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Striving to Keep Teleworkers Happy
coondoggie writes "Employees who work from home or in remote branch offices often feel disconnected from corporate life and worry they will be forgotten and bypassed for promotions. Managers and employees have to make a concerted effort to stay in touch, experts say. At IBM, Pelino and others set out to improve corporate culture. The company sparked new life into an old tradition: IBM Club, which brings together employees for intramural sports, picnics, movies and other types of social, cultural and recreational activities."
This is one of the reasons I finally left IBM. While I worked in RTP, at an IBM campus, I loved it. Surrounded by IBMer's, there were lots of activities and clubs for us to use. Once I moved to a customer site, all that disappeared. Left in a supply closet, reviled by the customer and IBM alike, we festered. Job satisfaction dropped, and so did that feeling of belonging to IBM. Add into that the drastic cost cutting IBM has implemented, and things generally sucked. We all stopped going into the office because of gas prices, and roving bands of irate customers. IBM made no effort to get the local people together. Now that they are trying to breathe "new life into an old tradition: IBM Club" I predict the same old same old. This "club" in unfunded, ignored, and generally cast aside. IBM needs to start investing again in people, not gimmicks and cheerleading.
I think you've got the wrong attitude there. Don't see it as a "competition" - see it as a chance to have fun with your workmates. If you look at it as an opportunity rather than a drag then not only will you have a good time, but you might actually get a positive outcome. Turning up to this sort of thing meant my face appeared on the radar of senior management. In a social environment your more unusual abilities can be discussed.
Do teleworkers actually think they'll receive promotions? At the companies I've worked for, 9 times out of 10 the teleworker is working from home to have a better work/life balance, not because the employer asked them to. As bad as it sounds, promotions typically come to those who are willing to drop everything for their employer.
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Exactly. Anyone that thinks you get promoted for good work is a nutcase.
you get promoted by knowing people, smoozing the executives, sacrificing your family and life for the company.
Anyone that puts family or themselves first NEVER get promoted.
Yes, I do know that this is fact, I was there and did that. 2 marriages and my health lost before I realized that climbing the corporate ladder is not worth it in any way. Yeah you get the 6900 Sq foot house on the golf course, the pair of Z06 vettes in the garage and that BMW 7 series.... but all you get to do is look at pictures of that stuff and maybe visit it 2 weekends a month, except the BMW that you drove into the ground at 260,000 miles in 7 years to only impress the other guys at work and honestly is no better than a decent buick but cost you a crapload more and lost 90% of it's value. Oh dont forget you are nearly eyeball in debt because you have to have that "image" working!
Promotion? that's their nice way of saying "Hey we would like to screw you harder while making you say thanks!"
Upper manager jobs get filled by friends. Not by hard work or skills. I chased that herring for 14 years.
Get a decent paying job AWAY from the big cities where a house is sanely priced, cost of living is sane and you can live 15 minutes from work (GASP!) your life is better. FAR BETTER.. I'll take a $44,000 a year job in a small town over a $250,000 year job in the city any day.
Am I the only one that actually likes telecommuting?
Seriously, there's a lot of things to not like about IBM, but telecommuting certainly rocks. For one, I get to skip an hour of traffic coming and going and save up on the money. My job as a sysadmin is very lax and easygoing, and I'm studying Computer Science simultaneously, which means that the free time that I'd spend in the office I can spend home studying or, God forbid, working naked in my bedroom, or outside in the backyard(you CAN take the laptop outside).
Socializing? You just coordinate your time telecommuting so that you have 2 days in the office so you can spend time with your team (assuming that your team is worth spending time with). I'd tell you, in a day with little stuff to do I'd rather do my own socializing inviting a friend over than spending in with a random coworker.
And sleep. Man, there is nothing better for your health than getting to sleep an extra hour because of not having to deal with the bullshit of getting dressed and driving. Better yet, you can get out and run or do exercise before tunring the machine on.
People who dislike telecommuting are simply not creative enough to know how to deal with it. A couple of weekly meetings in person with the rest of the staff suffices to kill the feeling of disconnection. The rest of the free time and benefits you get by being home are absolutely amazing if you use them right. I get to cook, watch TV, or read whatever I want. Yes, it does take personal discipline to lose the distractions when there's work to be done, but it's damn well worth it.
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