Careers & Management - Interview with Margaret Davis

Margaret, your latest how to article is about working effectively from home. Some bosses worry that if they allow employees to work from home, they will spend their time watching CAT videos on YouTube and not doing their jobs. Is this fear justified? Well, it's certainly understandable. If no one is checking up on employees, they could be goofing off instead of working. But most studies show the opposite. Remote workers want to prove they're reliable, so many of them actually work more hours from home than they would if they were in the office. And you have to realize that even when people are in the office, they aren't working every single minute there, chatting with colleagues, making coffee and so on. It's not as if people come in at nine and work nonstop till five. So does that mean remote workers are more productive than office workers? Not necessarily. But depending on what sort of job you have, you could find it easier to concentrate by yourself in your home office, then at work in a busier environment, like an office you share with one or two others or an open plan office where there's a lot going on as someone who writes articles for a living, I often find it easier to write at home, especially if I have a longer article to produce. And what about distractions? How do you deal with them? I think it's important to know your own working style and to recognize what is likely to distract you. For example, I have a colleague who works outside on her balcony in summer. That's something I couldn't do. I'd be noticing things that needed doing in the garden or watching the neighbor's cat trying to catch birds or just wishing I had the day off. Better to stay inside and work with full concentration and then take a garden break later on. Well, that's better for me. I'm sure my colleague would disagree. Yes, I think I might, too. But excellent advice as always, Margaret on many Thanks for coming in again to talk to us. You're welcome. Thank you.