What's your company's telecommuting policy? (employers, work, office, security)

[ccm123]

I work in field sales, so telecommuting, visiting customers and traveling is a regular part of my job.

[Novatoman]

This is an old thread but very interesting one that I can’t resist to contribute to.

I’ve been working remotely from home for the past 3 years too and I must say this is the way to work today for many. For me personally it solved many problems and added few substantial benefits:
1. No more wasted time in traffic (very efficient day)
2. Gas cost saving $$$. This benefit also leads to generating less emission and increasing your car’s life expectancy.
3. Less stress (by not having some toxic people around you)
4. Less interruptions (nobody walks into your cube every 5 minutes to chat)
5. Housing. You could afford to buy a dream house outside the city (or even moving to a different state).
6. More time spent with family and hobbies
7. You can actually LIVE in the house more that you paid for thru the nose (in oppose to just spending a night there after work and weekends)

For anybody who is contemplating about telecommuting I would highly recommend trying it.

[lepoisson]

I work for a university. We are allowed to telecommute 3 days per week. It is only allowed if you have good attendance and work history.

All of my work is done from the computer and I rarely need to meet with people, so working from an office is pointless. It's a waste of gas and parking fees driving to campus.

My school has had trouble giving offices to some of the professors, so they slowly took away non-teaching staff offices and encouraged working from home. Honestly, I'm much more productive at home than at work.

[bentobox34]

1-year old and 4-year old at home. When I'm in the office is the only time I can hear myself think.

[Domitian]

Every company iv'e worked through touts their wonderful telecommute policy! However, in practice, it's not always that great b/c it's still a "be seen" culture and those that arent seen are often forgotten.

I hope companies adopt very liberal policies soon - it would save so much in costs. given the modern technology and prevalence of residential broadband, there is no reason companies should incur the expense of onsite employees.

[emm74]

I work in a hospital so there isn't a major culture of telecommuting here as many of the job functions can only be done in person.

However, they do have the necessary resources (VPN, etc) and I take advantage of it when I need to for things like a repair person coming to the house. I wouldn't mind being able to do 1-2 days a week on an ongoing basis, but this just isn't the right place for that. I like my job more than I want the ability to work from home, but if I needed to change jobs for any reason, it might be something I'd look to be able to do on a more formal basis as part of my search. Only for those 1-2 days a week though, I would not want a full time work from home job.

[Nlambert]

Originally Posted by Novatoman

This is an old thread but very interesting one that I can’t resist to contribute to.

I’ve been working remotely from home for the past 3 years too and I must say this is the way to work today for many. For me personally it solved many problems and added few substantial benefits:
1. No more wasted time in traffic (very efficient day)
2. Gas cost saving $$$. This benefit also leads to generating less emission and increasing your car’s life expectancy.
3. Less stress (by not having some toxic people around you)
4. Less interruptions (nobody walks into your cube every 5 minutes to chat)
5. Housing. You could afford to buy a dream house outside the city (or even moving to a different state).
6. More time spent with family and hobbies
7. You can actually LIVE in the house more that you paid for thru the nose (in oppose to just spending a night there after work and weekends)

For anybody who is contemplating about telecommuting I would highly recommend trying it.

I can telecommute as required but I have a completely outlook on it. I telecommute when I need to but only if I truly need to.


I despise working from home because:


1. I end up working 10-12 hrs more frequently (since there is no commute, I don't often realize what time it is) and being salaried I usually don't get paid for it.
2. I am constantly reminded that there are things around the house that need to get done. It requires more focus to remain on task and not get derailed by work I need to do.
3. When the kids come home, it's very difficult to work due to them playing, talking, letting the dogs in, etc..... More distraction those last few hours.
4. I find that I miss out on small last minute office tag ups and have to get brought up to speed quickly to figure out what is going on.
5. I get stir crazy. When I am at home all day and night I begin to get the urge to get out of the house. I love our house, but can't be in it day in and day out.

[Hemlock140]

I'll be telecommuting tomorrow if we get the 4" of snow predicted. It's rare here and all down hill to the freeway. My people are allowed to telecommute on an as-needed basis but have to tell me in the morning what they will be working on, and have taken home their laptop or tablet.

[DefiantNJ]

At home, I have a high energy five year old who gets in between 3:30 pm and 5:00 pm depending on weather, a four month old, a wife who works from home four to five days a week and a nanny. Let's just say that I am very happy to get to peace and quite(relative) of the office every day. And I am happy to get back to my family in the evening. I do love my family as long as I don't have to see or hear them all day long


My commute is long, 70-85 minutes, but it is all walking or trains. Most of the time I get a sit and can relax and take a nap.


The actual work form home policy at our company is up to an individual manager. My manager prefers everyone to be in the office if possible. He is however OK if employees need to work from home to take care of something, if there is an emergency, snow, train delays, family situation, etc. I end up working from home about twice a month and I have to ask for it every time(short e-mail) and book it in Leave Tracker system. So far, he has never said no. I also worked one day from home for a few months after our baby was born and my parental leave was over. But I definitely prefer the office...

[tnff]

Both my dad and FIL had jobs that would be telecommuting today, only it wasn't called that back then.




Yes, where I work has an official open telecommute policy. With an unofficial "you better not ask for" rider.