Is working at home a good fit for you?

Back when I was in my 20s, I worked as a loan adjustor for a Servco Financial Corp., a locally based Hawaii company. For those wondering what I did as a loan adjustor, basically I was a debt collector. In other words, I called up or visited face-to-face people who had fallen behind on loan payments to the company. As an adjustor, I was given some latitude in negotiating repayment terms with delinquent customers. For instance, I was able to waive late fees and in some cases delinquent interest payments.

I worked out of Servco Financial’s main branch on King Street right next to Fort Street Mall. I was fortunate to have the company pay for my parking (big issue and headache, particularly for folks working in downtown Honolulu. Plus, I got a mileage allowance if I had to go out in the field to collect debts. I mention all this here because I could have very well done much of my work from home.

This is not to say that I would have done an effective job at home, but given a telephone and access to the company’s computer network (not available back then but easily available nowadays), I could have done much of my “adjusting” work from a desk in my home.

An ABC news bit about the pros and cons of working at home posed some questions to determine how good of a fit a work-from-home situation would be for people. And those questions included.

1. Are you highly disciplined and goal-oriented?
2. Can you be effective without a support system?
3. Do you have a dedicated work space?
4. Can you thrive without office camaraderie?
5. Can you work well without constant direction?
6. Can the work you do be done from anywhere?

People who can answer yes to all these questions will find that working home will be feasible.

Photo credit: David A. Harvey (sol.as.arizona.edu/~dave/)