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AT&T Calls Telecommuters Back To the Cubicle
bednarz writes "AT&T is requiring thousands of employees who work from their homes to return to traditional office environments, sources say. 'It is a serious effort to reel in the telework people,' says the Telework Coalition's Chuck Wilsker, who has heard that as many as 10,000 or 12,000 full-time teleworkers may be affected. One AT&T employee says rumors have been circulating since AT&T's merger with SBC that the new upper management is not supportive of teleworking: 'We'd heard rumors to that effect, and all of a sudden we got marching orders to go back to an office.'"
Never trust the Suits.
Most of them probably don't even know what telecommuting is.
Most of them probably don't have a computer in their office. That's for the 'help' to deal with.
MOst probably can't spell 'email'.
Most employees aren't responsible enough to be as effective at home as they are at work.
Most managers aren't skilled at and don't have the tools for monitoring effectiveness, particularly in offices where "effectiveness" is often measured by whether or not you can drop everything the second your boss gets a new idea for you to work on.
The problem really isn't that the internet and phone network aren't cutting it, but that the people aren't cutting it.
I'm reminded of the late 90s tech boom stories out of California where people get to put "KUNG FU NINJA" on their business cards instead of their functional job titles, wear Birkenstocks and torn jean shorts on Fridays (and then every day) and otherwise show up for work looking as if their daily agenda consisted of checking the mail and eating cookies while watching television. The problem isn't "casual Fridays" or a looser dress code, the problem is how far people push it.
Face it, if you have to deal with customers (particular those of us who have to deal with them at their offices and not ours), it's hard to instill any degree of confidence when you're dressed like a chump who doesn't own anything nicer than a t-shirt. Similarly, it's hard to instill any degree of confidence in your supervisors when you're not around.
Did you miss that call because you were on another one, or because you were still sleeping? Did you neglect that email because you're busy making serious progress on another matter, or because you're playing WoW? Did you log 4 hours in 8 because your internet was being flaky, or because you disconnected and went to do some shopping? Did you fail at a particular task despite your high level of effort or because of the lack thereof? Your presence is your case: if you're not around to make it, rest assured, someone else will make it for you, and assume the worst. And you'll push the issue yourself because there's no longer any separation between work space and home/play space. Most people don't have the discipline for it.
Funny, I'm in operations, not a manager, but I get four days off. Maybe it's because we have Linux servers ...
Frammin' on the jim-jam, frippin' at the krotz!