Friday, 9 Feb 2001

NEW YORK, N.Y.

My office-bound friends are divided between those who are jealous of my work-at-home status and those who say they could never do it themselves. So today, I’ll talk a little about the pros and cons of working at home, also known as telecommuting or e-commuting. Keep in mind that I’ve only been doing it since April 2000.

Philanthropy News Network (PNN) online-interviewed Gary White and me in April 2000 for a multipart feature on telecommuting.

Me with Maggie, social director.

Photo: Doug von Bushberger

The biggest disadvantage for me, having just moved to Manhattan in August 2000, is that it’s hard to meet people. I don’t have a local office that I need to go into every so often. I am so thankful that I have a dog, because she forces me to get outside, and I have met several neighbors who also have dogs. She also provides me with entertainment and occasional distractions during the day. Luckily, it seems everybody knows somebody who lives in New York, and I’ve been persistent about meeting up with friends of friends.

Another potential disadvantage is the lack of motivation. I admit I definitely put certain tasks off (like proposal writing, as I mentioned yesterday), but so far I have such a variety of compelling tasks that I always keep busy. I use the reminders in Outlook extensively to prod me into doing stuff. When I’ve snoozed something too many times, I finally just do it. One thing that keeps popping up today is “develop script and additional shot list for video.” Maybe after the grant proposals.

Our staff has managed to overcome the challenge of long-distance collaboration. I think we all have high-speed Internet access now (which is vital!), so we keep our email programs open all day. On my laptop, incoming emails make a little boing noise, so I can read and respond almost instantly. I often attach drafts of things I’m working on for comment, and we use the redline/strikeout feature to make edits. We also have staff meetings by conference call every two weeks, which give us a chance to catch up socially, as well.

Working in a home office means that I am also my own support staff. Along with my coworkers, I print, copy, fax, cut, scan, word process, assemble publications and mailings, and walk to the post office. On the days when I’m feeling efficient, this doesn’t bother me. I often ended up doing all those things back when I had a support staff (as an environmental consultant). Stuffing envelopes is a great arm workout and can be done while watching TV.

We envision the day when everyone in the world can take a safe drink of water.

Photo: Jim Nilson.

Now to the advantages: flexible hours, short commute, casual day every day, low-stress work environment. The biggest advantage for me so far has been the portability of this job. When I started working full-time for WaterPartners, I lived in Chapel Hill, N.C. When my husband got a job in New York, it was easy to take the job with me. I believe that WaterPartners has succeeded because of this flexibility to hire motivated, talented people no matter where they are.

We also pack a lot of collaboration into our staff retreats and meetings, which we try to schedule around board meetings or Water for Life events. We stay up late at night and have “blue sky,” or brainstorming sessions. We work hard, but we have a lot of fun together. I’m looking forward to our next retreat, 1-5 Mar., when I’ll get to meet our workplace giving coordinator, Steve Hanson. He’s been with us for several months but lives in Portland, Ore.

Thanks for reading — I hope these diary entries have been interesting. I’ve enjoyed sharing a little bit of my life. I’d love to hear from you at sdavis@water.org. Please visit our website if you’d like to learn more about WaterPartners.