TheBanyanTree: WFH

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Lots of anxiety at work.  The corporate office announced a new telecommuting
policy this past week.  Many people throughout the corporation already
telecommute.  In fact, our division is based in Atlanta, GA, and evidently
there is a tax credit through the state of Georgia given for telecommuting
workers.  We all knew there had to be a catch in this, didn’t we?

Well, our office is in the frosty north where still counting cold and red
noses is the office policy.  Most of our managers have made it clear that
telecommuting will not be permitted unless there is an extremely important
and death defying reason.  What they don’t realize is that people can screw
off just as much in the office as they can at home.

And also, they don’t realize is that if someone is screwing off at home, it’
s easily monitored since our system catches every key stroke anyway.  If it
isn’t working out, then the worker has to come back to the office.

Many of our teams are cross office teams, so we don’t always physically see
our managers or coworkers.  What’s different about that scenario compared to
working at home?  Since I can’t see my manager and he/she can’t see me, then
why not go home early or take a long lunch or surf the internet all day?
But that doesn’t happen too often.  Most of us care about our jobs and want
to do the best that we can.

Several companies in the Twin Cities have tried telecommuting.  Of course,
there are certain types of jobs that work best telecommuting, like my job,
where  my tasks are email driven and I work a lot with documentation.  Other
jobs, like Ray’s, involve going to the work place and doing hands-on type
tasks, like fixing mechanical problems.  Telecommuting would not work for
him.

I read about one company that had all the workers telecommute.  The company
only keeps a small storefront office to meet with clients and has some cubes
for workers who need to come in.  That saves them a lot of money in office
setup.  So, what happens to all the big skyscrapers and office parks that
have sprung up if a lot of workers telecommute?

I don’t live far from work, just six miles, but a couple of my coworkers
live almost 50 miles away, and they have been allowed to work from home
(WFH) a few days a week.  There haven’t been any problems with them not
getting their work done.

If I was a manager, I would let people give it a try, and if it doesn’t work
out, well then, they would have to come in.  I’d like to try it a couple of
days a week, mainly for focus reasons.  We have a lot of chatting going on
in the office and that’s very distracting.  Sometimes it’s nice to have the
quiet of home to concentrate and get things done.

I do think telecommuting is the wave of the future, but like anything new,
it’s going to take a while for managers to realize people aren’t going to
cheat them out of time.

Anyway, I’ll get my butt back to work tomorrow.  I do feel guilty about
taking the sick day on Friday when we had stuff going on with our client and
then using the day off to get a ton of personal things done.  But if I could
telecommute . . .

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
~Eva Logue