The 10 Mistakes Everyone Makes When Working From Home

When your commute is as short as your bedroom to your living room, a lot of workplace anxieties go out the window: water-cooler conversations, intra-office workout competitions…whether you’ve worn the same pair of jeans for six days straight.

But whether you’re a full-time telecommuter or simply “working from home” for the day, it’s important to keep professionalism in check. Executive coach and author Debra Benton, whose book The Virtual Executive hit shelves in April, warns that as the American employees working from home full or part time increase (current data shows roughly 2.8 million people call their homes their primary workplace, with an additional 20 to 30 million working from home at least one day a week), bad work habits are becoming more and more apparent.

“People often think that they can get away with a lot of things when they’re behind closed doors and computer screens,” Benton says. “But the reality is that professional communication is professional communication, regardless of whether or not technology is there to facilitate it.” Whether on the phone, in emails or over Skype and video conferencing, it’s important to keep your game face on.

Everything that goes on behind a computer monitor can be sensed, she says—from your body language to your confidence level to how much attention you’re paying to your colleagues in Tokyo—and so we need to brush up on our online etiquette.

Here, the top 10 mistakes you (and everyone else) are making when you work from home.

Debra Benton's The Virtual Executive

You’re Not Smiling

“Smile when you pick up or click on the phone,” says Benton, “and continue to smile as you talk regardless of who’s calling or what the conversation is about.” Yes, really. Benton says (and I can attest as we experimented this week) that a smile is audible through the phone. You don’t need an ear-to-ear grin; Benton advises saying the words “Cheese Wiz.” The lips are parted only slightly and the corners of the mouth turned up—and the smile will come through in your tone.

The same smile is as important in written communiqué, she says—try it. “In email a smile on your face will keep you from selecting nasty or harsh words,” she says. “With a grimace you can punch out negative language all you want.” And it goes without saying that you should smile in video conferencing, she advises. “People wear serious faces and think they appear focused, when all that comes across is uncomfortable, even constipated.”

You’re Not Getting Dressed

“I’ve talked to a female CEO who says she puts on lipstick, perfume and high heels when she makes a phone call,” says Benton. “And another executive who brushes his teeth before he leaves voicemails because he thinks it makes him sound ‘clean.’ Whatever your trick is, Benton says it’s just as important to dress the part at home as it is at the office, particularly on days when you have important calls or, of course, video conferences.

“These appearance things are more to help you than to impress others,” she advises. Looking good gives you a sense of confidence that no pair of sweatpants can ever impart. At other times, particularly when you might be visible on camera, it is about others. As Benton says, “The reason to pay attention to pay attention to dress is really so that you don’t have to pay attention to dress.”

Video rules of thumb: No patterns, no orange shirts (“it looks like you’re in prison!” Benton says) or dangly jewelry.  And if you make the strategic stay-at-home move of only dressing from the waist up, she says, “Make sure you don’t stand up!!”

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/05/10/the-10-mistakes-everyone-makes-when-working-from-home/