Mobile Workers Work Longer Hours

Qedward writes "Last month it was reported on slashdot that a third of workers at a British telecoms company were 'more productive' working from home during a telecommuting experiment to prepare for the London 2012 Olympics. A more recent study reveals almost two-thirds of mobile employees say they are working 50+ and 60+ hour weeks, with most also working weekends. It also has security implications, with most mobile workers saying they will do anything to get an internet connection, including hijacking unsecure networks. The problem of needing a connection has also led to an increase in workers waking up through the night due to stress."

Comments

Re:A third of them should be fired.

[Anubis IV]

One of my closest friends became a remote worker after having worked with them for a few years. She now puts in more than 40 hours per week on a regular basis, but it isn't for lack of productivity. It's because she's out of sight and out of mind, which leads to all sorts of problems.

Just this week, she had the following happen:
1) She was assigned a task on Monday with a hard deadline of Friday morning. It was a tight deadline, but she figured she was up for it.

2) She discovered that she couldn't start until TRIVIAL_TASK_X was done on their end, so she let them know and worked on some bugs in the meantime, figuring it'd be handled immediately.

3) She reminded them that X needed to be done. And again. And again.

4) They started X on Wednesday and finished it an hour later, leaving her two days instead of the necessary four for the task.

5) She asked for help, since there was no way she could easily meet the deadline. Her request was denied, and she was told to make it happen anyway.

6) Because she's not paid by the hour and was told to still meet the deadline, she felt obligated to put in 16 hours on Wednesday and another 16 today.

That sort of thing never used to happen to her in the years that she was working on-site, but stuff like this (though not this bad) happens rather frequently for her these days. Whenever she visits them on-site, things are good again for awhile, but then they seem to forget that she's not a machine after awhile. She's ended up being the person who receives all the tasks that no one else wants to do, and she's had excessive work land in her lap on a much more regular basis since moving off-site. She's no less productive today than she was when she was on-site. She simply has more demanded of her since she's out of sight and mind and they fail to realize the burden they are placing on her. (And, to be fair, I think part of the blame lies with her for not speaking up more often or more clearly).

Meanwhile, I work 40 hours a week. The idea that if you need overtime your manager probably messed up is a part of the culture here. I keep telling her to quit. She keeps staying with them like an abused spouse.

Re:They may work more hours, and more productively

[crafty.munchkin]

I love my 10 hrs per week on the train - it gives me the opportunity to do 10hrs per week of reading, which when I was driving to and from work, I didn't have. In the last 5 years, I have read around 400 novels, and I arrive at work in the mornings in a great mood, as opposed to spending 1hr in traffic and arriving at work stressed out because 100 people have cut me off and nearly killed me. Similarly for getting home - I arrive home relaxed, instead of stressed out.

When I do have the occasion to work a full day from home (rare, but it happens) I end up working a 10hr day, and find myself missing that reading time.