Productivity at office vs. home

snichols is currently fascinated by the topic of whether it is possible to be as productive working from home as the office. A dear friend recently went back to daily office work after years of working out of her house.

She reports, “I’m afraid I have to confirm the worst fear of the part-time working mommy, I am way more productive working out of an office than from the house–there’s no comparison.”

Running it by another friend, friend 2 tried to flatter snichols by claiming that while that might be true of others, it would be less true of snichols, since snichols was always so productive.

And while snichols appreciates any and all flattery (bring it on), she demurs. Today she spent a mere 2 hours working out of a would-be office and it yielded about a day’s worth of phone calls and insights (not to mention an over-priced salad and latte–oh how she missed those!) and she absolutely loved it.

At home the problem has not been the lure of the refrigerator, the tv or the couch. Those are mere background noise, no more troublesome than the plate of cookies in the staff lounge or that cute new guy in cubicle four might be to a weaker soul.

No, the problem has been the sheer fact that no one else under the sun gives a flying fenwick whether she produces anything at all. And no one can tell. After all, there’s no one there.

So bring on the office space; bring on the windows that don’t open, the endless carpet and the walk down the hall to the loo, but for god’s sake, let it come with someone who cares.