Telecommuting still not embraced? (2013, business, vs, computer)
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There will always be some jobs that don't lend themselves well to telecommuting, if at all.
I'm also wondering about Non-Exempt hourly-paid employees. Outside of a few telephone or online support situations, where the employee is required to be logged in and ready to respond to a request at any moment, I'm not familiar with of employers offering hourly employees a telecommuting/WFH privilege. How would working time be tracked and verified by the employer? Would it be an "honor" system? Or do employers generally not offer this arrangement at all to the hourlies? Anyone out there have first-hand experience with this?
My wife is hourly and works from home 1-2 days a week. She logs into her work's servers from home and punches in just like she'd do at her physical office. She loads up her work's IM software which is what is primarily used for most intra-office communication, just like she does at her physical office. It's not that hard. There is no "honor" system because the management has a way to pull reports to see how productive each employee is. The least productive employees are always the ones who don't work from home at all because they either lost the privilege or never earned it in the first place. One of her co-workers literally just punches in, sits on the clock at the office and surfs the web and social media, does maybe 1 hour of real work, then punches out - he does the bare minimum to avoid getting fired. People who work from home can't get away with that.
I think people throw the term "anti-social" around way too much. Some people simply prefer more alone time than others. There's nothing wrong with that. When I did have to work in an office, I didn't go there to be "social," I went there to work. That's one thing I certainly don't miss about going into an office, co-workers thinking that you're somehow obligated to socialize with them just because you work in the same place. Being co-workers does not mean you have to be friends. Not wanting to spend the bulk of your day surrounded by people with whom you have little to nothing in common does not make you anti-social.
Actually, it's pretty appropriate. You see it all around you today anti-social behavior. People have become very insular. Well some people.
Yes, who doesn't like alone time? That doesn't mean you don't have to go out in the world and work. You like alone time, you can have that at home. No one is putting a gun to your head and making you socialize at work.
With one exception, I never made friends with coworkers. I would go out to lunch with them at work occasionally but preferred bringing a book and eating alone. After going to a couple of happy hours I avoided them. I don't want to know the state of your marriage or your drug use in college....LOL.
You're not obligated to socialize with anyone after work. If you can't just say "no thank you", than you say you have a dog that needs to be walked, you're taking a class, elderly parent, etc.
While telecommuting has some benefits, never showing your face in an office come layoff time can have a negative impact. Even if you're doing more work than those who do come into the building.
My former employer allowed it twice a week, but the new one doesn't allow it. Also, the former company allowed 980s, but the new one doesn't. Just depends i guess. Traffic during rush hour would be much better if most companies allowed this. I noticed with my former employer that on Fridays when i came into the office, the commute was so much better going to downtown from my suburb.
While telecommuting has some benefits, never showing your face in an office come layoff time can have a negative impact. Even if you're doing more work than those who do come into the building.
Considering my entire department telecommutes, including my manager, and it was actually a requirement for my particular job (had to already have a home office set up and proof via references regarding my ability to meet deadlines, appropriately manage my time, and maintain availability while working from home), I'm not too worried about "layoff time." My department doesn't even have a physical location, so we have no where to "show our face." We all work from home in various different states. The head of our group doesn't even have a physical office that she can go to. Our group has already made it through layoffs unscathed (fortunately) despite having our faces at home every single day. Our work is very visible to executive management. They know who we are and that we do our jobs very well. The bottom line is every company is different, and even within the same company the departments can be different. So everyone needs to do what's right for them and their particular job. Some of you are making a lot of broad generalizations and assumptions (ie, you'll be the first to get laid off if no one ever sees your face in the office) that simply don't apply to everyone's situation.
While telecommuting has some benefits, never showing your face in an office come layoff time can have a negative impact. Even if you're doing more work than those who do come into the building.
I also see this as a big risk.
Another thing that bothers me is that there now is software out there that can tell if you are looking at your screen. Mostly it is used for classes at this point but I could see this slip into the telecommuting world.
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Originally Posted by 43north87west
It's not just you, either. I'm tempted to toss my laptop into the freakin pool, except I'm using it to WORK right now on Sunday afternoon.
People always get angry when their entitlements are questioned.
I never "see" telecommuters producing anything either, yet they do.
Amen. I'm very productive when I work from home.
With people pouring into north Texas, commute times have gone up noticeably in just the past couple of years. A commute that took me 18 minutes in 2014 took 28 minutes 2 years later. Before my employer relocated and I no longer have to take tollroads to get to work, I spent over $700 a year on tolls.
Just imagine how much better traffic would be if more employers allowed teleworking. Plus, employees would have more discretionary income because they'd be spending less on gas and tolls. Tollroads are very common here now and they are quite expensive. Some of my coworkers spend $10 a day on tolls alone.
Another thing that bothers me is that there now is software out there that can tell if you are looking at your screen. Mostly it is used for classes at this point but I could see this slip into the telecommuting world.
I'm not sure why this bothers you. Since you distrust your remote workers and view them as worthless and unproductive, seems to me you'd welcome a tool to monitor their remote work.
It's not a threat to those legitimately working. It can't actually see you. It randomly pops up a dialog and measures the time for you to dismiss it. The frequency can be set by the admin but more than once per hour would be excessive. It can require to to answer a question or enter a password or just hit ok. If you're at your computer working it takes two seconds.
What's to keep it from slipping into the cubicle world as well?
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