Elaborating on Jay’s last post The Power of Group Collaboration, one of the issues that people who work at home have is the feeling of loneliness or of being cut off from socializing with others during the day. If you have worked outside the home you are most likely used to being with other people while working, during breaks and for after work activities.

If you are self employed and work at home there isn’t a group that shares your work hours and sometimes your type of work. If you do work for a company at home, like in a telecommuting position, you have the group but not the time to get together. Most often, telecommuters do have meetings or parties but they are far and few between.

Parents who work at home and have children who are home with them have the company of their children but there is also the added stress of caring for them while you are working. This can happen every day or on particular days such as when you have a pressing deadline or when the children are acting up. Take a look at this post by Lori about keeping your children busy while you are working for help.

The time you spend at home working can sometimes test your sanity! How can you feel connected to the “outside” world and lessen the feeling of isolation?

• Schedule time off for yourself each day. If you need to hear another person’s voice or spend some time online with friends, use some of your break time to make a phone call to a friend or chat online with others who work from home.
• When your work time is done, get out of the house for a little while. It doesn’t have to be every day, maybe once or twice a week will do the trick. Go shopping, have dinner with friends, visit the park with your children, etc.
• Find a group of people in your area that work at home. You’ll be surprised, there’s probably a lot of them. If there isn’t a group already formed, then start one. You can hold meetings either for fun or networking or both.
• Look for online forums for people who do the type of work of you do. If you’re a blogger, you can join blogger forums such as the The Advisory Panel, or the Horseshoe Hangout. If you sell on eBay, join the eBay community. Searching for forums and groups is easy by using any search engine.
• Just like working outside the home, be sure to have hobbies that have nothing to do with work. Meet people and gain new friendships by taking part in a sport, craft group, book group, etc.

Making time to spend with others will keep you happy and more productive in your work at home job. Many people need the company of others so don’t think you have to work alone all of the time. It’s normal to want to have some fun and laughter even during work.