gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Sept 29, 2014 11:16:47 GMT -5
I'm off work today and of course, thinking about work. I'm not looking to start the debate on telecommuting as I acknowledge there are two schools of thought, both with their merits. I've been telecommuting for almost 10 years, but now my company is ordering us all back to an office and it's not up for discussion. This is causing a huge disruption as it impacts thousands of employees around the world. And, some were hired into a telecommuting position. Others, like myself, were part of the migration from office to home.
Some employees are seeking medical exclusions, some seeking hardship exclusions, some just disgruntled. One person says she will pursue retiring if she can't be left alone. She was talking on as if waiting for me to say"we value you so much that we want you to stay and will grant an exclusion". I'm obviously not authorized to do that, so I tell her she has to do what's right for her situation. One person is complaining about her back and how a daily commute will cause big problems, so she will get a doctor's note. Fine, that's not up to me either, but do what you got to do. Another person says she has a carpal tunnel and will require special keyboard, chair, computer screen, etc. If she can't get this equipment, she will seek an exclusion. Fine, do what you got to do, our HR department supports all ADA needs. Others are griping over the long commutes, childcare issues, gas, tolls, work clothes and non private cubicles. Meanwhile, the only issues that would have merit to our leaders is how it impacts productivity, innovation and costs. So, I really wish employees would focus on those issues if they want to influence and gripe about the other stuff with friends and family.
I was discussing this with my dad, a career federal government manager, who thinks they should all have to go in and if it doesn't work for their lifestyle, then quit or be fired. That is what they would have been told. I kind of agree (but it's not up to me) because it's not really fair that anyone farther than 30 miles from an office will get to continue their cushy wfh job and expense phone, internet, office equipment. While the rest of us will have increased costs associated with everything from gas, work clothes, food, less time to spend with family, we'll still need accommodations at home if we don't want to be in the office 80 hours/week but won't get to expense phone & internet anymore. $150/month for phone & internet + $100/month for tolls & gas (at least) + work clothes could easily add up to $300/month and our days are longer and less productive. Sigh.
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gacpa
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Post by gacpa on Sept 29, 2014 14:56:35 GMT -5
My hubby is a federal employee and is allowed to work one day a week from home.
I have worked at home since we moved to this area in 2006 for my employer who is in Florida. I access their network and work on the same clients I always have since 1998.
Our productivity is easily measured by the work we crank out, so it does not matter where we happen to be sitting. I am not sure I could go back to sitting in an office all day. I do my best to make this opportunity work, at my age, jobs of any kind would be hard to come by.
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travelnut11
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Post by travelnut11 on Sept 29, 2014 19:39:37 GMT -5
I thought about this when Marissa Mayer called all the telecommuters back to Yahoo. Honestly that would've been a deal-breaker and I would've moved on. I've worked from home full-time for over 10 years and I'm not sure I could ever go back to working in the office. The reduction in stress from no commute and no work clothes and no office politics is just so much better for me. Of course I work in a sort of niche programming area where there are never enough qualified people and as such many of the places will let you work under whatever conditions you want so they can fill the positions. If I worked in a different area and jobs were scarce then it would be a different story. Also, I'm an excellent employee so they would be short-sighted to lose me over something so trivial as where my computer is located.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Sept 30, 2014 8:36:30 GMT -5
Working from home is good for some, and not so good for others. If you work in a job that production can be easily measured and it is easy to monitor staff's value - then I don't see any reason the company wouldn't be okay with it. If, however, you work in a job where it is difficult to measure production, I can understand why companies get a little wobbly on it. My job is very difficult to measure. It is a unique position, and a supporting role. The people I spend the most time with have the least grasp on the skills and time it takes to create the work I do. Often things people think are very hard end up being super fast and easy. And then they ask for something - you know, just whip something out in your spare time, but in reality it takes days of work. It can take a long time to put together 4 numbers and a single sentence to support it, but I can data 50,000 lines of data in 2 minutes. So, then it is based on how "happy" people are with your work. That can be a little funky when people don't really understand what you do or they don't work closely with you on a regular basis.
I also had problems when we had a lot of team work and we were scattered about. I found that even with regular meetings and web-ex's and cell phones, etc. etc. We had a hard time getting on the same page. It has become a habit for people to do other work while on a web-ex, and when someone (or 3 out of 5 people) are only half listening, things tend to fall apart. So, I get why companies are questioning their productivity. I find being in the office with people can (sometimes) have a huge impact on the quality of work the whole team puts out. And, I also see how a bunch of people together in an office can waste a lot of time that would be better spent doing actual work.
Companies will do what they have to do. Employees will bitch about it. And, for the most part, people rarely understand. It appears to be quite difficult to understand why a company would do something in their best interest and require employees to follow their rules.
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svwashout
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Post by svwashout on Sept 30, 2014 9:06:41 GMT -5
Would it be worth moving 30 miles away from work to stay remote? I did this recently but found that I didn't like working from home. Luckily I managed to find a local office to work from.
I think my costs are lower this way, what I spend on gas is more than made up by less time and money on "errands" and mindless eating from the fridge. Now I have way less hours at work because this local office opens late and closes early, but not being around my teammates means I can focus better on what I need to be do so productivity is probably about the same.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 30, 2014 9:24:54 GMT -5
I think if someone has worked from home for a long time it is probably hard for them to go back to an office but really that isn't the company's problem. There are lots of people looking for work so the current employees can either get with the program or go elsewhere. Perhaps the company could let some people do 4/10 days, flex time, etc.to make the transition a little easier. We work 4/10 days in my office and it works out really well. We had one person who had a baby and decided she wanted to work from home after her leave ended. She does graphic design so working from home should have been fine and all she would need to do is come in for meetings. Her productivity went out the window. She never finished anything on time, we had a hard time getting a hold of her in the morning (when the rest of us are at work) because she decided she liked to work evenings (when the rest of us where gone). The company had to end up letting her go. Some people can be productive at home and others not so much. I actually like the structure of working at an office and I like interaction with people. Working at home is not really my cup of tea but I do love having 3 day weekends so that type of schedule works the best for someone like me.
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Ryan
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Post by Ryan on Sept 30, 2014 9:32:23 GMT -5
Since I work close to home, it doesn't bother me to come into the office but I would like a little more flexibility on when I come in. For instance, if I could come in from 9:00 to 3:15, then I'd be able to save myself quite a bit on daycare once the kids are in school full-time. But at the same time, I kinda get why they woudln't want to do that.
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swasat
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Post by swasat on Sept 30, 2014 9:34:39 GMT -5
My take on such issues is that an employee does as employer expects. Period. One can value themselves as high as they want, but in truth, no one is indispensable. If you cannot abide by the rules put in by your employer who is responsible for your paycheck, by all means find another employment.
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Nazgul Girl
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Babysitting our new grandbaby 3 days a week !
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Post by Nazgul Girl on Sept 30, 2014 10:06:50 GMT -5
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 30, 2014 11:14:23 GMT -5
So what are you asking us? Are you asking us for our opinions on telecommuting?
As a federal employee, teleworking has been an option, and I've done it a couple of times, but I don't like it much. Furthermore, my job isn't as conducive to it as some are. I work as a safety professional and it's hard to ensure employee safety and compliance with federal law in your living room. As Thyme4change said, I work in a field where it's often difficult to quantify output and productivity. My "product" is compliance with the law and a healthy workforce. Plus I prefer keeping my work and home life separate. I find it more difficult to focus at home than in the office, because all the distractions of home are there.
Then again, I live pretty close, less than 10 minutes away, so coming into work isn't much more time consuming. The dress code is pretty casual, so a big additional expense for that is not required. Speaking of which, how on earth does it cost someone $300 for work clothes? Clothes are a start up cost, but you shouldn't have to continually buy clothing. Unless you wear an expensive suite to work and need to dry clean frequently.
I think some (maybe many) of those employee complaints are exaggerations or excuses as to why they can't go to an office like everyone else. I wouldn't use childcare as an excuse. If you work from home, and you actually plan on working, you can't watch a kid at the same time.
But, I can see how some employees who were hired as telecommuters can have legitimate complaints about the game being changed on them after the fact. Also, I can see how someone far away from the office would have a pretty legitimate gripe.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 30, 2014 11:21:54 GMT -5
Since I work close to home, it doesn't bother me to come into the office but I would like a little more flexibility on when I come in. For instance, if I could come in from 9:00 to 3:15, then I'd be able to save myself quite a bit on daycare once the kids are in school full-time. But at the same time, I kinda get why they woudln't want to do that. I don't have kids and those are the hours I want to work! Most days I can get everything I need to get done in 6 hrs. The rest of the time is just showing your butt is in a chair crap
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Sept 30, 2014 12:11:12 GMT -5
I don't know what I'm asking. I'm just frustrated. There is nothing I can do about the situation since it comes way above my head. The shift to a more innovative and collaborative workforce by moving back the office probably won't happen because our work is distributed around the world. There is no one central office for everyone to go into. We'll end up in a cube with our heads down the whole time or on the phone with somebody across the country or in Europe or Asia and I personally won't really know if my direct reports or the people I'm on the phone with are at home or at office- it will make no difference. VPN records will be the only way to determine if somebody was really in the office or working from home.
My department produces a product so our time is tracked and we are highly productive. We are not hourly, but we have all the tracking in place to maintain productive and resourcing. No question for us, but the rest of the areas are questionable as their roles are more nebulous. Very few other positions are tracked with us much rigor as my department. But, since it's across all channels, we're all going in- including the 100 of us, with the exception of people who live outside the commuting criteria or have a medical exclusion. And, we'll sit in a cube on the phone all day typing away on a computer, just like we do at home. They should just lay us all off and hire 10,000+ people in a central office to obtain the utopia work environment they seek. I suspect productivity would nose dive as we don't have time for all this creative collaboration. I wish I could see behind the curtain.
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