Vermont Wants To Pay Companies To Let Employees Work Remotely (fastcompany.com)

A proposal for an act in the Vermont legislature is actively trying to give grants to small companies to employ remote workers. From a report: Under the terms of S-0094, a $10,000 micro-grant will be given to a business that will "establish or enhance a facility that attracts small companies or remote workers, or both, including generator and maker spaces, co-working spaces, remote work hubs, and innovation spaces, with special emphasis on facilities that promote colocation of nonprofit, for-profit, and government entities."

Comments

Sudden Outbreak of Common Sense

[TheFakeTimCook]

That is an idea who's time has very much come!

Bravo, Vermont!!!

Re: uh, what

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

It's a co-working space. Essentially a coffee shop with a conference room, only with more outlets and different (often better) coffee. Also, the people in the coffee shop, er, co-working space pay rent and there's quieter music (and hopefully no frappe machine).

Re:I'll work there, remotely from California

[apoc.famine]

I sort-of agree, but also disagree.

My job requires three general things: 1) I'm an expert in my field, 2) I understand the legal landscape in my field, and 3) I can pull these two things together and communicate processes, policies, and paths forward to the rest of the people in my business.

While someone in another country could possibly pull these skills together, #3 becomes a lot harder if you're not fluent in English, but if even if you are and you're not fluent in the "office speak" of that business. What abbreviations are used, what acronyms which people understand and which don't, etc. I was in a meeting the other day when someone burst out laughing. When we all looked at them, they said, "I just pictured someone from another organization walking through the door and listening to us, and I realized that what we're talking about would be utterly incomprehensible to them."

If someone in another country is fully fluent in English, they still need the knowledge base, and that's not always going to be easy to acquire. And even if they have the English fluency and the knowledge, being able to communicate in a way that everyone understands is not always trivial.

Re:uh, what

[RhettLivingston]

I worked several years at a software company whose 180 or so engineers mostly worked from home. The main office contained a number of high tech conference rooms of varying sizes with the largest one able to hold around 50 people at a time. There were also a few small offices available for those that just needed to get away from home for a few days to concentrate on something. Most teams would meet about once a week in one of the conference rooms.

The conference rooms all had WiFi projectors that we could share from our laptops, high-end teleconference systems, smartboards, and a few computers.

This setup allowed us to have the best of both worlds. We worked about 80-90% at home and the rest at the office. We only drove about one day a week so we saved hugely on vehicle wear and tear also. The office was much smaller than would have been necessary if everyone worked there, so the company saved a lot of overhead which was generously reflected in our salaries and in the overhead rates we charged to the customer.

Co-working spaces just take this concept and make a separate business out of it.

Re: uh, what

[Ostracus]

Malls actually would benefit from this. Think of it as a sort of mini-city. In fact the mall in downtown Indianapolis would benefit mostly because of it's great location. The one's on the east side would benefit, but that's mainly because of the expressway. It also has a lot of warehouses left over from the economic downturn that could be converted.

and why hire someone in vermont?

[Karmashock]

The error of the physical place which is the state of Vermont paying for companies to DE-LOCALIZE their workforce is that they might succeed... and then why hire someone from Vermont at all?

once the state has bootstrapped by de-localization effort... why hire someone from Vermont at all... you could hire someone from canada or anywhere.

Governments should be very careful when they involve themselves in social engineering ventures. Its very frequently more sophisticated and complex in its ramifications than the C or even D student bureaucrats can handle.

We're getting into the philosopher king territory here when it comes to such things. And the overwhelming majority of dabblers in it are incompetent to the task. Even if intellectually they could handle it they rob themselves of even that chance typically by not taking the issue seriously. We require educations and certifications for people to engineer bridges or tinker around with the health of ONE person in a medical field... but what training or certification is required for government officials to use the power of the state of social engineer?

None.

Imagine a bridge built by a man with no training that took the task not seriously at all... imagine a man performing a surgery with no training that took the task not seriously at all.

That is what happens when the government messes around with these things. Sure, every so often you get a brilliant novice but such are far and few between. The vast majority are Vogons doing stupid destructive Vogon things.