January 22, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Besides no need to drive to work and save gas money, no need to dress up, what is the advantage of telecommute?
Does it mean you do not have to due with too much company politics?
Also is it easier to work with your co-workers, will it be less conflicts?
January 22, 2008 at 5:17 pm
u already know the advantages. here are the disadvantages:
- u become somewhat disconnected from the day to day goings on
- u may start to be overlooked -- out of sight out of mind
- u can eventually start feeling like u arent part of anything
- very easy to start forming bad personal habits (like not getting dressed or brushing your teeth 1st thing in the AM 🙂 or playing video games when u should be working)
- u are an easy scapegoat when things go wrong.
That said, all of these things can be overcome if u remain disciplined and keep a constant line of communication with your peers and supervisors. also a good idea to show up in the office once in a while even if u dont have to.
January 22, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I'll add a couple of more...
Everyone who doesn't telecommute will hate you (for obvious reasons).
Everyone who doesn't telecommute will perceive you as a slacker unless you produce double the work that everyone in the office does.
You will likely NOT ever be perceived to be a "team player". People who aren't perceived to be team players don't get as good a raise.
Those are just a couple of the perceptions that have developed around some of our remote workers that telecommute. Doesn't matter whether they deserve it or not... those are the perceptions that people have developed about them.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
January 22, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Sometimes those things are true, but not always.
It can limit your ability to advance. Many positions as you go up in the company require that you be at the office.
It can be hard to stop working. I've been working from home for 4 years, my wife 13, and more often than we'd like, we're working at night in bed.
Heck, I'm posting this in bed after the kids are down 🙁
It can be hard to focus without other people around. It can be easier to focus without other people around. This tends to cycle over a few months one way, then the other.
You have to be measurably as productive as everyone else. Meaning people have to see work you've done or they think you're not working.
January 23, 2008 at 7:46 am
Jeff Moden (1/22/2008)
I'll add a couple of more...Everyone who doesn't telecommute will hate you (for obvious reasons).
Everyone who doesn't telecommute will perceive you as a slacker unless you produce double the work that everyone in the office does.
You will likely NOT ever be perceived to be a "team player". People who aren't perceived to be team players don't get as good a raise.
Those are just a couple of the perceptions that have developed around some of our remote workers that telecommute. Doesn't matter whether they deserve it or not... those are the perceptions that people have developed about them.
While I have to some extent observed this for "pure telecommuters" - it doesn't necessarily hold if you are simply restricting your in-office hours (e.g. you telecommute 3 days a week, and in office for 2). I think there is definitely a challenge to team building if you never get any opportunity to rub elbows with you co-workers.
As far as the challenges advanced by Steve, absolutely, but they can all be overcome with some internal discipline. I found it helped a lot to restrict my work to the office in my house, so there was still a conceptual separation: I step into the office to do office work, and I leave the office when I want to play/do other things.
As far as distractions - well, they're distractions if you let them be distractions. It's a personal thing - some folks prefer to have others working around them, or some physical separation between them and their household distractions. I just don't think there's any generalization to that however: in the same way I see a lot of folks doing intense work on a plane, in Starbucks, etc..., you can train yourself to have your own personal "dome of silence" where you get your stuff done, pretty much anywhere (including at home).
Now - your spouse/partner/children may have something to say about the "dome of silence", but that's another battle....:):P
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January 23, 2008 at 8:16 am
All items are valid. I will say as far as advantages
For you
1) You can focus on the work with fewer distractions.
2) It can reduce personal tensions when dealing with some coworkers (but make sure your boss is aware of the situation so they cannot cause you issues while you are not there).
For the Business
1) Cost savings on equipment and space. They don't have to have a cubicle for telecommuting employees which cuts down on office space needs.
2) Fewer lost work days, especially around seasonal events such as snow.
3) Fewer lost days due to sickness, I can be contagious but still work in many cases.
4) Fewer lost days due to appointment issues, things like the cable guy is coming between 12 and 5 or car is in the shop.
As to Corporate Policies mostly appearance policies are the only thing you don't have to deal with.
I am sure I can think of others but that is what I have for now.
January 24, 2008 at 3:46 am
I just missed have people around, even if I didn't have many conversations with them during the day. I found this an odd reaction as I grew up on a remote farm in the Highlands of Scotland where the nearest neighbour was 2 miles away and it was 4 miles (7 km) to the nearest village and during the school holidays I only had my brother for company.
I now have a new job in a small office (6 or 7 people) and I am much happier.
January 24, 2008 at 6:29 am
Robert,
Congrats on the new job!
I definitely fight that lack of people. My wife is usually here, but weeks like this one, where she's gone all week, are lonely and hard to work. Usually drive the 10 miles to town to have lunch and be near people.
January 24, 2008 at 6:54 am
One of the advantages to telecommuting is that if you can be disciplined enough, working at home affords you the opportunity to work WITHOUT interruption on a project that you might not get done at work as quickly(due to constant interruption).
Norene Malaney
January 24, 2008 at 7:38 am
BTW I do agree with the lack of interaction actually brings me down a bit, I only telecommute 2 days a week. Wife does as well but on different ones than me. Gives me the opportunity to get a lot done but still be around others for the more intensive interaction stuff.
January 24, 2008 at 9:42 am
I think it depends on what everyone else in your company does. If you work in an environment where your co-workers are spread out accross the country (or world) it may be very easy to telecommute because you only talk to people via teleconference, phone calls, e-mail, IM... anyway. It would not matter where you do your work from. However, if you are the only person (or one of few) in your office that telecommutes then it can be very difficult.
January 24, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I agree with many of the issues raised here and thought I'd throw in a couple of thoughts having telecommuted both full time & part time in a couple of roles:
(1) Telecommuting seems to work best in companies with geographically diverse employees; if it's "normal" to have to interact with people on the other side of the globe, in different time zones, etc. telecommuting tends to work well - everyone is used to having to pick up the phone, send emails, etc.
(2) On the other hand, in companies with small groups of "in house" employees who are used to face to face interaction telecommuting > once every blue moon is a problem. Even if you are able to convince "management" to allow you work from "somewhere else" if the rest of the team is stuck in the office you will not prosper.
(3) A completely virtual office is possible given the current state of technology but it takes time to make it work, meaning that there is no way for X number of people to come together effectively without Y number of hours of face time. In a telecommute situation Y hours may actually need to be significantly larger than the number of hours required for a similar group of people to "come together" if everyone went to the office every day.
(4) Given #3, once the wrinkles are ironed out, everybody is comfortable, etc. a group made up entirely of telecommuters can/will outperform/work a similar group in an office given the proper tools and individuals with sufficient self-discipline.
Joe
January 25, 2008 at 4:15 am
Robert
I grew up in the Highlands too and if I could find work up there which paid half as well as down here in London, I'd be back up there in an instant! Well done, and good luck with the new job.
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January 25, 2008 at 9:09 am
Working 8 hours in front of the keyboard doesn't work for me. At work, I can't get up and go do something else for an hour, then come back and resume my work. At home, when I'm saturated, I can take a break for an hour, then come back fresh and be productive again. I still work 8+ hours a day, just not 8am to 5pm.
Also, I like to get up early and work and sometimes work late into the night. It is much more convenient to do that from home than it is having to be in the office.
And the argument about being around teammates doesn't really apply to me either. My teammates are spread across the country so I don't see them anyway whether in the office or at home. I see other people when I'm at work, but don't know them because I don't work 'with' them on any projects.
Like other people have said, I too like a mix of working from home or in the office, although not both in the same day. What's the point of driving to the office for a couple of hours, then going home and working for a couple of hours.
Telecommuting works for some people, and not for others...definitely a personal thing.
If it was easy, everybody would be doing it!;)
January 25, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Well, I just accept this job and there is no physical location for the company, everyone works from home. It is a startup company but it starts in 1999 so I think it is doing fine. Everyone is working from home all the way from the CEO. When I went interview, I went to someone's house.
Anyway my last job I was at NY office and my manager was at Chicago. The other team members were all spread out too. I was the only one in the NY office. So I did not know why I had to go to the office since my team was not there.
So I guess that is the reason I accept this job since I am all alone anyway, I use to contact my team members through email and phone. However it is still different working from home than at an office.
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