One of the things I love best about my job is that I can do it from anywhere. This is a great benefit that I think more employers should offer to their employees. It provides flexibility to the employees. We’ve also found that our employees are more productive.

I was fortunate enough to continue working for The M Network even though my family and me moved to Iowa for six years from June 2009 to July 2015.

Now I do not think working from home, or remotely, is for everyone. If you’re going to do this, you’ll have to be very disciplined.

There were some keys for me that may also be helpful to you:

• I set up an actual office in my home.
• I got ready for work as I normally would. I needed to feel like I was going to work. And, let’s face it, I really didn’t want to have a face to face conference calls in my pajamas!
• I also set work hours so that I could separate my work and home life.

In the six years I worked out of the office, I did miss the office environment. Mostly, I missed the human interaction. I used to leave the TV on just so there was background noise, similar to what you would hear in an office. Additionally, I tried to travel back every three months for a week or two just so everyone would remember I was a real person, not just a person on a screen.

Even though I do not work remotely all the time now I still try to work from home one day a week. That gives me a break from the long drive in Miami traffic, which could be both time consuming and stress inducing.

Working remotely has given M Network employees, including me, the opportunity to visit family, travel out of the country, or run away from hurricanes, while still working as needed (or desired).

The big take-away on working remotely, though, is that for it to work, communication is key. The employee must let their employer know the hours they are working, when they are going to be away from their work area and what they are working on so the employer has the option to make changes to their work day.

If you can handle those caveats, working remotely might be a good thing for you and your employees.