Consider where you need to be in order to accomplish your work. Are you able to work in other places (like from home) part of the time? If much of your work is done from a computer, can you work on a computer from home or some other remote worksite? Would you be more efficient working away from your office? Many jobs have mixed requirements around being physically present. Which parts of your job could be done at home, and which parts require that you be in a specific location at a designated time?

Here are some good questions to ask yourself when considering how to change where you work:

How much time and money would I save by not having to commute to work every day? Can some or all of my job be done from home? Can meetings, and such be done on the phone instead of face-to-face? What part(s) of my job could I do better if I worked away from my office? If I were to set up an ideal workspace, where would it be located?

Throughout the Finding Flexibility section of the website we are using Adam's story to help illustrate each concept. Adam works a fulltime sales job from home and shares the care of his two children after school with his wife.

Adam's story
Even though most of Adam's job could be done from his home office, there are some aspects (such as trade shows and business travel) that require him to be physically present in order to get the work done. To minimize the challenges of week-long trade shows, Adam gives his wife as much advance notice as possible, allowing her to build in the necessary extra support at home. He also keeps other business trips limited to one and two days, leaving early and coming home late. This also limits the extra amount of juggling required at home.

Finally, Adam thought very carefully about his long term goals and decided it was important to maintain strong relationships with his co-workers. Therefore, once a year Adam and his family spend a month overseas living near his company's worksite. During this time his wife is able to reverse roles and telecommute to her workplace, and the whole family enjoys the new and different experiences that the month abroad provides. For Adam this month of working side by side is key to developing the necessary camaraderie to handle the high stress situations that sometimes occur during the rest of the year.

For more ideas about redesigning your work, click on the following pages:
What kind of Schedule works best for you?
How much can you control the quantity and Work Flow of your job?
How easily can someone else do the work you do - is Substitution an option for you?