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The Real Reasons Companies Won't Hire Telecommuters (oreilly.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader Esther Schindler points us to a new article at OReilly.com: Those of us who telecommute cannot quite fathom the reasons companies give for refusing to let people work from home. But even if you don't agree with their decision, they do have reasons -- and not all of them are, "Because we like to be idiots." In "5 reasons why the company you want to work for won't hire telecommuters", hiring managers share their sincere reasons to insist you work in the office -- and a few tips for how you might convince them otherwise.
The arguments against telecommuting range from "creativity happens in the hallway" to "the extra logistics aren't worth it," and the article suggests the best counterarguments include pointing out a past history of successfully telecommuting and allowing your employer to gradually transition you into a remote position. And if all else fails, just become a "rock star," because according to one tech placement company, "For the right talent and when a role has been open for a very long time, they tend to give in."
The arguments against telecommuting range from "creativity happens in the hallway" to "the extra logistics aren't worth it," and the article suggests the best counterarguments include pointing out a past history of successfully telecommuting and allowing your employer to gradually transition you into a remote position. And if all else fails, just become a "rock star," because according to one tech placement company, "For the right talent and when a role has been open for a very long time, they tend to give in."
The real reason? Simple: people are lazy as shit. If you give them a chance to slack off, they will. And that's far more likely at home than at work where a pointy-haired boss can tell you something else that needs doing.
All the rest is just hand-wavy bullshit. And it's right. I personally think "working from home" is *never* as efficient as a dedicated, isolated workspace. If you do it, it should be a level of trust you EARN from a company, certainly not start with. Plus, I think if you work from home you should get paid less, because working from home is so desirable and convenient.
And I personally have the full choice of working from home, or at my office; I've worked for the firm for 23 years, they couldn't care less. But generally, I work from the office.
-Styopa
I've been mentoring junior developers for years, and there's been absolutely no uncertainty about which ones were struggling. Or which ones were overjoyed to be guided and which were just hoping I'd do their job for them,
Some of them were even located on the same continent I am.
Though I've never met any of them face-to-face. Or even voice-to-voice.
Companies pay people for being at their desk 8 yours a day (and yes, HP payed me for doing nothing for over a week). If companies actually payed people based on the results they produced rather than being warm bodies at a desk, then they wouldn't have any problem with where they were when they produced those results. The "need to be in the same room" is bullshit, because I've been forced to work with coworkers on the other coast and even overseas while sitting at my desk -- I even have a direct manager in another state. Granted, the real reason they don't like you working at home is they can't directly monitor the hours you work.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Communication works better in person
By far, the most prevalent attitude is that rapport and camaraderie are generated best from in-person relationships.
Unfortunately, this is true. it's why companies spend millions of dollars a year on travel expenses when it would be much cheaper to use phone/video conferencing.
Creativity happens in the hallway
Questionable. Especially when the only examples they can come up with is Yahoo and Best Buy. Seriously? Yahoo and Best Buy? WTF?
As someone who works for a large multi-national, trying to hold someone accountable that works for home is a pain in the rear. If they work in a remote office, I can ask someone to walk past their office and ask them to call or email. There are a lot of people who are good remote workers. However, almost none of them seem to work as developers and system admins. The couple of dozen or so that I have worked with while they have worked from home have been absolute pain in the neck, since they are passive aggressive little twerps.
If you want to work from home. Prove you can work in the office, that your skillset is significantly better than others who could do you job and are willing to show up, and give a cost/benefit that matters to your management, not to you
In God we trust, all others require data.
All of the reasons listed in the article are pure bullshit. The real reason companies don't want employees to telecommute is because they don't trust them. If an employer doesn't trust you, you shouldn't be working for scumbags like that.
In reality the ONLY thing an employer should be concerned with are deadlines. If a project has been assigned to you and you deliver by the deadline, then there should be no issue. That's how most of my past employers have thought, fortunately. Nowadays, I'm the employer.