August 18, 2008 at 8:57 am
One other consideration regarding telecommuting, a company expands the potential talent pool from which it can draw. They are no longer limited to people who live within commuting distance or those who will relocate. While I may wish to work for company XYZ, I may not want to relocate to XYZ's location, especially if it costs more to live there, or has terrible traffic problems, or my spouse has a career they don't want to give up, or a host of other reasons you don't want to relocate.
The funny thing about my current position, every person I interact with on a regular basis is not in the physical location that I am in, so I never see them in person. All communication is done via email, phone, and instant messenger. So in effect, I'm telecommuting from work.
Like someone else said, telecommuting isn't for everyone...but neither is sitting in a cube for 8-10 hours per day (yuk).
If it was easy, everybody would be doing it!;)
August 18, 2008 at 9:15 am
The kids do get loud. Last summer, when we had them home part of the summer, it was hard to work. Ended up working at night a lot when they were in bed, and that was a hassle. This summer, all a year older, not so bad.
However I'm not sure it's much worse than the office, and often it's better. They're in school now (first day today, hurray!) and when they come home, they know they get about 10 minutes from us to get them settled, then they have to leave us alone for an hour or so while we finish working. And they've learned to be quiet around the office and watch for us on the phone.
I think most kids can be trained, as opposed to most co-workers.
Face time is important. As much as I hate traveling, I know I need to do some to meet up with other people in my company. It is important and it matters. My guess is that with some teams,/groups, you might need to schedule a day here and there where everyone is together. Or perhaps suspend telecommuting at times.
It's not necessarily a good full-time job for everyone, but it's something that every company should consider. Likely you can save some $$ and gain a lot of goodwill with it as well.
On the energy, I'm a little skeptical as well. I'm sure there might be some savings for the company, perhaps a little more cost for the person, but if you saved on gasoline, then perhaps there's a net benefit. To me the biggest savings is time. Not driving around helps a lot.
August 18, 2008 at 9:42 am
I have worked in the office most of the years in IT. May be looking into one day a week at home before long. Either place I would get the same amount of work done.
Interruptions in the office are more numerous then those at home.
The four days a week I would be in the office would be enough to hold any meetings I would need to be at.
We will see how that works out later.
But for most it would be good to work at home at least once a week.
Miles...
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
August 18, 2008 at 9:42 am
Ah, Steve... you make me long for the days when I was telecommuting from Hawaii for an Oregon company. Not only did I not have a commute, but my home office overlooked the north shore and I could whale-watch on my breaks :). Plus, I worked on Pacific time, so my workday ended at 2:00 or 3:00.
The downside, in this case, was that I was one of a very few people that were telecommuting, so the lack of face time was becoming a bit of a hindrance to my career advancement. That's how I ended up moving back to the mainland for my current position. This is probably much less of an issue when a high percentage of the company telecommutes, but it's something to keep in mind.
TroyK
August 18, 2008 at 9:45 am
Troy, that sounds great, but now you get the great view of the Rockies! Not sure which one I prefer.
August 18, 2008 at 10:36 am
Steve Jones - Editor (8/18/2008)
The kids do get loud. Last summer, when we had them home part of the summer, it was hard to work. Ended up working at night a lot when they were in bed, and that was a hassle. This summer, all a year older, not so bad....
I think most kids can be trained, as opposed to most co-workers.
...
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is how your PETs interfere with working from home. I've had occasion to work a day or two at home on an irregular basis, and I find the dog and cats have a difficult time understanding you aren't available for playtime, and really object to walking on the keyboard or in front of the screen.
I'm also reminded of when I was going for my master's -- even though my roommate knew to leave me alone, I could hear the TV in the background and ended up going to the public library so I could get some quiet. Of course, that was in the days when the library was still kept quiet! Locally many of the libraries are allowing more conversation areas to encourage kids to go the library, and there are a lot more computers in the library with sound cards enabled.
But I agree that working from home occasionally was much appreciated when I had a 65 mile trip to the office.
August 18, 2008 at 10:47 am
Steve Jones - Editor (8/18/2008)
Troy, that sounds great, but now you get the great view of the Rockies! Not sure which one I prefer.
I know in December I prefer the beach! I can always put the mountains on my desktop and then I see them without being cold!
Jack Corbett
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August 18, 2008 at 11:27 am
Pets are a challenge. The dogs have beds in our office, but I occasionally lose a typing hand to a muzzle under it.
The horses are another matter. I'd be getting up earlier to feed them if I had to get to another office. Now I can talk on the phone while I'm dropping hay.
August 18, 2008 at 11:34 am
BTW, if you want to see telecommuting at the ranch, check out the podcast!
August 18, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Luckily for me when I do work from home the cats (we have two) ignore me.
😎
August 19, 2008 at 7:44 am
Steve,
In your article, you mentioned that always wanted a Sun "pizza box".
My wife bought a Sun SPARCStation IPX with a 20" monitor, CD Drive, and tape drive for about $400 at a salvage sale held by the company that she worked for. She bought it so I could keep my Unix skills up to date. I bought a SCSI case and added a few more SCSI drives and the total investment is about $600.
On telework, a former coworker teleworks from South Carolina for a company in Minnesota. He has only traveled to Minnesota probably about twice.
Ralph Hightower
August 19, 2008 at 8:21 am
In general I would say I am about 2x more efficient when working at home, plus I tend to work longer hours overall since I just have to walk to the kitchen to prepare lunch and dinner. I start earlier, since I have no commute. There is less water-cooler talk and other co-worker distractions.
But, my current company isn't a telecommuting company yet. Ah well.
--
Anye Mercy
"Service Unavailable is not an Error" -- John, ENOM support
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." -- Inigo Montoya in "Princess Bride"
"Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice." -- Will Durant
August 28, 2008 at 4:00 am
Steve Jones - Editor (8/18/2008)
The kids do get loud. Last summer, when we had them home part of the summer, it was hard to work. Ended up working at night a lot when they were in bed, and that was a hassle. This summer, all a year older, not so bad.However I'm not sure it's much worse than the office, and often it's better. They're in school now (first day today, hurray!) and when they come home, they know they get about 10 minutes from us to get them settled, then they have to leave us alone for an hour or so while we finish working. And they've learned to be quiet around the office and watch for us on the phone.
I think most kids can be trained, as opposed to most co-workers.
Face time is important. As much as I hate traveling, I know I need to do some to meet up with other people in my company. It is important and it matters. My guess is that with some teams,/groups, you might need to schedule a day here and there where everyone is together. Or perhaps suspend telecommuting at times.
It's not necessarily a good full-time job for everyone, but it's something that every company should consider. Likely you can save some $$ and gain a lot of goodwill with it as well.
On the energy, I'm a little skeptical as well. I'm sure there might be some savings for the company, perhaps a little more cost for the person, but if you saved on gasoline, then perhaps there's a net benefit. To me the biggest savings is time. Not driving around helps a lot.
Steve, I agree with everything you say, and I wish that I had the opportunity to work from home on a regular basis. However, I shan't be using the Sun article to try to persuade my company of the merits, since it would be laughed down for its lack of scientific rigour.
John
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