I'm part of a couple different groups on LinkedIn. Recently, a thread was started entitled: "Hi All: Is working remotely a common situation for a technical writer who has a fulltime position in an organization."
The topic was posed by a college-level professor who teaches technical writing. From the sounds of it, she was wondering what to tell her students about this subject. There was a great community response from the post - lots of professionals posted their experiences, likes and desires. Since I'm a big fan of working remotely, I weighed in on the topic and I thought I'd also share my response here...
"I agree - while working remotely is becoming more common within technical writing, it is by no means normal or should be expected. One of the reasons I started my own freelance technical writing/training solutions company is to add more flexibility into my schedule. Writing in an 8-5 environment is often hard and I like the flexibility of being able to walk away for an hour or two then coming back and working until 9pm - essentially working to be productive instead of simply putting in "standard" work hours.
Being a freelancer takes the focus off of the hours you put in (I put in far more than 40 hour weeks!) and focuses more on results – often those results take more or less hours than you anticipated. I find I’m much more productive when I’m not required to put in X hours. A career coach once told me that you can stretch out any task to fill the hours. I’ve found this is so true! When you’re freelancing and building a solid client base, your time becomes much more valuable, thus you learn to be very productive with your time.
However, the declining economy has led me back to a more corporate setting and I was lucky enough to land a contract with a company who has an established work from home program. I work at least one day from home, sometimes two depending on the current projects (often more on various weeks if I'm working on training videos since the dept does not have the audio equipment & software set up I need to produce what they want.) I find that I don't like being away from the office more than 2 days a week - I lose touch with the ever-changing environment; and, unfortunately, the culture that exists at this organization still wonders if you actually "work" while you're at home.
To combat this, I try to target my home time for projects that are difficult to do in a cube setting - editing (because it's quiet) or writing (at times). And I make sure I'm available via the corporate IM solution just like I would be in the office. It does require a good amount of trust - and that trust has to be keep up long-term (at least within my current contract) as it is fragile. Once doubt enters into your manager’s head that you’re slacking off during work from home days, it is very hard to overcome; better to not let that doubt enter at all.
I was disappointed to read that some employers might think of a candidate as “high-maintenance” if they ask about working remotely in during an interview. When I interview, I strive to be honest and up-front about what I can do for the company and what I need to be a highly productive member of the team. Work from home is important as I live an hour a way from most major employers and a 2-hour commute daily makes it hard to keep a work-life balance and take care of my family. A strict M-F, 8-5 environment would be hard for me to work within long-term. Short-term it’s essential to learn about the new environment, product, project team, etc. Long-term, it would burn me out.
As for students or those new to technical writing, I think being on-site is ESSENTIAL for the first 2-5 years (or longer, depending). Especially for those coming out of college, working in a corporate environment can be overwhelming - the work & deadlines combined with the new social and political situations. You need to be on-site, listening, learning and being part of that culture so that you can learn how to continue to engage with that culture if you get the privilege of working off-site.
Working remotely is definitely an art - you have to learn how to do it effectively, make mistakes, learn from them and move on and be VERY conscious of your productivity and your interactions with your team and clients. My hope is that those of us who are successful freelancers and/or who work well outside a typical office setting continue to foster trust, be highly-productive and make a good name (so to speak) for working remotely within this industry."
If you have an opinion or questions about freelancing or working remotely, leave a comment, email me or join the LinkedIn group and post a message.