Do a lot of companies in the Triangle allow employees to work at home? (real estate, school)

[lovebrentwood]

I was wondering if there are many Triangle companies that allow employees to work at home. (For this question, I'm not including real estate agents, who have always been pretty independent, or stay-at-home parents, who I know work very hard at home.)

Do you work at home for a Triangle company? All of the time? Part of the time? What type of work?

Do you think the recession has made it more common (saving the employer money on office space, utilities, computer maintenance)? Or less common? Or has the economic downtown made no difference?

Do you think more Triangle companies will allow employees to work at home in the future? Or fewer? Why or why not?

I would think that such (potential) factors as $5/gal gas might make it a more-popular option than it is now.

What do you think? What's the status of working at home in the Triangle? What is the future?

[sowk09]

My agency allows me to work from home (non profit work) though I have office space as well, so I usually only work from home when I'm sick, the weather is bad, or feeling extremely lazy. I'm more productive in the office, and if I was a boss I'd be concerned that my employees were less productive at home due to distractions, etc., but it seems to be pretty popular. There are three employees that work from home because we simply don't have the space for them in our current office (and don't want to shell out the money to move right now) and because their jobs require them to work non-traditional hours and often in the community, so they don't really need the space anyway. I'm out of the office most of the day as well but couldn't completely work from home unless my boss provided me with a fax line, so that's a major reason of why I tend to go in to the office.

I think in an economic climate where people may not be paid what they think they're worth, working from home can be seen as a benefit because parents don't have to use sick time when their children are home from school, they can work the hours that suit them, etc.

[myNC]

Our company allows us to work from home if need be. I always prefer working from office since it is less stressful for me working from there (as I interact with people, take breaks etc). If I work from home I usually confine myself to my home office and put a lot more stress.

[yellowbelle]

I work from home. In my experience, the number of acquaintances who WAH 100% of the time has skyrocketed over the past few years. Even the number who WAH only a few days of week has gone up too.

I think many companies are making the move toward encouraging WAH - if not encouraging it, at least permitting it. In a tough economy where companies may be limited in employee perks and raises, the telecommute option is a good retention perk.

[NM posts]

I work from home 100% of the time too but my company is located out of state. My last company was in RTP and I worked from home one day a week - I work in clinical research - it's a great perk. I miss good coworkers but given the cost of gas these days I love it. A lot of people in my industry work from home at least part of the time. I often hear dogs barking during conference calls :-P (sometimes mine, ugh)

[CHTransplant]

We have some heavy-travel jobs in my company for which we hire people regardless of location (i.e., they don't have to be near an office), and those individuals work from home when not travelling.

For most other jobs, we actively discourage work-from-home arrangements, although working from home on an occassional basis is certainly permitted.

[lovebrentwood]

Why do you actively discourage them? Have you had bad experiences with workers working from home?

Originally Posted by CHTransplant

We have some heavy-travel jobs in my company for which we hire people regardless of location (i.e., they don't have to be near an office), and those individuals work from home when not travelling.

For most other jobs, we actively discourage work-from-home arrangements, although working from home on an occassional basis is certainly permitted.

[CHTransplant]

Originally Posted by lovebrentwood

Why do you actively discourage them? Have you had bad experiences with workers working from home?

A variety of factors. Working from home creates disengaged workers who are not part of a team, and who don't fully collaborate and communicate regarding issues on which they are engaged. There is a huge value to the incidental contacts that happen during the course of a day within an office. Individuals who work from home rarely have contact with individuals with whom they are not directly working. Those who work from home are also often less connected the company itself, and long term retention becomes a problem. For the individual, working from home can limit advancement opportunities as well.

[dhwilkin]

Working from home depends on the company, and can also depend on the department manager you work for, such as is the case at my company. Unfortunately for me, my department is only allowed to work from home if absolutely necessary. I really hate having to use vacation time or making up the time later for things like having to be at home for letting a repair person in (especially since they usually give a time window they'll be there, not an exact time).

[NM posts]

Originally Posted by CHTransplant

A variety of factors. Working from home creates disengaged workers who are not part of a team, and who don't fully collaborate and communicate regarding issues on which they are engaged. There is a huge value to the incidental contacts that happen during the course of a day within an office. Individuals who work from home rarely have contact with individuals with whom they are not directly working. Those who work from home are also often less connected the company itself, and long term retention becomes a problem. For the individual, working from home can limit advancement opportunities as well.

Just not true, CH - every facet of my job involves working as part of a team, being engaged, and communicating. It depends on the employee. In my field, someone who wouldn't do well working from home would be weeded out anyway because the lack of those skills would show up in other ways. Granted, it can be a little harder when you don't have the face to face, but I'd say long term retention is more likely in my company because of the telecommute arrangement. You've got to trust the employees, but you've also got to pick employees who can be trusted. This is just my experience in my field/company though.