by Jenny Jarrard

I need (or want) to admit something to the editors and readers of Work-at-Home.org. But first, let’s get to the point of this article: The point is that working at home sucks. If you have a work at home job, think again. You do not want to do this. If you do, you will run afoul of others’ expectations and perceptions, and you’ll find yourself forced to deal with them head-on with others, as well as inside your own mind. Here are some bugbears I’ve run into:

Work at home jobs are for non-professionals.

This is true. True professionals report like robots to the same place every day, little white knuckles where their hands dutifully clutch the handles of their briefcases. They see their co-workers more than they see their kids. Weekends and holidays are when these dedicated, professional, robotic creatures catch up on their lives…. The two days a week when they don’t have to dress up. What? You NEVER have to dress up unless you really want to go somewhere fancy? You live your life not only on weekends but everyday? Maybe you’re not professional. Or perhaps you’re a new, modern breed of professional, you’re a professional with a work at home job. And if I may channel 1997 for a moment, it’s time for the corporate world to give us our props.

Having a work at home job means
you can't commit to a "real job".

That’s what your mother-in-law might say so it must be true. OK, it is true. But may I ask, when’s the last time a job committed to you? When a corporation and the individual work cooperatively, it’s a great thing. But as anyone who’s lost their job in a Borg-Reorg can attest, your function, a.k.a. job, ceases to exist if it loses its value to someone else’s financial bottom line. The result for you, in technical language, is that this blows. A work at home professional is committed to their own wonderful personal and professional identity despite location, and is open to change as the market or personal situation dictate. If you have a work at home job, you know. The resulting worker integrity benefits employees and employers.

Work at home jobs are for people to be a Jack all trades but master of none. Now, this is absolutely true. In the corporate world, most job performance is judged on consistency: Are you performing your robotic duties exactly as expected?  Did you meet the goals you set six months ago? Has your performance faltered or improved, irrespective of department performance? Are you a steady “contributor,” or are you management-bound? Consistency is different from competency. Working at home requires that you strive for more than improvement to someone else’s standard. You are free to achieve and will learn a big lesson if you don’t. You can’t assume you’re an M-to-the-A to-the-S on up in-the-T driving-like-heck-to-the-ER from the scene, according to the bell curve.

Now, about that admission: Yes, I am working on my nice sleigh bed, under crisp sheets and a spring quilt, in a T-shirt and my Hanes Her Ways. It’s a challenge, but I’m up to it. So, are you? Put on your big-girl panties and see!

Like many of us that work at home, Jenny Jarrard has not utilized business attire since 2004 but has a nice collection of tighty whiteys. After several years as a technical writer, she is now a novelist, writer, supporter of the work at home lifestyle, and overly involved mother to orchid plants. You can visit and read more of Jenny’s work at www.jennyjarrard.net

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