Your Well Stocked Work at Home Cupboard

A Home Business Article Contributed by Sharon Hill

If the Cupboard is Bare - Impediments to Work at Home

While each work at home situation will vary in its supply and equipment requirement, there are some basic things that almost all jobs require, and skimping on any of these for financial or procrastination reasons could doom your work at home success.

Work at Home Purchases - a Word of Caution

Before you rush out and make a lot of purchases there are two questions you need to address, if you are working at home for someone else. The first is "who's paying for what? " The second is, "What do I need? " In a formal telework situation your employer should have written policies and agreements that stipulate what equipment and supplies they will supply or reimburse and which they will assign you the responsibility. Be sure and clarify this before you commit to telework.

Typically, employers pay for computers, faxes, connectivity and additional phone lines as necessary. They generally do not provide home office furnishings. But that's not definite. And it never hurts to ask even if it's not listed as employer-provided. You might just be able to make a good case for yourself.

Do remember, though, if you manage to convince your employer that that $400 computer chair is a must for you to succeed in your work at home environment, you just might find yourself having to return it to the office, or pay for it, if you give telework a six month try and decide it's not for you. Some employers reimburse for home office furnishings but require a prorated reimbursement of those funds if you don't continue your telework for one full year.

So What do You Need to Work at Home?

Of course, some job tasks have particular needs, but if you've been doing the job long enough and competently enough to be allowed to work from home, then you know what you need. Take a look at your desk and surroundings at your employers office. Make a list, as you go through a typical day, of the equipment and supplies you are using.

Some probable must-haves: desk, chair, PC or laptop, computer workstation, printer and cartridge, fax, scanner, copier, wrist rest, mouse rest, voice mail or answering machine, filing cabinet, bookcase, lamps, surge protector, extension cord, dry eras or cork board, pens, pencils, erasers, white out, markers, copier and printer paper, notebooks/legal pads, rolodex, calculator, stapler and staple puller, push pins, post-it notes, in and out baskets/trays, file folders, hanging file folders, envelopes - regular and manila, ring binders, CD or disk storage.

Rule of thumb for your computer is that it be at least as powerful as the one at your employer's office. You may also be able to find an adequate, inexpensive, All in One that will serve as printer, copier and scanner.

Make your list, go through the equipment and supplies already at your home to see what might already be there, and present the rest to your supervisor. Do not make a purchase and then find out the hard way that your employer is not going to be cutting that reimbursement check. The old rule is still true - when in doubt, ask!