Working at home is a wonderful opportunity: no commute, comfortable surroundings, setting the schedule, maybe even being the boss. However, one of the challenges of working at home is that loneliness can creep up. While the UPS delivery person does not count as fulfilling outside contact, combating work at home loneliness is not impossible.
Professional Organizations
Even women who not think of themselves as “joiners” need to have outside contacts to avoid isolation burn out. Membership in professional organizations, associations, or the local Chamber of Commerce is not only good for the resume, but is also an opportunity to keep up with current ideas and to network and build business contacts. By joining networking groups and organizations women simultaneously gain social interaction and build their business.
Mompreneurs
The prevalence of mothers who work at home with their own businesses has expanded to the extent that now they have their own label: mompreneurs. Work at home mothers (WAHMs) have additional challenges of balancing family and work obligations often in the same space. Work at home mothers see their children and even have regular play dates, and these interactions are an important part of their lives, but may not be professionally fulfilling. Talking to other working mothers about how they integrate outside employment into their family’s life is a good start.
Schedule It In
Personal interaction is an important part of everyone’s professional day, via phone calls or face-to-face conversations. But for women who work at home, these stimulating conversations can be few and far between and sometimes the only way to ensure that it happens is to schedule it in. Whether writing “make phone calls” into the planner at a certain time of day, or making personal appointments every week, when work at home women schedule outside contact into their work days they can alleviate the loneliness factor that can be a part of the work at home day.
Working Circle
Work at home women may need to force themselves to make outside contacts, or even to find a way to build in the camaraderie of co-workers, and creating a working circle can do this. A working circle is one way to do this. Talk to other women who work at home and start or join a regular group to bounce around frustrations, ideas, and companionship.
Socialization
While not necessarily part of the job description, the casual water cooler conversations and friendships with co-workers that form is a beneficial element of many work environments. Women who work at home need to make it a point to see friends. Get together with friends for coffee, potluck dinner, or another bonding activity on a regular basis. And at the end of the date, set another get together so it is sure to happen.
For other ideas to make working at home successful, read Michelle Goodman’s The Anti 9 to 5 Guide (Seal Press, 2007). Any of combination of these tactics can help women avoid feeling isolated when working at home.
