March 7, 2013 at 12:04 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Productivity and Accountability
March 7, 2013 at 2:11 am
I think there's another possible reason to not want to work from home. Speaking personally, I like to keep home and work in their own separate compartments--I'll work from home if I absolutely have to, but I really don't like doing it. If I had a large enough house to set up a room specifically for home working then it might be different, but since I don't, I keep them apart.
March 7, 2013 at 3:34 am
Remote working doesn't work for me at the moment.
I don't have an office at home where I can lock my self away, with my wife working part time and kids coming home from school before my end of day it can be difficult for me to work - that might just be me though.
Most people walk up to my desk when they need something, rather than phone me - they don't try my mobile phone if I'm not at my desk - so it has happened that problems have gone on for longer than needed. Even if I put a note on Lync, in Outlook etc saying I'm working from home with my mobile number - I get missed calls on my desk phone. So maybe the users need educating on how to contact me - my fault in some respects.
On the plus side though the end users don't notice a bit where you are working - they are just as happy when you've finished the work no matter where you are.
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March 7, 2013 at 5:39 am
The best thing I found about working from home was the lack of a need to look busy. As someone who prefers to start really early I am continually told I need to work as hard as a peer who usually does no more work than me but rolls in late(r) but is there in the office late. It is a perception that I have had to fight hard over the years.
The real question is productivity. This can be measured but can only be attained by a mature team (ability - not age).
It makes perfect sense to regularly have face-to-face meetings (regularly being defined by what is required as opposed to some artificial timespan).
Also, if there is a requirement to support someone which requires physical co-location then this is a requirement for as long as it is required not as long as it is convenient nor as long as it is wanted to be enforced. An example is for new team members joining. The length of time for one or more existing members of the team will vary with the experience of the new team member, their character, what they have been tasked to do and the various attributes of the peers that they need to work with.
Basically, I think that the Yahoo management and some of their existing employees are acting immaturely.
Boo hoo 😛
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
March 7, 2013 at 5:50 am
So, is Yahoo going to drop offshore resources? Or do they have a facility in Bangalore where they can gather their employees?
March 7, 2013 at 6:43 am
I find it interesting that this seems to be a very personal issue for some, especially those who already telecommute. I have done both and find the physical separation of work and home to be theraputic, but then again, that is personal to me.
March 7, 2013 at 6:56 am
Yahoo's decision to end telecommuting is another fail on their part not on their employee's.
I worked for a global technology company where teams made up from people on several continents collaborated remotely to implement solutions all over the world. It was very rare for us to travel and get any face time. I think it happened once every 3 years or so. Some of these implementations were very high visibility in the $40+ million range.
The company has accountability policies that helped these teams work successfully. The teams did weekly status updates to track progress, mitigate issues, and define action items for the next week. Management would meet with team leaders monthly to track progress, make decisions, and set or change priorities.
This system worked equally well for teams that were together in one location working on local projects as it did for the global teams.
I think the last thought in your article says it all: "... ultimately employee success comes down to each person being held accountable for their work."
If a company (Yahoo) fails to do this for telecommuters then they probably won't do it very well for people in the office either. Conversely, if they already did this well for teams in the office then there probably wouldn't be a telecommuting issue in the first place.
March 7, 2013 at 7:25 am
Accountability is a huge factor in being granted the privilege. And except for outsourcing, it IS a privilege.
Having the ability also makes it possible for some of to continue working when others cannot even get to the office. In the IT world that can be a critical factor.
There is definitely a need for separation, however. If your work environment is not the best but, at least for the time being, it is what you have to do then there is nothing worse than living with that environment 24 hours per day. I did that while working in an office and it nearly cost me something very dear. Granted, it was a toxic environment in the first place and I am glad it is behind me but I head to learn to leave work at the office door. Once I did that, plus the drive home for decompression time, it was easier to compartmentalize those things and leave them at work...for tomorrow they will still be there. If you can effectively do that in the hallway between your home office and the kitchen, more power to you. If not, working from home may not be the best option for you.
------------
Buy the ticket, take the ride. -- Hunter S. Thompson
March 7, 2013 at 9:05 am
My wife is an RN who works 7pm - 7am three days a week so she is home usually during the day and the kids get home at 2:30 from school. Just try to get work done with people around making noise, etc that has nothing to do with work. Being able to work remotely when I have to is great but I'd never want to do that every day. For me getting out of the house mon-fri at a minimum is a good thing.
Cheers
March 7, 2013 at 9:46 am
Dave62 (3/7/2013)
Yahoo's decision to end telecommuting is another fail on their part not on their employee's.I worked for a global technology company where teams made up from people on several continents collaborated remotely to implement solutions all over the world. It was very rare for us to travel and get any face time. I think it happened once every 3 years or so. Some of these implementations were very high visibility in the $40+ million range.
The company has accountability policies that helped these teams work successfully. The teams did weekly status updates to track progress, mitigate issues, and define action items for the next week. Management would meet with team leaders monthly to track progress, make decisions, and set or change priorities.
This system worked equally well for teams that were together in one location working on local projects as it did for the global teams.
I think the last thought in your article says it all: "... ultimately employee success comes down to each person being held accountable for their work."
If a company (Yahoo) fails to do this for telecommuters then they probably won't do it very well for people in the office either. Conversely, if they already did this well for teams in the office then there probably wouldn't be a telecommuting issue in the first place.
Part of what Dave62 speaks to is correct, but part is not. It is wonderful that HIS company can do the projects that he tells us of and reading about such team work and individual cooperation in projects is something we all should try to achieve.
However, everyone needs to realize that Yahoo is not having the same type of results with their project work. Something is NOT working at Yahoo and the "new" management has decided to start over by having everyone work at the office where better results are the hopeful outcome. I'm sure that once the dust settles at Yahoo that telecommuting will be offered, but you can bet there will be different rules applied to how and when. Better to be able to work at the office then to have the company fail and everyone lose their jobs. Time will tell if the new CEO has made a blunder or the best decision at Yahoo in 5 years.
March 7, 2013 at 9:49 am
Thanks Steve!
I do not work from home often but will when I need to. But there are cycles in what I do. If I am working on policy or a strategy where there is more collaboration need to be in the office. Also if I am advising a development team on things to do and avoid I need that face-to-face time.
However when I am working on a proof of concept where I might write some research code for a few weeks or longer, that heads down work could be done at home. I choose to do that in the office however, and just put the headphones on, crank up the volume, and ignore the rest of the world.
Over the years I have come to realize that you can be another place mentally while you are still in the office physically. Some may think that crazy but high mental thought can transcend location. It is not daydreaming, it is the Tao. :-):-):-)
M.
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
March 7, 2013 at 9:57 am
Dave62 (3/7/2013)
I think the last thought in your article says it all: "... ultimately employee success comes down to each person being held accountable for their work."If a company (Yahoo) fails to do this for telecommuters then they probably won't do it very well for people in the office either. Conversely, if they already did this well for teams in the office then there probably wouldn't be a telecommuting issue in the first place.
I completely agree. Having had similar experience to what Dave62 describes with a global company, remote workers, whether at home or in a remote office, is a reality that has to be faced. IF Yahoo was doing this as a temporary stop gap while they got their house in order and established solid measures to ensure that all employees are being productive, both remote and in office, then that would be fine. If it is just a reaction to poor performing employees then the problem is much deeper than just having remote employees, and the situation won't get appreciably better.
Consider for a moment having performance measured by how much VPN traffic you used to determine if you are being an effective employee. Does that seem silly to anyone else? How do they measure the internal employees - how many times a manager sees them at their desk? Really? If so, that is sad.
Don't get me wrong, as a remote employee, I make it a point to ensure that I am online when I am supposed to be, responding to requests more quickly than in-office people, so that I avoid any negative focus, and probably work more hours than necessary. That is part of the pain point that I think goes along with being remote. I say all that to state that I don't take the measure of "VPN activity" lightly, rather stating that "VPN activity" alone is not a valid measure of an employees productivity. Again, this whole thing implies a much deeper problem than remote workers.
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
March 7, 2013 at 10:40 am
I read an article that said remote workers made up less than 3% of Yahoo's workforce. If Yahoo management thinks that 3% of workers not working in the office is even remotely responsible for their current problems they are crazy.
If you are accountable for your productivity and complete all your work, you're a success. If you don't, you're not. It's that simple.
Those of us who work in jobs where this is true are the lucky ones. I have worked jobs where the point seemed to be just being there NOT accomplishing anything. I hated them but my employers were happy because I was always there on time and worked my 10 hours.
I would like to add one more point. Some jobs don't work well in an office setting. My dad works in IT and is the admin over a a bunch of Windows Servers. He has to essentially be on call 24-7 to respond to any problems with his servers and often has to do upgrades late at night. He could never be available to get all his work done if he had to be in an office to do all of it because of the hurry up and wait nature of what he does. He will often start a process on one of his servers then go off and do something around the house for the 40 minutes in takes to process. If he were working in an office this would be wasted time as the company would be paying him to wait for the server to work. Since he works from home and is salaried he simply works as much time as it takes to get his job done, when the work needs to be done.
March 7, 2013 at 12:47 pm
No, it is not just about getting work done. It is also about accessibility, face time, not being prone to procrastination and laziness, distractions from a variety of different sources at home, managability, working on personal projects instead of working on work, isolation from the rest of the team. Last but not least it is about showing up and being there everyday and just being available. There are many factors that affect this. Steve, with all due respect, you are gone alot because we all read articles that you have published long before many times over in your absense. So, if that works for you, then that's fine for you. But I can tell you from my personal situation if I was having someone fill in for me all the time at my workplace for whatever reasons (away at SQL conferences, vacations, managing a horse ranch, or whatever) I wouldn't last long here at all, even if I had remote access, it wouldn't matter. I can tell you that for sure. it just doesn't work for most practical situations in production IT departments that I have been in over the last 25 years. i showed up at a co-workers house once that had a work at home arrangement and he answered the door in a robe and bare feet with three screaming kids in the background. Not a real conducive working environment IMHO. That explained alot about his quality of work as well. That is one of the real big problems about remote access is it is tough for a company to manage that kind of thing when they don't see it for themselves.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
March 7, 2013 at 2:03 pm
TravisDBA, I think all the issues you mentioned are symptoms of a company that doesn't have policies and procedures in place that keep people accountable.
Procrastination and laziness, distractions from a variety of different sources can occur equally in the office or at home. If a company has a management style that can regularly monitor and track productivity it will work equally well for people in the office or telecommuting. If they don't, they can attempt to compensate by not allowing telecommuting but all that will do is mask the underlying management problem.
There are plenty of examples of companies that do this correctly. The companies that don't have bigger problems, which have nothing to do with telecommuting. 😉
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