7 Things the Boss Should Know About Telecommuting

Esther Schindler writes "An article on CIO.com presents input from several telecommuting IT professionals about the benefits that working from home brings to the enterprise. They suggest some processes that help remote workers interact with other team members, and discuss the irritations that twist telecommuters' shorts in a knot. In short, it's what employees truly want the boss to know about telecommuting. Two sidebars also discuss tips for telecommuters who don't want their careers to stall because they're 'out of sight, out of mind,' and the out of pocket expenses that the company and telecommuter need to divvy up."

Comments

7 Things My Boss Shouldn't Know ...

[WrongSizeGlass]

... about me when I telecommute:

7. I have "Take This Job And Shove It" looping in iTunes.
6. Sometimes I follow links in Google that don't show up at the office when my "Safe Filer" is "On".
5. I work so hard at home that I need a break every hour.
4. Comedy Central replays the same stuff all day long.
3. My desk at home is very clean (in direct contrast to the pig sty in my office).
2. My cats are excellent proofreaders.
1. I'm naked.

Telecommuting = positive social change

[dsanfte]

Telecommuting has the potential to reduce pat/maternity leave, reduce the amount of time kids are left in the hands of babysitters away from their parents, and keeps parents at home during the day. This would represent significant beneficial social change. I'm surprised it's not mandatory.

Re:Telecommuting = positive social change

[Maitri]

Actually, my understanding is that most companies won't let you telecommute if your main reason for doing it is to stay home with your kids. They think that you then spend a lot of your caring for your kids instead of actually working. From past experience I can state that taking care of kids is a full time job - don't know that I could work also...

Re:Telecommuting = positive social change

[tacocat]

Companies probably aren't primarily concerned with the social implications of work habits. To some extent, yes. But it's got to have a cost benefit attached to it or they simply cannot do it.

I think there is something to be said for this and many people that I work with do this to some extent but only on a very informal and infrequent basis.

I think it would be interesting to implement a rolling work schedule where you only come to work on one or two days a week and work the rest at home.

I personally find that when I do work from home my productivity is rather insane in comparison. I might only work 4 hours on some days, but I'll finish an entire week of work in that time and then spend the remaining 4 hours of the work-day observing the work in action (reading logs) while I watch a movie. A heck of a lot better than it might be at work.

Re:Telecommuting = positive social change

[digitig]

From past experience I can state that taking care of kids is a full time job - don't know that I could work also... It depends on the age of the kids. By the time mine were about 11 they were happier for me to stay out of their way; I just needed to be around if things went wrong. And in the 2 hours a day I saved on commuting I could actually spend some quality time with them. Of course, during term time it was mainly a matter of taking them to school in the morning or collecting them in the evening, which was a lot more practical 15 minutes from the school instead of 75 minutes.

Re:Telecommuting = positive social change

[starfishsystems]

Great point, and one that doesn't appear in the article, nor even in Susan Landau's piece cited therein.

Another point that didn't seem to come up anywhere is the cost of commuting. Perhaps it's so obvious that people assume it doesn't bear mentioning, but I think it represents a significant, and understated, part of the cost/benefit equation.

The evolution of technological complexity that makes it hard to match up a sophisticated enterprise with talented workers has produced a culture in which people transport their bodies substantial distances away from their homes simply in order to transport ideas. But this benefit is at best marginal compared to effective telecommuting, in cases where that's possible. To assume otherwise is simply an old habit that needs to be reexamined.

If we add to this equation a proper accounting of the effects of commuting on parenting, the development of community, environmental impact, mental health, opportunity for exercise, the enormous burden on road infrastructure and the cost of traffic accidents, not to mention the sheer waste of human time, the social arguments in favor of telecommuting would seem to dominate.

You should be even more surprised that it's not mandatory!

Re:Telecommuting = positive social change

[owlnation]

Telecommuting has the potential to reduce pat/maternity leave, reduce the amount of time kids are left in the hands of babysitters away from their parents, and keeps parents at home during the day. This would represent significant beneficial social change. I'm surprised it's not mandatory.

Couldn't possibly agree with you more. Note that there are also considerable environmental benefits too. The morning and evening rush hours are the dumbest things on the Planet. The technology now exists working at home can be productive for many jobs, we need to start changing thinking and make it happen.

It's not just work, why not also study? Why on Earth, with the technology available, does anyone need to go to a building and sit with 100 other students in a cold lecture hall for an hour or too. There's no reason why that can be video streamed and questions handled by chat or email. Then you can fit in the lecture when you brain is most receptive, and take breaks when you wish, or replay parts you didn't get. In fact for many subjects, the lectures need only be recorded once for use over many years. Transcripts of previous Q and A's can also be available online.

Sure, labs and tutorials need face to face, but that can be one day per week.

Re:Telecommuting = positive social change

[Tuoqui]

Yeah I would not recommend doing this with younger children around that is for sure.

I'm reading the article (yeah I know) and I have to say that management is probably most resistant to telecommuting because of the fact that if they cant physically see the employee is only taking 20-25 minutes to complete a task they expect may take an hour that they cant see the employee sitting around doing nothing and pile yet more work onto them.

I read somewhere that employees now are doing 2-3x as much work as employees had to do 10, 20, 30 years ago... Its not exactly fair since workload goes up that much but the wages do not reflect that. We could have much less unemployment if instead of hiring people in high stress situations that they actually hire 2 people to do the work of 2 people. They'd get things done faster and presumably with less errors than the 1 person trying to do the work of 2 people.

Basically, resistance to telecommuteing is a result of not being able to unilaterally pile more work upon their employee which they could do if they were physically present in the office.

Re:Telecommuting = positive social change

[ishobo]

You are sadly mistaken if you think a full time caregiver has any time to do professional work. I was a stay at home father for the first three years of my daughter's life. I thought I could work around 20 hours a week. If you combine the hands-on time with my daughter, and the laundry, cleaning, cooking, and other housework, I was exhausted and had little time for anything else. My extra hours in the day were spent doing things for me, not my employer.

Personal Benefits

[KermodeBear]

I am able to telecommute two days a week right now. I enjoy this for several reasons:

1. I don't have someone stopping by my cube every 30 minutes interrupting my concentration for casual conversation. That is very annoying. At home I don't have this distraction and I'm able to get more work done.

2. Since I started working from home two days a week, I have save myself 2 hours of driving time a week. Less gas, less wear and tear on the car, and a lot less frustration dealing with traffic! That means a happier employee.

3. I can curse and scream as loudly as I please when somebody does something stupid. It's a great stress reliever. In the office, well. The HR department would have issues if they heard what I wanted to say half the time!

4. Comfort! Cube farms suck. If I'm comfortable you know I'll be more productive. I can sit out on my porch in the warm weather and enjoy FRESH AIR AND SUNLIGHT while I work with my laptop. It is a huge, HUGE plus over florescent lights and stale office air.

5. I save money on laundry. (o:

Overall, I'm a lot happier and more productive when I'm at home working.

On the flip side, it is useful to be in the office once in a while too. Meetings in face to face can be more productive and it can be easier to get things done. Other than meetings though, I really don't see the point. Offices are just too depressing and distracting.

Re:Personal Benefits

[SocratesJedi]

Meetings in face to face can be more productive and it can be easier to get things done. You really think so? I find that face-to-face meetings are a much more difficult medium to exchange ideas in rather than than e-mail or, when rapid response is required, using IMs or video conferencing software. When discussing in person ideas are often broken before being fully expressed or parties can be subtly influenced by social and conversational constraints. I know that I'm at least much more likely to express disagreement in written form rather than in conversation. Usually, also, I find ideas are sub-optimally expressed in conversation rather than in writing since one doesn't have the luxury of editing to ensure that all the written words actually express the true intent of the thinker in the most clear manner possible. Plus, you can't search reality the way you could e-mail or an IM or (maybe as a future speech-recognition application a recorded video conference?)

I would be a bit curious, actually, to know whether /.'ers think that meetings can be productive. Perhaps my own experience or preferences are not the norm (or perhaps they are?).

Re:Personal Benefits

[jbengt]

Face to face interaction is cery helpful. It's easier to pick up meaning that you'd miss in written correspondence, or even phone conversation. You're more likely to ask a good question and the back and forth nature of conversation makes it more likely that ambiguities will be cleared up. There's an upside to e-mails, though - they automatically leave a written record, which can help a lot a couple of months later.

Face to face meetings are necessary, but productive? They can be productive, especially one-on-one meetings. The more people in a meeting, the less productive they tend to be. A well organized leader helps. You tend to spend a lot of time listening to things that don't affect you. Still, meetings are necessary, and you'll often hear something that no one would otherwise think of telling you that does affect your work.

Re:Personal Benefits

[digitig]

I would be a bit curious, actually, to know whether /.'ers think that meetings can be productive. Perhaps my own experience or preferences are not the norm (or perhaps they are?). A lot of meetings are a complete waste of time, especially ones that are regularly scheduled. But if there are problems then getting around a table to find a way forward is the best way I have found. I've seen political deadlocks that have been bouncing around for months by email be resolved within 30 minutes face-to-face. And a face-to-face project brief at the start of a project is pretty handy, too. So it all depends on the meeting -- don't write them all off, just because most are rubbish.

Re:Personal Benefits

[ydrol]

A lot of meetings are a complete waste of time, especially ones that are regularly scheduled.

I would agree with this, except for one occasion I remember we were on a very tight schedule for the final delivery of a project. The project manager introduced something we called 'Daily Prayers'. Every morning we had a meeting *strictly time limited to 15 minutes MAX* to raise any issues and track progress. Often it just required confirmation that you are indeed still working on the bit you said you would be. It certainly helped us deliver on time, and we actually 'enjoyed' the meetings, they reminded be of the short playbook rehearsal & big hand shake a sports team might to before the game begins..

Re:Personal Benefits

[Doctor Memory]

It's easier to pick up meaning that you'd miss in written correspondence, or even phone conversation. You're more likely to ask a good question and the back and forth nature of conversation makes it more likely that ambiguities will be cleared up. Amen! It's very handy to be able to note when someone in sales/management/marketing's eyes start to glaze over when you're explaining some technical detail. Then you can backtrack and re-explain so everyone understands, w/o having to respond to somebody's "I didn't understand your comment about X" message two or three days (or weeks!) later. It's also handy when your bogometer goes off and you can glance over at someone else on your team and see if they're likewise wary. I also find they're much quicker than e-mail if you just need to clear up some points on one or two topics.

Re:Personal Benefits

[GlacierDragon]

I actually find meetings where everyone calls in from in front of their own computer to be more productive. Part of that is because my team is in 2 different cities so someone will always be on the phone and it's just easier to hear and participate with everyone on the phone. I also find it more productive, though, because you have all your stuff right there and can email each other documents as they come up in conversation or quickly look up any stats (or whatever) that you need. No hunting for a meeting room that's not booked, too. And there are plenty of programs to let you share documents with each other. (Although, I really wish people would learn to "share application" rather than "share desktop".)

I would love having this option

[DaMattster]

But it really only works for programmers. On the infrastructure side, you really have to be on site for a lot of things (correct me if I am wrong.) I work in a small company where I wear many hats so sometimes I need to interrupt a maintenance task or project to fix someone's PC. I'd love a telecommuting position but that would mean a radical change. I'd really like to find a telecommuting help desk analyst position. It would be worth even a small pay cut for having such flexibility

Re:I would love having this option

[TheRealFixer]

True... in a small company where you're doing everything, it can be almost impossible to telecommute. It really depends on your job, though. I'm a sysadmin/engineer, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to go into the data center to fix something over the past 6 months. Remote systems management capabilities like HP's iLO, moving to a SAN instead of individual hard disks... about the only thing I have to go into the data center for anymore is to rack a new server. Once it's physically in place, there isn't anything I can't do from just about anywhere in the world.

Re:I would love having this option

[zappepcs]

Let me just correct you... to some degree. I agree with all the benefits of working from home, and I do work on infrastructure. Some days you just can't avoid needing face time with the on/off button or CD tray, but other days (maybe 2-3 per week) you can happily set at home and do stuff that you would do in your cube. The trick is scheduling your work so that it can work out that way. I spend a lot of time making sure that I can do most things remotely. Most days that remoteness means doing it from my cube rather than in front of the machine. This also means that many days I can work from home as effectively, if not more so, as if I'm in my cube. Redirecting the work phone to my home phone is useful also. When you manage to do >50% of your work from your cube, you can do all of that from home.

If you work on infrastructure, you know that meetings are generally a waste, and conf. calls can be done from home. What you are left with is balancing the amount of work you do at your desk and what can't be done at your desk. If you work to ensure that >50% can be done at your desk, you have validation for working from home 2-3 days per week.

How's that?

Re:I would love having this option

[Anonymous Coward]

Telecommuting does not work for programmers in any sort of team environment, which either is or should be most jobs.

Development is not a solo effort, you need to talk to the users, the analysts, the other coders, the testers, there's a whole design process.

While you can do all this remotely via phone and video conferencing, it's nowhere near as effective as face to face, and raising the effort needed to communicate cuts out on a large amount of communication.

On top of just the job at hand, there's a whole lot of personal growth and exposure to new/different ideas/points of view that you just don't get when working from home or working solo.

My last job shut down their Sydney office and let everyone either work from home or from a serviced office. Within a month all the people I regarded as clued in had found other work, and the remainder reduced their quality to the point where I made a point of asking not to be put in teams with them.

getting back towards the topic, I think telecommuting very occasionally, like maybe one or two days a month is ok, it's like a bit of an extra holiday and can give people a bit of space when they feel their job has become a little stale.

Once you're doing it every week though you should really look at the reasons you don't like going to your work place and try to fix those problems rather than running away from them

Re:I would love having this option

[bberens]

Telecommuting does not work for programmers in any sort of team environment, which either is or should be most jobs.

Development is not a solo effort, you need to talk to the users, the analysts, the other coders, the testers, there's a whole design process.

getting back towards the topic, I think telecommuting very occasionally, like maybe one or two days a month is ok, it's like a bit of an extra holiday and can give people a bit of space when they feel their job has become a little stale.

Once you're doing it every week though you should really look at the reasons you don't like going to your work place and try to fix those problems rather than running away from them I think you vastly over-estimate the level of involvement required in most development jobs. Sure when the application is being designed and developed there needs to be a lot of face to face interaction. However, once the application is in maintenance mode there's little to no need for face time. I can read a bug out of bugzilla, look at the screenshots and fix the bug just as well from home as I do in the office. Secondly I can add another screen that looks similar to all the other screens and uses the same dao + a couple of columns without any real face time. I can also create a report that shows [whatever] without face time. The VAST majority of development is in maintenance mode or upgrades to software that already has a large foundation.

Re:I would love having this option

[bfields]

Telecommuting does not work for programmers in any sort of team environment, which either is or should be most jobs.

Any number of open source projects would serve as excellent counterexamples of highly productive projects involving teams that collaborate closely across large distances. Most of my day job is Linux kernel development, and while I'm fortunate to have great kernel hackers in my office and in the neighborhood who I can go hang out with and ask questions, the nature of the project dictates that most of the people I work with are people I've never, or only occasionally, met face-to-face.

It certainly takes some getting used to. It's been a real test of my reading and writing skills--you need to be able to understand and explain complex technical ideas, and keep discussions going despite personality conflicts. And it'll help to have good local computer resources, a fast network connection, and a mail client that helps you handle massive mailing list traffic efficiently....

Re:I would love having this option

[rs79]

"elecommuting does not work for programmers in any sort of team environment"

That's ok, programming doesn't work in a team environment either.

Most important:

[r_jensen11]

Telecommuting supplements working at the office, not replaces it. People still want/need that face-to-face contact. There have been plenty of stories posted about how telecommuting can really put you on the slow-track for promotions and also reduces the opportunities when you accedentally come across a gold-mine of an idea thru means of mis-communication.

Re:Most important:

[technomom]

The slow-track only happens if the people you work with and your bosses aren't telecommuting.

Here in IBM, 40% of the workforce is classified as "mobile" or "at home". The difference in classification is really just the percentage of time that you travel or work at customer sites. My boss and his boss telecommute. My department consists of people scattered around the globe, some telecommuting, some not. So, there's no real hit to the career for to anyone for telecommuting. In fact, you have to justify having an office these days.

The important thing to remember is not to cut yourself off. Keep an IM session (in IBM it's Sametime) alive while you're around, keep your cell phone on if you're at a customer site, get a good speakerphone, and get the best broadband you can get (for me it's FiOS). Have weekly teleconferences with team members (or more often if needed). Set clear agendas for meetings so they don't drag on and for pity's sake, learn to use the mute button, especially if you are a mouth breather or have kids/dogs in the room.

Telecommuting can work very well if there's a culture for it.

One day a week

[Anonymous Coward]

Currently I can swing one day a week from home, in the near future I am hoping to work exclusively from home.

The hardest thing about working from home is trying to explain to family and friends that you are trying to work. When they know you are at home, then tend to treat is as if your on vacation, and its ok to call and small talk or pop-in.

As a long time telecommuter

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

My tips

1. Background noise - Parents, shut your children up! Nothing sounds more unprofessional than hearing kids yelling in the background. This goes for barking dogs, parakeets, laundry room, the kitchen and taking a conference call from the local pub.

2. Get a dedicated phone line for office work with a vmail that has a professional greeting. No "Hi, Jim and Linda are unable to answer the phone right now..."

3. Don't milk the expenses. In fact you'd be better off not charging any expenses as it is a factor when it comes time for layoffs. Software licenses are a different matter, but you may want to consider your own license if you develop on the side.

4. Be available/no sneaking out.

5. There are no set hours. It's not 9 to 5, and being flexible for your customers across timezones puts you at an advantage over cube jockeys with a commute.

6. Avoid day trading.

7. Don't become a hermit. Meet up with the local coworkers for lunch at least once month.

All of global IT is telecommuting

[autophile]

If your company deals in IT spread all over the globe, then the company's IT workers are already telecommuting. They're just living in your office space 8 hours a day. NOW do the math!

--Rob

Not just social benefites...

[Belial6]

It's not just social benefits, but the environmental benefits of massive telecommuting would be huge! I telecommute 4 days a week. I can tell you that I drive about 1/4 as much as I used to. That has to be better for the environment. I still think if our (California's) governor wants to hit a home run, he could appeal to individual residents, family groups, environmentalists, AND big business if he would get a tax break for businesses that have over a certain percentage of telecommuters. Family groups would love the extra time that parents get to spend with their kids. Individual residents would spend a smaller part of their day dedicated to work, as they wouldn't be commuting. Environmentalists would love to have the number of miles cars in the state drive cut in half, as well as not needing to expand roads, since having few cars on the road means our current roads would be big enough. And what business doesn't like to have a nice big tax break. This would also lead to expansion of our telecom business, as telecommuters would need, and be willing to pay for better internet access.

The only problems I see are those interests that want us consuming as much fuel as possible. Obviously oil companies wouldn't want a state like California to cut it's fuel consumption in half. That would be a huge revenue hit. The state might also dislike the reduced revenue from fuel taxes as well. I would think that the reduced cost of road infrastructure would off set that though.

O.U.T.S.O.U.R.C.E.

[Tablizer]

I don't want to telecommute because one's boss may start to figure that if you can work from home, then so can someone in Asia or Russia for one-fifth the cost.

And 1 thing you probably shouldn't mention

[Rogerborg]

If you can do the job from home, so can a guy in Bangalore who charges 1/5 of your salary.

Re:And 1 thing you probably shouldn't mention

[deepestblue]

And what I'm from Bangalore myself? Insensitive clod.

Re:Telecommuting == career suicide

[mabinogi]

Ahh - you see, my definition of "career suicide" is - you lose your job and any chance of getting a similar one.
Yours is "you probably won't get into management".

I don't _want_ to get in to management. I've already advanced as far as I possibly can within my company - a senior R&D programmer (having advanced litterly from the bottom - doing casual handline envelope stuffing jobs). I don't see getting into senior management as "advancing my career", I define it as "Starting an entirely different career, and one I'm not suited to, telecomuting or no telecomuting".
But in anycase, I don't believe the telecomuting would necesarily stop that - I'm pretty heavily immersed in the culture of the company - I've been here ten years, and believe I have earnt the sort of level of respect and recognition required for a move into management if that were my goal (and if I had any actual talent for it).

Maybe five day a week telecomuting might put the breaks on advancement a little (I personally do two to three), but it's more about personality than face time. You just have to be the sort of person that people notice - and ensure that when they do notice you, that there's good things to see.

Yea but...

[Duncan3]

Thats all great, really.

But the number one thing they will realize, is that if you working at home works, someone working in India for 1/6 the wage will work just as well.

Don't be stupid people, if your boss is letting you telecommute, they are just beta testing offshoring.

.