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Coders Say Yes To Telecommuting, No To Ping Pong
8127972 writes "News.com is has a story on a survey that describes the perks that coders and other IT types want. According to the survey, they want their companies to spring for membership to health clubs, a free car, wireless phone, and anything that aids telecommuting. Foosball, ping-pong, billiards and other rec-room staples ranked at the bottom of the list--even lower than free dance lessons. The full survey is at Techies.com. Maybe this should be sent to the PHB's?"
Telecommuting is all well and good - but do you want to be a hermit?
Rise at 11AM, slump 5 yards to coffee machine and prss a button. Log in, then while drinking coffee catch up with email, slashdot and other important "cant miss" work things.
At 1PM, put something in the microwave and think about begining work. Assumung you are self disaplined you are finished by 7PM, just in time to flick on the news.
If you arent however you'll do 1/2 an hours work before drifting back to a game of quake - you'll put the time in at the end of day/week/month you say.
Your daily workload is finished by 10PM, and your pizza arrives (please tip the pizza guy - thanks). You watch a pr0n video and have a few hour of counterstrike before slipping back into bed.
You havent got dressed all day, you havent seen the sun, you've not spoken to another living soul, you've missed buying the paper from Bernie on the street outside, you've missed on the latest gossip.
Working from home seems idilic, but you dont see anyone, have hundereds of distractions, you think of your apt. as a cell, you might even start to resent your computer!
It's not all rosy.
After all, the perks of telecommuting should be more than working in your jammies.
cz
The only perks that make sense are those that can't be replaced by cash. Like things that improve the work environment (I'm sure you can find an alternative if you don't like foosball!).
(Yes, the company may get a better deal on the perks than you would, but I doubt the difference is worth the loss of choice. And yes, an employer has reason to subsidize items that make employees more productive, but I take perks to mean "above what the company should rationally give".)
The evaluation of an action as 'practical' . . . depends on what it is that one wishes to practice.
Part of the reason companies won't give you flexible hours is because managers like to see what you are doing and know where you are and how to reach you. It's not enough that they make you carry a pager, but they want to be able to pull you into an emergency meeting at any time of the day. They thrive off of consistency in the schedule, not being consistent with your work as much. I think that the only way that we will get flexible hours is when these businesses wake up and become results based rather than time based. If I tell my manager it will take me two months to finish a project working 9 - 5, for 5 days a week, I should also be permitted to work 16 hour days for a month if I want so I can finish the project, then take the next month off. I would have done all the work in the time period that we had arranged, so my benefit would be that I could have the time left over to relax. The problem from a manager's point of view is that they are not trained very well to know if we would B.S. them or not. Sure, I could say it will take a month, but what if my project really only took a week to finish because I wanted to get extra time off to screw around? That isn't honest, and the manager really wouldn't have any way to know. I think we will start on the right path when businesses care more about the results of our work than how long we are sitting around in the office, but there are still those few issues to be resolved.
The same goes for telecommuting with one exception. I would think that technically, we would end up getting more work done if we telecommute rather than go into the office. Personally, I live alone, so there would be no distractions other than what I would create for myself. If I were to sit down and start coding, then I would probably end up working more hours at home sitting on the sofa with a laptop than I would if I were stuck in a cubicle being distracted by everyone surrounding me, and all the additional office politics. I think the only disadvantage to telecommuting is that my boss would not know what I am doing very much, so unless he arranged for me to send him status reports or something, he would be completely in the dark and appear stupid to his boss. Also, there is the cost, as a lot of companies that have employees that telecommute pay twice for equipment. Most people will telecommute only part of the time, but also need a desk to sit at for the days they do need to go in to work. I think we are getting closer though, and if the government gives more tax breaks and such for companies that have a lot of telecommuters, businesses will let more of us do it.
Also, about vacation time. We need more of it. I really don't like how most businesses in the U.S. expect us to work all but 2 weeks out of the year. I heard that in Germany you get 2 months minimum. Why is it that our culture has moved from living life for yourself and family (if you have one) to living to serve a company? I work hard for my employer, and expect them to work hard to make me happy in exchange for it. A lot of what they do is very superficial, and it is much cheaper to spend $200 on a ping pong table than it is to let all the employees have a month of vacation time. They only pay lip service to trying to satisfy the employees, and really just use it as an excuse to try to get us to work longer. We really need some reform in business in general so that the U.S. can rise up to the labor standards of civilized nations.
Other than that, I do think that there are some things that can be done to make us happier. I would think this applies to all industries, not just information technology. I think that since the I.T. field is supposed to be high tech, our jobs and business processes should be also. We have a lot of stuff on the web already for HR, Purchasing, Help Desks, etc in a lot of companies. Why can't the companies themselves live up to the potential of what we are giving them?
Mas vale cholo, que mal acompañado.
This extended into travel where I was expected to work 24/7 (here, literally 24/7), because it was a "work trip" and (get this) "people in the real world don't get time off during a work trip". (Comp time was also an unknown concept.)
I'm much happier in my new job. I don't telecommute - ever. I get in before 8 and usually leave before 5 (so I know what evenings are like - and sunsets are so pretty!). I'll work extra hours and some weekends when there is *need* but manager apprehension based upon someone else's inability to set a workable schedule isn't a need - it's a failure in the system that should be held accountable before any cleanup is performed.
We'd be a LOT better off if we'd adopt this maxim and STICK TO IT: if your job requires more than 1/3rd of your time (i.e., 8 hours a day), then not enough resources are being placed on those tasks, and something needs to be fixed. Or, to put it another way, the company is placing an unfair burden on you (unless there is some kind of compensation to make up for it --- though I would also add unless the situation is clearly temporary).
If you break it down to 1/3rd sleep (which we need), 1/3rd work (which [most of us] need to get the $$$ for shelter, food, and entertainment) and 1/3rd time for us, it makes sense that our own time should equal or exceed the time we spend at work. I've found my live a LOT more fun and a LOT less stressed once I started guarding my own interests with the same loyalty that I guard my company's.
Anything less would be uncivilized. :-)
SHHHH!!! Keep it down! We don't want the boss to realize that we are really going to go to Las Vegas for the week, where the concubines are!
Mas vale cholo, que mal acompañado.
My girlfriend works, so she'd get me up in the morning with a coffee (like she does anyway, bless her).
I'd (probably) have to log on to my companies network by a fixed time, so thats not a problem.
Telecommuting would be the best thing that could happen to my social life.
Infact, convincing my friends to leave me alone while I'm working would be the most difficult bit.
Finnally, SHUT THE F*CK UP. Its people like you that scare the PHBs off of telecommuting. They assume whe are all as undisiplined as you, and need watching to make sure we work. Well I don't, I can get my work done on time without micromanagement. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.
Thad
Thad
There are some disadvantages to telecommuting, though, which people seem to gloss over. To whit:
- Out of sight, out of mind: I'm not just talking about being able to goof off all day . A lot of places work on the basis of office politics; like every other social situation, it's inevitable. You're not going to be thought of in as good a light if you're never around, and though you may not care right now, you will when the person who doesn't get as much done get the promotion you wanted because they were at the office every day, and stayed in the head of their boss. I'm not saying this is good, or bad, merely that it is.
- Knowledge sharing: I've found (as someone who is the first to admit that I don't even know a lil' bit of everything) that a good deal of what I've picked up has been odd random geeky junk from being able to wander into the other programmers' cubes and gossipping. Ditto for weird conversations at lunch. And it's a lot easier to help someone out (and, in turn, be helped) when you have a physical presence.
- Gripability: This is more important than it may seem. If I'm having a tough time with something outside of work, it's a lot easier to get a little sympathy if I'm there to whine in person. Ditto with saying, "well, I've gotta skip out tomorrow afternoon, but I'll make it up during the rest of the week."
I'm not against the idea of telecommuting, just that it's not a good all-the-time solution. I find that most of the really kick-ass programmers around me show up two days a week; it's enough time to ask and be asked questions, let people know you're alive, transfer all that weird stuff which never gets documented but is vital to getting your product to compile correctly, etc.
Some of this may not matter to everyone who is expected to work 70+ hours a week anyhow. In this case, the best thing I can say is that you need to show up to work, quit, and find a better job. Never discount the fact that your job/company/chosen locale just sucks, and all the telecommuting in the world isn't going to change what the real problems are.
If a woodchuck could, would it be too lazy to?
Getting folks to work together smoothly & efficiently is more then sticking them in a series of nearby workspaces and forcing them to attend the same meetings. Rather it involves a series of techniques that include lubricating the social processes that lead to effective group brainstorming, problem-resolution, pride-in-product & esprit de corps. With these in place management can expect greater creativity, less conflict, higher productivity, improved quality and less staff turnover. Without these social underpinnings the opposite occurs.
Table-Tennis (forbid we ever call it "Ping-Pong"!) , Nerf shoot-outs & the occasionial game of pick-up basketball offer the staff opportunities to interact together in fun ways that both reward them with pleasurable/refreshing breaks from their work & opportunities to improve their interpersonal relationships. Research has consistantly shown that folks who play well together work well together & are happier about it.
That these are seen as "perks" is interesting but ultimately irrelevant. They're not supplied in order to reward individual employeees but rather to constructively improve the overall work environment. If it wasn't games & toys supplied it would be other team-building activities like shared challenges, unusual situations or other joint social activities (preferably involving groups eating together - shared meals are a powerful bonding activity.)
If all of this sounds rather calculating and artificial remember it's no more then so then the company evaluating your worth, loyalty, other opportunities, etc. & determining how much of a bonus to give you. It also the same calculation staff use when deciding to jump ship or not.
Indeed it many cases this engineering should be appreciated. Most folks can recount unpleasent experiences with workplaces where folks didn't function well together & stress became excessive, relationships were unpleasent & the general tenor was not one they enjoyed. If some effort is taken to promote a positive workplace then all benefit from it; employer & employees alike.
By the way, this isn't all squishy HR-drivel. I'm a Tech Manager who long ago learned that keeping staff happy & productive is more then giving them clear direction & hot toys but also making sure their jobs are rewarding & the environment convivial. If it comes down to my buying a half-dozen folks the latest cellphone-du-jure or a office pinball machine they can all bang on, singly & together then I'm going for the most good (for the company) for the greatest number. The phones would make a few happy for a short while when they're off-site. The pinball gets more of them involved with eachother & out of their cubes for some cobweb-clearing sessions that just might become brainstorming sessions.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
And THe BIGGEST reason of all
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
- Requirements gathering is important and must be done first, not in the middle
- Meeting with end-users and domain experts is vital
- A user interface is not something tacked on at the end
- Changing requirements means changing deadlines
And not to pick only on management, but for those of us who are employees, why do we put up with:- Changing requirements without change in deadlines
- 70, 80, 90+ hour weeks
- Inflexible work hours
- Stupid rules and politics
Why don't we just leave for a better job? Yes, not everyone can get up and leave, but as a former consultant I've seen far too many people who could easily find another job with a better environment but don't.I'll gladly work at even a semi-rational company and buy my own coffee and soda.
Yeah. It's called a pool hall. It usually attracts college students looking for watered down albeit cheap bear, and $2 sluts. Not much parallel processing power there.
To me, one of the greatest things is really flexible hours.
As long as you make your meetings and you are fairly consistent and you do your work well and prove to be doing what your being paid to do I really like the idea of real flexible hours.
Being able to come in at 10 or 11 and work into the wee hours of the night, especially when you are already putting a 70 hour work week how can anyone complain about you wanting to come in a lil late or early?
That is how it is at our company granted there are only a few of us we get our jobs done weve all worked some crazy hours, and we never get in trouble for being in at 9:30, or 10 some days especially around deadline time when you are working so many hours, its quite dificult to keep up being up that early and staying mentally focused working so many hours without decent amounts of sleep
For some things and huge companies where timing is everything its important to be in on time, but with software rarely does your day to day presence unless dealing with a *lot* of clients make much of a difference. I think if a company wants to hire someone that should be something to look at... ?
Well I enjoy it and I know it makes me a lot more at ease about working insane hours
Jeremy