We’ve made headlines for our unlimited paid leave policy, but there’s another policy/cultural decision that compliments it---we also encourage our superhero employees to work from home occasionally.  Jammies are optional.

Here’s why it’s good:

Less distraction - (assuming that any children are supervised by someone else). No-one is stopping by to ask about the TPS report.

Save commute time, gas, planet - typical commute times are 30-40 minutes; an extra hour of productivity is useful! Calculate your commute cost on this handy site.

Comfort = productivity - when you’re in the comfort of your own home, the inherent relaxation can make you more creative, loose, and productive.  More likely to come up with ideas that can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Some caveats are always in order.  Before you think about implementing a policy about working from home, consider the following:

• Discipline - it does take a certain amount of discipline to work hard when no-one is looking.  Especially if your Wii is in the next room.
• Deadlines - we’ve found that the heads-down mode of working from home can really benefit a project on a specific deadline.
• Breaks - if you’re working from home, make sure to take break time and stretch your legs. At the office, you’re up and about for various reasons, but in a quiet house, you can lose track of time.
• Turn off IM and Growl announcements; they are Kryptonite - minimize digital distractions by shutting down notifications for chunks of time.
• Schedule check-ins - set up a time a few times during the day to check in with the office, and let people know that you’ll be checking in. You can stay connected and still have chunks of uninterrupted time.
• Don’t forget to eat - even if it’s Ramen noodles, you need to eat. Just because Dave isn’t dragging you to Chipotle, doesn’t mean you can’t grab something to feed your brain.
• Environment - make sure your immediate environment is comfy but workable, and somewhat ergonomic.  You don’t want to sit on the couch and end up with "toasted skin syndrome."

While we’ve had great success with the “occasional working from home” model, Social Strata doesn't have any actual remote full-time employees.  We still like being able to see everyone’s shiny faces in the office as much as possible.

Anyone else have good tips for making “work at home” time productive?