Sometimes it pays to ditch the office and stay home or go to a cafe. At least that’s what many so-called telecommuters across Lebanon have discovered, as an increasing number do their work from the convenience of ... anywhere.
“I can be sitting by the pool with my notebook and for me it’s work,” says strategic manager Ibrahim Nehme, who insists that he can be even more productive by the pool than at the office. He is one of many people in recent years who have embraced working outside the office. After enduring a high-stress corporate job, Nehme now enjoys the relaxed atmosphere of cafes and other venues of his choosing.
Telecommuters say they cherish the freedom of working at any location, away from the constant monitoring of bosses and the crush of daily commutes. Some are set at ease by the comforts of home, others find inspiration from the buzz of a cafe – and a few high-rollers don’t mind performing their tasks in the temporary surroundings of a hotel or even an airplane. But many of those who work away from home caution that the practice requires strong self-discipline, focus and a good relationship with colleagues.
“You need to be able to concentrate well,” explains Nathalie Bucher, project coordinator for the Arab Puppet Theatre Foundation in Beirut and also writes freelance articles for publications in South Africa. “Especially in spaces that are not always quiet. And you need to be able not to lose your string when you get interrupted.”
“It is not an easy thing to do,” she admits, “but it is really important to do it when you want stuff done: to merely greet someone you know [with], ‘Kifak, good, and you? Fine, fine,’ and then lower your head again and carry on working as opposed to chatting a while with everyone who walks in [whom] you know.”
Despite the challenges of working outside the office, it appears that the practice will only grow worldwide, including in Lebanon, as people become more mobile, Internet connection improves and companies increasingly accept the idea of employees producing and filing work remotely.
“Employers are now more tolerant of people working outside the office, especially with all the tools available,” observes Tony Feghali, associate professor of business information and decision systems at the American University of Beirut. “It’s going to be on the rise,” he predicts, “especially for educated women who can clock into the office two to three times a week and then do the rest of their work from home, while juggling their family obligations.”
According to the human resources research NGO Worldatwork, in 2008 17.2 million people in the United States practiced part-time telecommuting, while 2.5 million considered their home their primary place of business. The phenomenon is on the rise in various sectors – including education, journalism, advertising and consulting.
Some companies have found that offering the option of working remotely widens their talent pool, allowing for contributions by people from rural areas, those who have disabilities and others who prefer to stay home because of family obligations. Meanwhile, many employees confirm that the option to work remotely is an attractive recruiting tool.
“When I first started my job, I told them I would need to travel for three to four months out of the year,” says remote participation consultant Bernard Sadaka, who works for three different companies outside of Lebanon, mainly from his home in Zahle. Of course, he has taken certain precautions – such as securing 3G as a back-up to Lebanon’s sometimes unreliable Internet connection.
For Sadaka, the hectic schedule is worth the freedom that comes with working from home, and he manages to divide his time between his three consulting jobs. Yet although he prefers such an approach to a conventional 9-5 undertaking, he acknowledges there are pitfalls to not working in an office. These include the lack of a set daily schedule, meaning he often runs errands during the day and works late at night. He also acknowledges that working for multiple companies makes it difficult to plan a vacation or even have a free weekend, and rarely generates camaraderie among colleagues.
For Micheline Tobia, editor of Mashallah news who spends most of her days working at cafes, the distraction of people is a double-edged sword. While running into people can slow down her work, she has also found cafes to be great places for networking, having recruited several writers for Mashallah through meeting people over coffee. She also likes the familiarity of seeing many of the same people daily at cafes. “Every day, I see the same people coming into the cafes, and I say ‘hi’ to them without knowing much about them,” she says.
For their part, the cafe managers say they are fond of their regular customers. Wissam al-Hassanieh, regional manager of the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Hamra Street, says that 70 percent of the establishment’s customers are regulars, and he knows many of them by name. He says it doesn’t bother him if they just order coffee, because they tend to return several times throughout the day.
Similarly, Moustapha Broush, assistant manager at Brisk, also on Hamra Street, maintains he has no problem with customers sitting all day and working, although in the rare instance that someone is just drinking tea at a large table, he might ask the person to move to a smaller table to make room for other customers.
In fact, most telecommuters interviewed say they often eat two of their day’s meals at the cafe where they’re working, lamenting the price they pay for the freedom of working away from an office. But for most, the benefits appear to outweigh the costs. “Personally, I just can’t imagine myself reporting to an office every morning or having a boss behind my back,” says Nehme.
“Telecommuting allows me to be freer, happier, more inspired and have more control over major aspects relating to my life. Even if the workload can sometimes be intense and you spend a lot of your time working alone, the rewards that you get from having a free and flexible schedule trump all the negatives.”
