Slashdot Mirror
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."
But if a promotion didn't come, I wouldn't be upset. As a teleworker for a local staffing service, I save enough money on gas alone. I have the comfort of my own bathroom, the comfort of my own house, and the comfort of my World of Warcraft video game on my breaks. I really wouldn't trade that to have to travel to the office every day and interact with people, even if it means never getting promoted.
Nice little spin there by IBM -- its been my experience that 40% of IBM's workforce is now in sales and / or on site constractors. I hardly call being put up in a hotel and working at a client site "telecommuting"
As someone that was an IBM employee and still knows people that work at IBM I can tell you that this is mostly spin. Moving people to work from home is all about the mighty dollar. IBM saves quite a bit in expenses by having people work from home. Also, IBM doesn't really care that much about it's U.S. workforce as it is primarily interested in moving jobs to India. The last announced goal for the workforce in India is 40,000 employees. Little hiring is being done at all in the U.S. by IBM while attrition continually reduces the U.S. numbers.
"4)I have not partied with Andy Dick" -- Matt, Salon.com 11/23/99 "I Anakin"
That's exactly why I freelance instead of work for a corporation.
I live in the mountains and can go skiing, paragliding, mountain biking, climbing etc whenever the weather permits and fit my work (about two days a week is enough to pay the rent/bar tab) around my play. Sure, I don't have a lot of money but if I worked full time in London I'd spend it all on going to the mountains on holidays.
Beat the shit out of the managers that make teleworkers have to justify that we are really doing our jobs away from the office.
It never fails, it seems every quarter some moron in Finance or some new manager in some department questions the value of teleworkers and other stupid comments or questions about the people they dont see daily.
When you have to defend yourself in SPITE of your work quality and quantity on a regular basis it kind of makes us really pissy.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
As bad as it sounds, promotions typically come to those who are willing to drop everything for their employer.
I can tell you that statement is actually quite often crap. Working extra hours and dropping all sense of personal life for your employer is like putting a giant sign on your forehead that says DOORMAT. Why should they promote you and pay you more when they can pay you exactly what your getting now for the same price?. Aside from that it shows you have no backbone and therefore no leadership abilities. If you can't stand up for yourself now how will you stand up to people under you?
This is a lesson I learned the hard way. I used to spend all my free time at work and put in whatever hours the boss asked for. Now I find I get taken much more seriously now that I have learned to stand up for myself.
I work full time from home in a senior development position and can relate very much to the disconnected feeling that is discussed in the article, but the solutions that are discussed are addressing the wrong problem in my opinion. The problem is communication but it is professional communication, not social communication that is often lacking.
:)
We have found that short and sweet daily "stand-up" meetings in the morning with only the immediate team members (others of whom work from home as well) are far more helpful than weekly or monthly all-staffs or get togethers. In my experience it is rare that more than 2-3 people actually speak on an all-staff conference call of more than 10 people - how can that help improve communication? Get togethers at a restaurant or park, what have you, are fun and allow for familiarization but they are outside of work and do nothing to improve the day to day communication of the issues at hand.
We have also found webcams to be unhelpful, the concensus being that without eye contact it's just TV. Screen sharing tools like VNC or webex paired with a speaker phone are far more effective when extended collaboration has to happen, while IM takes care of the rest.
As far as the promotions go if the team you're on isn't communicating professionally and producing crap code you have no chance of getting promoted - no matter how many funny jokes you tell at the IBM "Lunch 'n Bowl"
while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
Whoever it was that said this was spin was completely accurate. I work in Pelino's old region-- and have been a telecommuter 15 years-- and he was gone before anyone tried to breath life back into the IBM Club. 'Back in the day' it was ok because, having worked in the office, you knew all the folks who showed up at the events. Now with "professional hires" and the for-hire talent coming in and out you can go to these things and not know a soul there. So, most of us don't go anymore. Pelino himself, when he was 'spearheading' this initiative was a complete cipher. He had some big time title and reported into HQ, but he had zero local responsibilities. However long he was in the region, I layed eyes on the guy one time. He was a big difference maker. Not. In fact, one of IBM's biggest problems in terms of morale is the pathetic notion that this sort of pointless garbage raises anyone's spirits. I have reported to someone who lived within 200 miles of me exactly 17 months in the last 15 years. And having this odd idea that managers ought to manage-- which includes sampling activites and results, coaching and directing-- and since IBM managers haven't done any of that in at least 10 years, I'm constantly at odds with this stream of placeholders who've been signing my timecard. Sign me counting the days to retirement ...
When I was 100% telecommute I was always terrified I would be promoted and given responsibilities that required me to travel, or else, forced to relocate to a main office.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Housing is more expensive in the city. Then again, salaries are higher. And, yes, you can live 15 minutes away from work - if you're lucky, you won't even have to drive in. As far as the corporate ladder, there are plenty of opportunities with small companies in the cities and opportunities to start your own business. In fact, with a large density of potential clients in the area, finding clients seems to be easier than in BFE.
-b.
"Anyone that puts family or themselves first NEVER get promoted." I completely disagree. I have yet to give two shits about any company I've worked for, and usually get promoted pretty quickly. Office space has it right. Just a straight shooter with upper management written all over me, I guess. You're definitely right about good work having zero to do with promotions, though. Talking with your boss(es) instead of working is generally more to your advantage.
I've teleworked over 5 years and received good raises every year. Telework had no impact, positive or negative, on promotions. They were based on performance, and keeping the customer happy. I was actually more organized working offsite, because 1) I could work without interuption and 2) I knew I had something to prove and that was fine with me, they granted a great perk and I stepped it up in return.
Getting paid is all about being valuable (and making sure your value is known.) It has nothing to do with keeping a seat warm in the office. I'd telework at my next job too, in fact I probably won't take a job that doesn't offer it as a perk.
"Hey Albert, Good luck exploring the infinite abyss."