Since the release of the MSIS Teleworking guidelines in April, several MSIS’ers have been taking advantage of working remotely and some have blogged about it. “Profiles in Teleworking” is part of a new series where we check in to see how things are going for both our newer and established MSIS teleworkers. If you are teleworking and want to write about your experiences for this series, please feel free to do so! If you are feeling shy you can also contact Susan Topol, who will be glad to assist you.
What is your primary reason for Teleworking?
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| Gray's Teleworking Set-Up. |
I began telecommuting so that I could have the best of both worlds: continue working for MSIS and accompany my then wife, a native of Hong Kong, after she decided to accept a job offer here. (I was probably more excited to make the move than she was, though, so don't read that as me just following her. :>) In our third year here, however, we separated and eventually divorced. Just about everyone, including myself, thought it was a foregone conclusion that I'd move back to Ann Arbor, but as I mulled that over I realized just how important Hong Kong had become to me. I treasure everything I've learned here -- culture, language, food, entertainment, history, geography, transportation, world view, etc. -- and it all had become part of my identity. I didn't want to leave that behind, so I decided to stay. That means my current reason for teleworking might not be my original reason, but it's perhaps even simpler now: I want to continue working with the people I want to work with, doing the work I want to do, and living where I want to live. That's MSIS and Hong Kong.
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Working remote is extreme, yo!
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What are the advantages?
• Personal productivity is very high
• I feel trusted, empowered, supported, and valued
• None of my time is wasted on a commute
• I live where I want to live and still get to do the work that I want to do
• I can work without pants on (don't be fooled by these pictures)
What are the disadvantages?
My timezone means I mostly work asynchronously from everyone else, so there's very little spontaneous real-time collaboration. Working full-time alone at home is isolating and that can lead to emotional decline, so I make sure to spend time with other folks when I'm not working to balance this.
What “home comfort” has meant the most to you?
My home office is essentially the same as what it would be if I worked in NCRC, so I don't think there's a specific thing I can point to, but I will say that having no commute has probably meant the most to me. I value my time, and I try to be very disciplined about work/life balance, so I want the freedom to use non-working time however I'd like. Teleworking enables that.
Have the new teleworking guidelines made you feel more like you are part of a teleworking community?
Giving the rest of MSIS the opportunity to telework has made me feel like less of an exception, and that's increased how connected I feel to everyone else. I wouldn't say that's made me feel more like I'm part of a teleworking community -- I'm actually not sure who, other than our full-time teleworkers, is teleworking -- but I'd say I feel more like I'm part of the whole MSIS community. Fantastic!!!
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| Hello Ann Arbor! |
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