AINA Haina resident Marty Wentzel has a short commute -- about 10 seconds. That's how long it takes her to carry a cup of coffee from her kitchen to the office, a 63-square-foot room sandwiched between two other bedrooms. The tight work space is packed with a computer, desk, chair, fax machine, telephone answer machine, files, window air conditioner and a nest of electrical cords.
"There's no place like home," the new convert to the home office culture said.
People normally commute in cars, buses, even planes to work and other activities on a regular basis. And while commuting may be a strategic part of our lives, the actual necessity to physically change location in order to accomplish business tasks has recently been challenged on the basis of concerns for energy conservation, impact on the environment, a refocusing on family values, saving money, and improving lifestyle.
Wentzel, a freelance writer specializing in travel, for five years shared a downtown office with another writer.
"I liked being downtown in the mainstream, walking outside running into people I knew, and it was so convenient picking up photos I needed for a story."
Then when her office partner relocated, Wentzel was unable to find someone else to share the space because "Everyone was working at home and liking it."
"People were so happy with it I thought there may be something to this," she said. "But I was still concerned about the isolation factor being at home all the time. I liked the separation of office and home, the personal and professional lives."
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
"I can get things done whenever they need to be done
and where ever I want to do them. My office is always
here or where ever I want it to be," says Mike McDonald,
who has been working out of his Kailua home
for more than a year.
That was two months ago and like about 40 million other Americans who work where they live, Wentzel is an advocate of telecommuting."It was bumpy at first, but I've learned that I'm not cut off from the mainstream at all. I'm constantly going to news conferences, doing interviews or attending professional gatherings. I'm out as much as I'm in."
According to IDC/Link, a market research firm in New York, nearly 13 million Americans operated full-time businesses from their converted bedrooms, porches and garages in 1995. Fourteen million more had part-time home businesses, and 8 million telecommuted from home offices for work they bring home with them.
Today, the domestic office is becoming one of the most polished rooms in the house as millions of home workers are discovering, as crisis, choice or chance prompts them to launch and operate companies out of home offices.
It's called telecommuting, defined as "the partial or total substitution of telecommunications technology for the trip to and from the primary work place along with the associated changes in policy, organization, management, and work structure."
More simply put, telecommuting is moving the work to the workers, instead of the workers to work. Work becomes something people do rather than someplace where people go.
Mike McDonald has been a software support services employee for NCR for six years and a telecommuter in his Kailua home for a year. The Ohio-based company specializes in transaction-processing systems like automated teller machines and scanners.
Working at home "gives me a lot of freedom to move around and I don't have to worry about being at the main office when I need to get things done," said McDonald who converted half of one of his three bedrooms into a virtual office. "I can get things done whenever they need to be done and where ever I want to do them. If I have a big job to do I don't have to worry about having to be in the office early or staying late. My office is always here or where ever I want it to be."
But like many large companies NCR executives had to be convinced to take the place out of "workplace" for its 2,500 sales and support people, including a dozen or so in Hawaii.
There are three major barriers to implementing a telecommuting program, said Romano Durini, NCR general manager in Hawaii and supervisors of the company's telecommuters here.
"A successful program means providing a reliable computer and communications lifeline back to the office that includes support staff for the worker; training managers how to supervise telecommuting employees; and training telecommuters how to maximize productivity," he said.
NCR officials, like other companies and freelancers have come to realize that the new workplace definitions share three characteristics:
Location is not critical to performing a job;
There has been a 30-percent increase in the past two years in fulltime telecommuters, according to the telecommuting advocacy group Telecommute America.
(Telecommute America is an initiative undertaken by several public and private organizations to educate the public about telecommuting and its benefits, and to serve as a resource for those who are interested in establishing telecommuting programs. The founding members are: Association for Commuter Transportation; AT&T; U.S. Department of Commerce; U.S. Department of Transportation; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. General Services Administration.)
Nearly half of the company's polled by Telecommute America in a recent survey said telecommuting has increased productivity and ended up saving the company money. NCR has exceeded every goal in its program, Durini said.
According to published reports, NCR saw an average 25-percent gain in revenue per person that they attribute to the telecommuting program; sales managers increased the time spent with 25 to 50 percent; employee satisfaction measured every six months went from the low 40s to 75, on a scale of I00; and customer satisfaction increased from 50 to 60.
The company also went from 128 offices, either owned or leased, to 46.
"Show me the downside to telecommuting," Durini challenged.
Telecommute America's surveys also showed that more than three-quarters of current telecommuters say they're more productive at home because there are fewer interruptions.
For freelancers like Wentzel, the decision to work at home partly was an economic necessity to keep capital costs down and avoid office rent.
"I can work a lot more effectively at home because I don't have a commute," she said. "I save a lot of money on clothes, lunches and parking."
McDonald agrees.
"There's a tremendous savings in money, far less stress, and I don't have to deal with that commute over the Pali every morning and afternoon," he said.
The surge in telecommuting has been aided the last two years with the advent of computers, copy machines and other office products that are targeting the small office and home office market, according to Telecommute America. Many companies, like NCR, provide all the equipment and office furniture an employee needs to set up a home office from computers to desks.
One of the most often cited reasons for wonting to work at home is it allows the work-at-home spouse to be more available to small children. But in actuality, that's an illusion, said Wentzel, mother of a young daughter.
"I couldn't work here if she was at home with me," said Wentzel who's daughter is in pre-school. "You can't work effectively at home with lots of intrusions. My editors may be put off by the perception that I'm only half listening."
But working from home does allow parents to be more available to children. Wentzel is able to take Sophia to school and pick her up.
"Taking her to school is my mental transition from mom to professional woman, and picking her up puts me back in the mom mode," she said.
McDonald goes "online" about 7:30 a.m. daily to start downloading e-mail, then makes his coffee.
"I start working earlier because I don't have to commute," he said. "I used to leave the house about 7 and take as much as an hour to get into town."
Lunch for home workers is usually as far away as the kitchen rather than leaving the office to go out.
"I grab something to eat here then go right back to work," he said. "I save money and the company gets more work time from me."
The major reason most businesses are reluctant to allow employees to telecommute is they want their employees in the office when they want to talk with them, call a spontaneous meeting or perceive a work crisis, said Durini.
"There's lot to be said about face-to-face daily meetings," he said. "And I suppose there would be more one-on-one planning too but we do daily teleconferencing."
The key to successful telecommuting, Durini and Telecommute America officials said, is "communication." Physically, there are lots of tools available to monitor employees, Durini said.
"Our employees have a pager, fax, laptop and cellular phone to stay in touch," he said. "It's no more difficult to punch in the keys on a pager than it is trying to locate them in the office."
The growth of e-mail, voice mail and the Internet, combined with a renewed emphasis on work results rather than workplace appearances, have encouraged managers to recognize that "employees working part-time down the road are no more distant than employees working down the hall," said Thomas E. Miller, FIND/SVP vice president.
"What matters most is whether or not the job is getting done."
Not all jobs are appropriate for telecommuting. Telecommuting: Pros, cons and
whether your job worksBut there are several which fit ideally. They include: people who handle information like reports, proposals, data or research. So jobs having these requirements include writers, salespeople, accountants, programmers, graphic artists, researchers, engineers, and architects.
Benefits
Once a person arrives at work in a central office location, he or she represents another energy consumer, often times magnified many times over what would be required at home. Office buildings in Hawaii have cooling and lighting needs, and the materials to build it and maintain it require energy in their production and transportation. Working from home requires only modest incremental demands on energy for heating, cooling and lighting needs, and makes effective use of existing building space and facilities.
Drawbacks
Tips
Ideally, your home office should be a separate room. If one isn't available, choose a corner or space that will belong to you alone. At home with your work station
Consider whether there's enough space for a desk and other equipment you'll need. Is there a convenient electrical outlet and telephone jack? If not, have them installed.
How do you determine the right amount of shelving for a home office?
According to a formula in "Making the Most of Work Spaces" by Lorrie Mack ($19.96), calculate the space you can fill now, then add 25 percent to 50 percent extra.
Divide a wall-to-wall work surface into segments for different tasks (or different people) with a row of three or four classical columns that run from desktop to ceiling. This idea is from another good file of visual resources, "For Your Home: Home Offices" by Lisa Skolnik ($12.95).
To keep his work space flexible, one homeowner in Paul's book bought inexpensive, white-laminate bookshelves from Ikea, then installed his own casters so the shelves could roll freely around the office or even screen his desk from view. A tip on casters: Order them to suit your flooring -- wood or carpet -- and the weight of the load. Then buy the best you can afford.
Your desk doesn't have to be a standard desk. All you really need is a spacious surface to write on, take messages and generally conduct business. Whatever you choose, it should be sturdy and a comfortable height.
Many home offices borrow space from an existing room. A small guest room can do double duty as a home office with the addition of a compact wall unit. A wide variety of these are available at office furniture stores and come with shelves, drawers, desk, a computer center, and slide-out and pull-down work surfaces.
But remember: a good home office provides a sense of separation from other household activities. You might want to buy a partial wall, a ceiling-high cabinet or other partition that will separate you psychologically from the rest of the house.
A converted closet can serve your purpose too. Decent lighting and electrical outlets can be added as well as simple shelving to put books and other materials within easy reach. Then some folding doors can hide your office from view when it's not in use.
Some people even try using their kitchen as a the location for a home office. A small desk and filing cabinet might be able to fit into an underutilized nook.
Here are some tips to help you operate your home office in a businesslike manner:
