SOHO – Small Office, Home Office
A working mother would prefer a work-from-home situation so that she can uphold her job commitments as well as look after the needs of her children. A work-from-home system allows flexibility and yet ensures that the work is done as per schedule. A SOHO (Small Office Home Office) system is what is required. However, in order to work out of home effectively, certain facilities need to be in place.
Physical Place
A specific place must be demarcated within the home as the ‘office area’. This area then houses the equipment that will be required for whatever work (projects or assignments) that needs to be done. If this area is not pre-defined, then there will never be any seriousness towards the work, and family members also do not take your job seriously.
Specific Timings
A daily schedule needs to be worked out, especially for mothers working from home. They must demarcate their work slots in the day when they are on their own as productivity will be at its best during this time. Time slots in the day when children return from school and need to be supervised should be kept aside and no work should be attempted at this time. In case some work needs to be done when the children are at home, then please ensure that they are busy in some other activity, or are at play, so that you are not disturbed (and neither are they neglected).
Apparatus
Irrespective of the nature of the project that you work on, a few essential items are required – a comfortable table and chair, a desktop or laptop computer, internet, telephone connection, and a printer. Other accessories like web cameras and scanners are completely optional and would depend upon whether they are required for your line of work.
Even though your office may be at home, some amount of formality must be introduced while working as that feeling of being committed to your assignment/job is of utmost importance. Working out of a home office requires great commitment and a high level of self-motivation.
