Tales of a Home Office Worker Dad

Posted on Dec 15, 2008 in Career, Guest Posts |

Guest Post by Joe Magennis.

Just over a year ago we completed a restructuring of the agency that would allow us to eliminate the massive overhead of an office. My biggest hesitation for disbursing to home locations was what to do about the phone system. I did not want to go through the hassle of notifying clients of a bunch of new and unique phone numbers. When our local CLEC service provider informed me that we could have a virtual system that allowed me to have the same number right down to the same extension, I pulled the trigger.

My Home Office, Complete with Baby Swing!

This is the second time that I have worked from home. In the late nineties I converted the upstairs bedroom into an office and established a diligent work routine. I function much better within some structure, so I complete the typical morning rituals, grab a cup of coffee and head upstairs to start the workday. I derive a great sense of productivity from this new work from home operation since it saves me an hours commute on each end of the day. It also means I can get to the daycare to pick up my toddler earlier than ever before.

On November 3rd of this past year things changed drastically. My wife and I decided that due to the enormous cost of placing a second child into daycare, she would head to work while I would keep our three month old daughter Lily with me during the day. This new arrangement was certainly made easier by having a home office work environment, but has greatly extended the length of time that I spend in the office each day.

It’s not realistic to attempt to give work full attention during the typical work day and attend to all of Lily’s needs. Her feeding requirements every three hours with interspersed diaper changes, play time, and prep for the next round of feeding limits my day time functionality to short bursts of tasks while she is napping. When my wife comes home at the end of the day we share dinner time with both of the girls and I retreat to the office to focus on the greater tasks of the day.

However, I still attempt to arrive at the desk by 9:00 am with a coffee in hand and a bottle for Lily. It’s typically a good time to catch some podcasts since my hands are tied up. I still have numerous standing Skype appointments throughout the week and so far there have not been any huge conflicts due to Daddy Daycare. It is a work arrangement that is completely manageable with the right determination, the right technology and the right home office set up …. for how long is the big question.

Joe Magennis is the founder and principal of Fluid Media Inc. an online marketing and brand development company in Atlanta Ga.

No Comments

Join the conversation and post a comment.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Geek Dads At Home Podcast | TrishaLyn - [...] did a guest post here last week, Tales of a Home Office Worker Dad, so I’m stoked to listen…