Benefits
Some of the true benefits are tangible right away. One major benefit is that I’m cutting down on greenhouse gases as I don’t drive my car to work nor am I adding to it by commuting via Amtrak. I also save on insurance costs, gas prices and wear and tear on my vehicles, also I save on commute time which where my office is I save 3 – 3 ½ hours most of it is on my personal time. This way I can spend some more time with my family.
Another benefit is that I do tend to put in more time with work I can take off at certain times during the day to attend to family and do some appointments like for doctors and dentists.
There are several other benefits such as being able to do certain things on my home computer like recording in and cleaning up all my old record albums and convert them to MP3 files. I just finished doing the above and also did my wife’s records. Another thing I do when I have a few minutes between meetings is scan in old photo’s and store them on an external hard drive, I rarely get time to do this so I’ve barely started. One future project is to transfer some of my VHS tapes to put on DVD’s this would seem like a waste of time during the day but think about it I’m not really watching the show I’m recording in and only checking from time to time if it’s done, then to record to the DVD also requires very little effort.
Another benefit or maybe it’s a curse is that since I telecommute it also means I have to teleconference. On the whole this isn't bad but I usually find that I’m only half listening in and I’m usually doing other aspects of my job so when I’m asked a question sometimes I need the person to repeat it so I get it all and can respond.
Sometimes when my wife and kid are away I have to turn on the TV or some music as it gets too quiet and lack of noise can be deafening. When they are gone I usually turn on some of the History channels or some other station that has something of interest and I don’t give it my full attention it’s just some background noise to fill the void of noise.
With the advent of instant messaging my company allows us to do this but only internally within the company. This is an added benefit as some people I deal with have different languages and are in different parts of the globe do when we talk this way English is mostly used and the language barrier is still there but without getting thrown by the accents.
Drawbacks
One major drawback and I think my company knows about it is that I do tend to work longer and at different times and also willing to put in time on weekends and after hours. Usually after that some clients still expect you to work the normal 40 hour week accessibility (8-5 Eastern).
Another drawback that I run into is not being able to meet people face to face. This way all you get is disembodied voices from the phone. The Instant messaging we do can also be hindered as people still tend to use shortcut words and slang. Slang can especially hard to determine a persons meaning. You also can start to miss seeing people and sharing personal facts of life issues that you typically do in an office environment. I know I used to got to talk to friends in their cubicles when we both had some time to talk, I do miss this from time to time.
Some may consider not having direct contact with your manager as a blessing others will sense it as hey I can do all my other stuff and squeeze in work here and there. I can tell you this philosophy will backfire since most managers will know who to trust to do their jobs. Personally I know most people in my field are self-starters so we always find work that needs to be done. My company has recently found certain people who don't work well without supervision and they have since come up with anyone less then 50 miles from their office must come in to the office at least 4 days a week. This has angered some of my co-workers especially ones who live and work in the greater New York City area as they spend more time commuting.