Who cares if you choose to spend your breaks working out or taking a nap, having lunch with a coworker or sitting on the couch with a sandwich watching Oprah, tending to some personal tasks online or starting a load of laundry? How you spend your free time is your business, as long as you make sure it truly is your free time that you"re spending!