Home Office

So what's up with my employment in Sitka? The story has changed quite a few times with my employer in Anchorage between contracting or working remotely. Long story short (condensing the last couple of weeks) is that I will remain a RurAL CAP employee!! Hurray! Keeping my benefits, staying with the team officially and not having to set-up all that personal business stuff. Tomorrow I sign the official agreement making it so. We've negotiated rates for a higher cost of living, supplies, expenses for my high-speed internet and work phone line, etc. etc. I'm really excited for this set-up and have the perfect place to create my office. There's a room that can't be designated a bedroom (lacking even a closet), so it will be perfect for the Youth Program Coordinator. I gotta make it ergonomically correct according to the Dept. of Labor but that means I get to shop for office furniture! [My previous desk from Wasilla was basically destroyed in the moving to Sitka process :( ]

The reason I even get to work from home is because my job is grant-funded and this 3-year State of AK grant is set to end 6/30/11. By the time they could hopefully recruit the right person, and the time it would take to get him/her up and running on what I've done with the Program (as the only employee to occupy the position), then the grant is already winding down. It's good for continuity's sake and nearly all my work is computer or long-distance driven. It can be completed from nearly anywhere. RurAL CAP will bring me to Anchorage or site visits for this or that until the end of June. Another one of my responsibilities will probably include working on new funding to keep our arrangement going--if both parties agree this works out.

I must say I've been humbled in this process...to have my bosses go to bat for me with HR when no policy exists, and to receive the blessing from Executive staff. I take seriously what they are allowing for a Sitka employee. And I'll really miss my awesome team. I have so much fun in the office after nearly two years with the crew. Every Wednesday during our weekly staff check-in, I'll call on teleconference but we're hoping IT will sacrifice a little bandwidth so I can Skype in and see everyone's mugs!

What am I anticipating or nervous about? WORKING FROM HOME. It's what countless people would love to do, right?? I mean, I'm going from a two-hour commute/day to ZERO commute--and I could bike down to Andy's work during the day to share lunch together. But who will I talk to aside from my AmeriCorps Members over email or the phone? I'll probably start talking to myself! I thrive on those external interactions and energy derived from teammates. I'll make it work, but it will be work--a little, anyway. And I have to stay on TASK! Do I run the laundry, which is next to my office? Probably. Do I resist snacking from the kitchen all the time? I hope so!

And when Andy comes home from work, tired, I may be jumping up and down to get out for a change of scenery! We'll have to balance that out. Everything has worked so well for us in this moving process and I give prayers of thanks for it. I trust this too will be for the best and we have it in ourselves to make work.

To recap: I GET TO KEEP MY JOB AS AN ACTUAL EMPLOYEE AND WORK FROM HOME IN SITKA! I'm one lucky non-profit worker and will work hard to earn it. Also looking forward to the future monitoring site visit from my boss. She can check out the office upstairs by day and enjoy wine downstairs by night. My last day with my talented office mates is this Thursday. I have one-way plane ticket Friday morning.

http://ruralcap.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=164&Itemid=243

*Amy