December 26th, 2005
Why Doesn’t Telecommuting Take Off?
By Mark Evans
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Ever wonder why telecommuting has become an overwhelming trend? In theory, there should be a lot more people working from home in the age of broadband access, powerful laptops, VOIP and cell phones. An article in the New York Times suggests telecommuting is falling short of the mark because people need to interact with other people. That makes a lot of sense if you’ve ever worked from home. Unless you’re really disciplined, working by yourself can be very challenging. I’d like to work at home one or two days a week but there’s something to be said about going to office, going for coffee, talking about last night’s hockey game…and, oh yeah, doing some work.
We Say: The longer the commute, the more incentive to work at home.
For work about the mystery of telecommuting, click here.
Omari says:
Telecommuting hasn’t taken off for the same reason that people still get on airplanes: nothing replaces face-to-face interaction. At work we often have video teleconferences, but that simply does not replace talking with someone who’s in the same room with you. That said, telecommuting does work quite well for some office workers on an occasional basis.
December 26th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
Cheers... says:
For me and most places I ever worked, telecommuting was and still is a viable option for my position, which is systems administration of tons of unix servers. But having telecommuting option officially approved is next to impossible and it was this way all along.
The main reason is not human interaction. The main reason is simply upper management does not trust the rank and file to do the work, when they are not in the office. And we can all than for the stupid idea of “Ex-military personnel make good managers”. Anywhere you put military minded people in charge, they will treat their rank and file as the fresh GI recruits. Higher they go up in the food chain, effects of their power will affect much more people.
December 26th, 2005 at 11:58 pm
Gonzalo says:
Absolutely agree with Cheers there.
I could do my present job at home without problem. I would have to personally go there and deliver a presentation or something let’s say once or twice a month. The problem is I maybe doing nothing at the office, but I’m there, the boss can see I’m there. As I said, he doesn’t see if I’m actually working (and he doesn’t even want to know, because many times I’m just waiting for him to give me some stuff I need and he takes his time), just that I’m available and not doing personal things or, who knows, working for someone else.
My company does indeed have a program to incentivate telecommuting. This was a HR initiative to reduce the ammount of space needed to allocate people. But in all cases I know where someone wanted to do it, it was blocked by their bosses.
December 27th, 2005 at 1:41 am
JB says:
Telecommuting is a consideration when it comes to other factors:
o It saves the employer on the cost of office space.
o It saves the employer on the cost of office furnishings.
o It saves the employer on cost of office supplies.
o It is MUCH easier to lay someone off if you never met him.
o It saves the employer on access cost (many do not fully reimburse for extra telephone and broadband costs).
o The expectation for the employee to be available 24X7
o It forces the employee to be his own systems programmer.
o The employee becomes a resource rather than a human.
December 27th, 2005 at 8:42 am
more1976 says:
Cheers hit the nail on the head. Corporate management does not trust their workers. And they never will. Even though corporations spend millions building fancy office buildings miles from most employees homes telecommuting will never reach its potential. Management would rather have their millions of employees sitting in traffic jams for hours per week eating up precious time while they idle along in their limos reading the New York Times.
December 27th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
John Tidball says:
I would telecommute in 2 seconds if I could. Unfortunately,
my job in Safety and Process Safety (Ammonia refrigeration safety) is hands on. And I have a teeny bopper look alike, 23 year old first time stupidvisor that is a witch. Driving 50 miles a day round trip adds to my misery. She has cancer anyway,
and sorry, but maybe I’ll be lucky and be rid of her. Ha ha haaaa!
December 27th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
ClapekDodki says:
tette piccole
July 16th, 2007 at 7:35 am
ClapekDodki says:
racconti
July 17th, 2007 at 4:01 am