Does Telecommuting Make You Invisible? 275
jfruhlinger writes "Telecommuting provides many joys, including the ability to stay in your pajamas all day and the chance to work with a cat on your lap. But it does have some major drawbacks, perhaps none so serious as the fact that, if your co-workers are for the most part in an office, they can forget you exist — which means you don't get credit for your work as you deserve."
I think we've been over this before (Score:5, Insightful)
Expanded answer (Score:4, Insightful)
It depends.
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Indeed.....for many projects, I think often contract ones with the govt. more and more...EVERYONE on the project for the most part often is working remotely from home.
I'm seeing this more and more often....which is nice.
Unless you are afraid to 'stand up' on the teleconference team meetings...you'll get your share of attention for accomplishments.
Re:Expanded answer (Score:5, Interesting)
Not just government, any job which consists of a lot of overseas work (anything in HW engineering, unfortunately). Trying to make times work between US east/west and central time zones, India, china and/or malaysia means telecommuting.
I couldn't pick half my coworkers out of a lineup. I also don't have this "credit" problem, I know who did what based on long chains of emails. My boss knows the same.
I can't say now that I have kids, that I like telecommuting as much as I did before then (or may like once the kids are in school all day), but most of the arguments I hear against it always have the smell of bullshit.
Re:Expanded answer (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it still takes a company with a culture of telecommuting, or even outsourcing, for that to work. If you're the only one telecommuting on your team, and the company doesn't have operations overseas, or outsource anything, then it's much different.
Re:Expanded answer (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a reason that the expression 'out of sight, out of mind' came about. And it says it all. In general... in the greatest general terms, it holds true. And in the current context this generality is what applies. People won't think about you if you aren't there... unless of course you don't do your work. And even that isn't a guarantee these days. It is like IT, no one cares if you are there unless something goes wrong. And at those times, if the powers that be can't get to you in a way that is convenient to them, they will find someone who is better able to accommodate them.
We're talking real life real people here, not computer code. The answer here has to appeal to the greatest common denominator, not the least (we don't need to always satisfy the edge case). Just the same as crossing the street. You look both ways because most people won't be able to stop in time if you step right in front of their car [obligatory car analogy satisfied]. So the answer is yes, you are more invisible if you aren't there. You won't be included in quick meetings to solve problems that pop up, you won't get credit for helping get over many critical issues that require personal attention. You will be an invisible work horse. Yes there are exceptions, but not everyone is or can be an exception; just like not everyone can be above average.
Re:Expanded answer (Score:5, Informative)
Yup, you're only as invisible as you want to be. I'm in a mid-sized IT company (~1100 employees) and spent the first half of my career (now coming up on 20 years) in tech support as the only remote employee in the department and one of only five remotes at the company. I took calls from customers and colleagues, had weekly meetings with my boss by phone, and made extensive use of email and IM to keep myself in the thick of activities 1000 miles away. Come performance review time, I brought forth evidence from my "fan mail" folder showing how much the customers loved me.
Now I'm on a development team that includes a group working from India. We have Live Meeting conferences twice a week (at 9AM our time, 8PM theirs) and I'm in constant communication with my supervisor via IM and the rest of the group via email. When they took a group photo last week to show the rest of the company at a management meeting, I GIMP'ed myself into the group.
I couldn't even stay invisible if I wanted to. A few years ago when I was making the transition from support to development, I went to our Dallas office to shop around for a new position (my support for the legacy products was no longer needed) and got dragged into a management meeting. I ended up the center of attention as a parade of colleagues came in and described how I had pulled their fat out of the fire over the past 15 years. All this took place with me sitting right next to the CEO, who was always one of the most vocal opponents to telecommuting. So afterwards I told him I had been trying to stay under his radar, and he said he has always known about me because whenever a crisis arose involving our legacy products, someone would say "No problem, DeepEsophagus is on it" or "DeepEsophagus already took care of that."
The important thing is to make sure the impression you leave is a GOOD one.
Re:I think we've been over this before (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:I think we've been over this before (Score:4, Insightful)
But making my cat happier is worth it, I live to serve.
Wrong. (Score:2)
Telecommuting doesn't make me invisible; my invisibility cloak does.
There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Insightful)
The question is, does the benefit of working from home offset that? Visibility is important to some, not so much to others. It all depends on your plan or lack of it.
Personally, I think a lack of visibility can only help me!
Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Insightful)
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That's easy, it's the fuckup that everyone has to deal with every day. The real worry is that you have a B player who gets seen every day and an equally good B player who telecommutes; then the work-from-home guy is screwed.
Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Interesting)
Again, that risk is real, but it's a cost of the benefit of working from home. Different strokes for different folks! Sometimes the work from home guy is making less because it was part of his salary negotiation. In that case, he might be the one to keep his job.
On the flip side, I found that by being in the office I'd engage in casual conversation. These became important because you gain a better feel for how people use the system you work on. A lot of questions about implementation are avoided because you seem to just "know" the expectations a little better. Osmosis, I guess. Also, there are always small bugs that people never bring up because they don't think they are important enough for a trouble ticket. These only come up in non-related conversation. "By the way... I noticed this issue.. let me show you". These kind of interactions provide opportunity for a software developer to take initiative and improve the system in ways that matter.
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True, until the company moves.
I've got a buddy who works in salvage auctions. Company saw less auctions with the economy, decided to rent smaller office space. Now, company employees are *required* to work from home at least 2 days a week, because they don't have cubicle space to fit the whole staff.
Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless the perception is that the 'C' Player is an 'A' Player and the 'B' player is actually an 'F' because he "never does anything".
I knew a few 'D' Players who were treated like they were some sort of bad ass ninjas, just because nobody in charge had any clue how to evaluate them or their work... and the few people who did realize it were less visible and thus got totally ignored.
Ever met a sociopath? You would be shocked at how far just a little charm will take you, especially in the eyes of non-technical people who can't call you on your BS.
Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Funny)
You would be shocked at how far just a little charm will take you, especially in the eyes of non-technical people who can't call you on your BS.
I was shocked the first couple times I tried it, but now it's pretty routine.
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You would be shocked at how far just a little charm will take you, especially in the eyes of non-technical people who can't call you on your BS.
I was shocked the first couple times I tried it, but now it's pretty routine.
there's also that you can seem like a sociopath if you just call others on their bullshit - like trying to get to know wtf the technical thing required is required for, if you know that then goofing off might seem logical(and again make you look like a sociopath, since you seem to be just playing time, which you might very well be even if for good reasons).
ever been on a r&d project that made no sense in the context it was done in, in an office where head count made no sense but it didn't matter because
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prick them do they not bleed
I don't know, but I'm willing to run the experiment...
wrong them do they not revenge?
No, usually they pick someone unrelated to persecute. It's easier.
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Who do you suppose gets picked come layoff time, the 'C' player who gets seen every day, or the 'B' player who nobody ever sees?
With any luck they will forget about you then too...
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I wonder if its possible to become so invisible that you really do get forgotten about -- the guy who exists on the payroll DB, gets a paycheck, but doesn't exist otherwise.
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I wonder if its possible to become so invisible that you really do get forgotten about -- the guy who exists on the payroll DB, gets a paycheck, but doesn't exist otherwise.
That would be good. I'd even take up another job ... and try to get forgotten in that one too!
Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if its possible to become so invisible that you really do get forgotten about -- the guy who exists on the payroll DB, gets a paycheck, but doesn't exist otherwise.
Then they take your stapler, move you to the basement, and fix the glitch.
Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Insightful)
I was at a company that allowed telecommuting (and in fact promoted it) but never opted to do so (mainly because I don't have a good quiet space to work from home -- kids and all). Marginal and average workers who worked from home were thought of as "goofing off" and having "reduced productivity". Above average workers were thought of as just average. Those that telecommuted but continued to come in to the office three or four days a week (using the hotel cubes) didn't receive this stigma. Those that worked in the office were seen as more productive because they were visible.
So, yeah, they were "invisible"......which doesn't matter except for during key times -- layoffs, raises/promotions, and project assignment (you want the good ones, right?). But, for those that were skating by, being invisible isn't that big of a deal.
Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Informative)
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I'd tend to agree with this. Try having a manager who clearly checks out (no email responsiveness, no productivity) when working from home. Then, when you're remote, he's assuming that you are goofing off as much as he would.
It can be worth it, and it can work. Emails turn a bit spammy (roping too many people into a conversation), and status reports matter more than they should. Most managers don't know what engineers do, so their only indication that you're doing work is that you are there, preferably
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Good software engineers are inherently lazy looking. They don't spray out a bunch of lines of code and then busily fix hundreds of bugs. They consider a good plan of attack, write clear, concise code, and fix very few bugs (because they have very few). This is lost on almost all managers in the tech industry.
This is because "managers" are, with few exceptions, brainless wastes of oxygen whose purpose is to look at "metrics" instead of actual work performance.
Programmer A writes 1000 lines an hour, but cause
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Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Insightful)
Until the department manager is asked to name people to downsize, nobody in the room remembers the last useful thing you did, and you don't even hear rumors that you should make the case for yourself, since you don't have lunch with your co-workers.
A lot of important information is exchanged over lunch and coffee.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:There is probably truth to that. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yup, all the deals and decisions are made in the hallway.
Exactly (Score:5, Interesting)
If you are trying to climb the corporate ladder, the more "visible" you are the better. You want management to think of you -- and often. Get up and walk around, up and down the hall, make smalltalk (this is crucial), and try to make yourself a permanent icon. Your work performance, dare I say, isn't nearly as important as your social skills.
On the other hand, if you are destined to be stuck in dead-end job for the rest of your life (like me) -- for whatever reason -- then it would be pointless to burden yourself with all of the above. Do the exact opposite. Avoid social contact. Make sure they know you did the job, and then disappear. (The ladder-climbing types will love you for this -- they don't like competition.) Consider your work nothing but a paycheck, and subtract every minute you spend on it from your real life.
Sounds negative, doesn't it? Welcome to the real world.
Only and issue where your contributions (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Only and issue where your contributions (Score:5, Insightful)
or your managers are incompetent.
Mod this up. Being there isn't going to keep the CEO's idiot nephew from grabbing credit for your project.
I telecommute but you can avoid this issue (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I telecommute but you can avoid this issue (Score:5, Funny)
I also send at least one week each email to all the people
I bet you also swear to drunk you're not god :-P
Re:I telecommute but you can avoid this issue (Score:4, Funny)
I bet you also swear to drunk you're not god :-P
I resemble that remark!
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Having a great personality helps too (Score:3)
In addition to a good office protocol to include phone conferences and the like having a good personality helps in having people remember you. If your friendly in nature people will remember that and it helps keep you in contact as your more likely to be called/call or communicate in mail or IM.
There are many cues people pick up from even the simplest of communication, it does not hurt to ask people why they don't acknowledge your items if it corrects a problem.
I don't care. (Score:4, Funny)
As someone who just made several hundred dollars while lounging around in key west, I can safely say that the trade off is well worth it.
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Visibility is an issue for all (Score:5, Interesting)
At the company I work at we don't have much of the software necessary to track the performance of employees. When I got promoted I got a nice big cube in a corner, away from everyone else. Very soon after getting moved I started getting accused of not being on the phones, not doing my work, blah blah blah. It aggravated me to no end, I was screaming mad about it, but that didn't help.
I did eventually solve my visibility issue.
The solution was chocolate.
I now keep a candy jar in my cube and have let everyone know they can come by my cube at anytime and help themselves. All complaints have ceased.
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Candy solves all problems.
Re:Visibility is an issue for all (Score:4, Funny)
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This is not a visibility issue but common bribery. Noone has the heart to complain about someone handing out free chocolate.
Re:Visibility is an issue for all (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Visibility is an issue for all (Score:5, Funny)
The candy jar is a time honored dispute avoidance technique. I'm surprised more people don't utilize it.
Bonus points if you bring in the really good stuff. Fucking 50 DKP Minus if you bring in the 5 cent shit-tier suckers that nobody likes.
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Snickers appears to be king. I also stock 3 Musketeers, Twix and Kit Kat in the chocolate jar, this being the "fun size", not the little squares. In the hard candy jar I have butterscotchs and cinnamon disks.
I would not be able to achieve the desired effect if what I offered wasn't something people wanted. I sometimes take the least wanted and switch it for something else.
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I used to bring in those Ghirardelli squares but I had to stop because a people literally started stealing handfuls out of the jar when I wasn't around and it was costing me a fortune.
Now I grab the mix bags of the same stuff you do. Still popular, but it's not costing me $20 a week refilling the jar, at least.
Re:Visibility is an issue for all (Score:4, Interesting)
I should have just gotten a Candy dish and that way he would stop by at random points during the day when we were working or heads off.
Credit is not everything (Score:3)
Credit is very nice, but at the end of the day it is getting the job done that matters. If you are good at what you do then that will usually be recognised. You will be a valued team member. If for some reason though a company fails to appreciate your efforts and you feel hard done by, then it is time to move elsewhere. They will suffer the consequences in due course, but that is their problem.
Re:Credit is not everything (Score:5, Insightful)
"Credit is very nice, at the end of the day it is getting the job done that matters"
Maybe to the owners and shareholders but not for anyone else. Having worked under both good and bad managers, and now in a position of leading my own team, I have to say you'd be crazy to ignore this. The worst case is not people leaving your company. The worst case is turning great employees into average employees.
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Make an effort to be visible (Score:5, Insightful)
I am a telecommuter. I negotiated 80%/20%, i.e. I come into the office 150 miles away once a week. The purpose is to schedule meetings on projects, attend a weekly team meeting, and it gives the opportunity to mingle and see my coworkers.
That arrangement really helps. In addition, I use software that routes my phone extension to my home office (so people don't have to keep my phone# on a post it), I use Yahoo IM for chats, and of course email.
The point is, if you are a telecommuter, make yourself accessible at any time that you would be if you were in the office. If things are quiet for an extended period, make an effort to touch base with your immediate team (speaking from the perspective of a software developer here). Does anyone need me to pitch in on anything? Send a link to a funny or interesting article.
Generally my work is so busy and requires so much collaboration that it creates the necessary visibility, but just be sure you aren't making it difficult to be contacted and embrace the discussions, even mundane ones unless it gets out of hand.
In software dev, also have your screen ready to share for discussion (myriad of choices). I find that helps to collaborate and be more visible to my colleagues.
Multiply your invisibility... (Score:5, Funny)
On call? (Score:2)
WTF? I'm not invisible when I'm on call at 2am. Doesn't even make sense. By that logic when I'm on call I should just shut off the ringer and get a good nights sleep, after all, supposedly that's invisible.
Gov't: As if I got credit before. (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to drive 3+ hours a day to 'be in the office' with my peers. I'd work extra to bring improvements for the team to fruition, since we weren't allowed to do them as part of 'work'. I didn't get credit then, so I couldn't get less credit from home. After I told them I'd be in the office one day a week, I still only had interaction with my peers one out of three days in the office. My employer has a terrible track record for recognition. My congratulations on 10 years of employment: was an email sent almost a year late.
If you like having no creative input, if you enjoy toiling in obscurity, if you enjoy petty bosses who poo-poo your ideas only to bring them up as their own 6 months later, work for the government.
--
Don't get me wrong: I know interaction is a two way street. I used to put in the effort to be TEAM oriented. Unfortunately, the team doesn't actually work together (we each get our own projects) so the effort was unrecognized and wasted.
Rules/tips (Score:4, Insightful)
I work from home every now and then (more often, recently). Last year, I wrote my own rules for working from home [cad.cx]. Are there any other solid ones I should include?
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Here's a blog post I did about this as well earlier this year, with a funny story on how I got myself recognized in my company thanks to a bug in one of our systems.
http://jmertic.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/making-in-roads-in-your-organization-when-you-are-2000-miles-away/ [wordpress.com]
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I can assure you that it's not goatse. I just tuned the Apache settings, too, so it shouldn't be getting as hammered now.
WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
If telecommuting means you're not interacting with co-workers and being 'seen', then yes, you might become invisible and/or deemed irrelevant. It also might mean you are.
Both my wife and I work from home lately, as the contract I work on is across country and her job went to telecommute-only a couple of years ago. I'm in conference calls, email threads, planning meetings, and all sorts of things all the time. My wife is on the phone a good chunk of the day as well as countless emails and IMs with people.
If you are doing your job in a corner, never interacting with people, and it becomes possible that people forget you exist ... well, maybe that's not the fault of telecommuting. I've worked in offices where there are people who nobody really knows what they do, who they report to, or what their role is -- it's possible to be invisible in the office too, and in my experience if nobody knows who you are and what you do then maybe you're just putting in time and waiting until someone realizes they don't know what they pay you for.
Not saying telecommuting is for everyone, or that it fixes everything ... but I've been doing it for over a year, and it's not like anybody on the project I'm working on doesn't know who I am. They may have only met me face to face a handful of times ... but between email and phone calls, I'm hardly invisible. Quite the opposite, in fact since I was kind of the technical lead.
What kind of job can you even be doing that doesn't call for interaction with your co-workers? If you're regularly doing the kinds of things that normal people do, there's no reason for you to disappear as a teleworker.
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See, I'm on contract.
The guy I report to I interact with all the time either in conference calls or emails. If he wanted me on another project, he'd tell me. As things come up that require my input, he does, in fact.
When I'm in town for meetings (or because we have a big push and need everyone in the same place) ... I meet and interact with all of the people I usually interact via the phone or email, specifically to make sure we keep a personal connection as well. Coffee or lunch or even dinner go a long
But it will average out. (Score:5, Funny)
Is that a cat on your lap? (Score:2, Funny)
Perhaps somebody who works from home used a euphemism you aren't familiar with?
Many people dream of working from home; but I don't know anybody who dreams of working in an office. I wonder why.
My .02 (Score:3)
Telecommuting sucks the infinite Wang (Score:4, Insightful)
Ive been working remotely most of the time since 1998.
When does the boss take me out to lunch with the team? Never.
A beer after work on Fridays? Nope.
Project tshirts? Nada.
Don't think telecommuting is paradise. It's not.
Re:Telecommuting sucks the infinite Wang (Score:5, Insightful)
I've worked in the (same) office since 1997 and I don't get lunch, beers, or t-shirts either.
I do, however, get to sit in traffic for 40 to 60 minutes a day.
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Advantage: SirWhoopass
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Only 40 to 60 minutes? Lucky bastard...
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Why the hell haven't you moved closer if the job is so stable?
Re:Telecommuting sucks the infinite Wang (Score:5, Funny)
This has to be reverse psychology.
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You are disillusioned if you think anyone get's lunch, beer and t-shirts.
Project t-shrits... I have not even HEARD of those cince 1998, everyone has went to, "new project today! everyone line up for a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!"
And remember everyone, Management thinks you all are a waste of money! we ship when it compiles!
It has been said before here on Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
Sign and date everything (Score:2)
Depends on the culture of the organization (Score:2)
If telecommuting is common in the company, then visibility is hardly a concern. People in the hierarchy get trained to look for results, not presence.
If you are the only person who is remote, then it can present more of an issue.
So go in once or twice a week. . . (Score:3)
Seriously, the solution seems obvious. Telecommute some days (if you're allowed to), but make an appearance at least once a week, have lunch and/or meetings with with people (especially your boss) to keep you in the loop, and keep you and your work visible to them.
It's True (Score:5, Insightful)
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My experiences were similar when working from home on projects with other employees, but this also happened when working offsite in general, even on multi-month projects at client offices.
When working on projects which were mainly staffed with consultants, the downsides did not exist.
Overall the benefits of working from home as often as possible seem to outweigh the negatives unless you are have other people actively trying to horn in on your job.
that's why people telecommute? (Score:3)
Telecommuting provides many joys, including the ability to stay in your pajamas all day and the chance to work with a cat on your lap.
Does anyone else find the two listed "perks" of telecommuting extremely unappealing?
Visibility is easy, staying human is difficult (Score:3)
In my experience, if you show up on e-mail lists and teleconferences, you are considered active, but "inhuman" in the sense that people no longer have idea on what *exactly* are you doing, what's your supposed workload, and so on. So instead of human resource, you become just a resource, a gray eminence that lives only in electronic form.
I have been at a new job, primarily doing it remotely when possible for half a year now, and typically my only on-site jaunts will be to customer premises. As such, I'm not too often at the office.
Solution: HD-level videoconferencing. Since I can partake in meetings with 50" screens at the office end, my presence is not only felt, but it's rather imposing :). (My home has smaller, desktop videophone). The HD quality *is* necessary - if you appear as bunch of DCT blocks used by older systems, the effect is not much beyond normal (voice) teleconference.
Anyway, consider possibilities of video for remote participation.
And that is an advantage... (Score:5, Interesting)
A buddy of mine has been "invisible" for 5 years and skipped all the downsizing. His direct report was let go and he still get's a check every 2 weeks. he has no idea who he is supposed to report to for the past 18 months, and had heard NOTHING from the main office, so he simply does his job and collects the checks. the company cellphone and VPN accounts still work, and HR still is paying him and covering insurance.
Being invisible is a good thing at times.
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Re:And that is an advantage... (Score:4, Funny)
I'll give you one better.
I worked for a small (>200 person)l print shop in the midwest. We were bought up by one of the regionals as a 'future projects' plant. A year later the parent company merged and then right after that the merged company merged with another huge company. There were layoffs and plant-and-office closing all around us but we were untouched. Ten years and a half-dozen buyouts later they passed around a sheet at the plant. We were supposed to fill in our name and position. I wrote down IT. That day I got a call from a very worried regional IT manager. Seems I was supposed to report to him for the last five years, but he had never heard of my plant. Long story short, I was suddenly promoted three levels with a nice, fat raise and given the keys to every sales office and plant in the state. Over lunch that fall I was told that my invisibility had saved me from a round of savage layoffs but it had also prevented me from getting about $20,000 in extra pay.
Working from home == invisible (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd still rather work from home versus commuting to a cube farm, but note it does present some challenges since people can easily forget to include you in meetings, decisions, conversations, etc.
Working from home makes you smelly (Score:3)
Routine hygiene goes completely out the door as does the need to wear clothes.
True Story: Office cabin in the garden; hot summers day; house on the market. Sitting naked working away, the real estate agent turns up with a bunch of people looking to buy the house. After that I always kept an emergency pair of shorts in the cabin. :)
It's in the way you work, I believe (Score:2)
But I think it has more to do with the way I work.
I'm a "produ
Forget me? Hahahahahahahahaha ... (Score:3)
... they can forget you exist - which means you don't get credit for your work as you deserve.
They can, sure, but they're going to have to go out of their way to do it with me. email to manager & team lead: "Yo boss. I found and fixed another massive bug in $yada. All the logging the thing's been doing for the last decade is worthless. Oh, and it'll now work seamlessly with all our data centres anywhere in the world." It can also help a lot if $yada is something that everybody else is afraid to touch for fear of breaking it.
Communication is key.
To be able to avoid all the BS team meetings, interruptions from colleagues and managers, United Way recruiting drives, the waste of gas while marooned in parking lots on commuter routes twice daily, ... Priceless!
Cat on you lap? (Score:2)
I am impressed by the lack of comments about cats. So, here we go!
Since I do extra shifts at home after dinner, I get the chance to have one or more cats on my lap while I work. It's awesome in the winter!
The joy of being a business owner!!
Don't go 100% telecommuting and you'll be fine (Score:3)
I telecommute 50% of my time. This gives me enough physical presence at my work office to be "hands on" with my coworkers and attend meetings that are difficult to teleconference in.
I agree that by telecommuting you do run the risk of missing promotion opportunities since you won't be within the "whisper net" that's in place in all office environments.
Also people who telecommute at 100% regardless of the consequences don't have much weight with management. Their inflexibility makes them less than ideal for most promotions and they run the risk of being too expensive to keep at their current position. Supervisors do take willingness to make the effort to drive to work as a factor in deciding promotions; Not to mention most opportunities for promotion requires a physical presence at the office.
I have notice a trend in the employers around me (most of my coworkers are subcontractors) that telecommuting is losing much of its luster. Telecommuting used to be encouraged as a method to reduce office space requirements and resources but now it's being discouraged and only granted for special circumstances.
Management telecommuting... (Score:3)
It can absolutely be a problem and I think this has been demonstrated many times in the past.
However, the problem I've encountered over the years isn't from your average employee telecommuting, it's management telecommuting. Your average designer or programmer can happily sit at home and still get their job done, all they need is a good understanding of what has to be done. But managers need to be available and closely involved in the process, because if they're not, what's really the point of even keeping them employed?
And yet, it's everyone from project managers all the way on up to high level directors who most consistently partake in telecommuting. I've worked with countless project managers who come in to the office for a few hours, spend the entire time catching up because they have to rush back home. In quite a few cases I've found myself managing my own project, dealing with clients directly, rendering that manager redundant. But even worse are the higher ups. I've come across numerous clients who've got people who make themselves essential to the process but work from home a couple of days a week. I use the term "work" loosely as it's apparent they're just dicking around all day. And yet the company is stuck accommodating these jerks suffering stalled processes because they're not available to make decisions. And when they do decide to turn up at the office suddenly they're big saviors.
It's a huge peeve of mine. Especially since everyone else is basically stuck doing their jobs for them. It's at a point where I sometimes feel like corporate America is welfare for the upper middle class.
Doesn't always hurt (Score:3)
I telecommute 3/5 days each week (Score:3)
I have telecommuted 3/5 days each week for almost 6 years at the same company, here are a few observations:
- be in the office the same days each week so that people know where/when to find your face
- make your work visible, send status reports in even if they are not asked for
- speak up on a call, if you have nothing to contribute then make jokes, use humor but make sure your voice is heard
- when you are in the office, work hard
- make sure folks see you online in instant messenger when your are at home
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
You can be forgotton in the office as well! Wasn't there a news article a while back where an office worked died in the office , and wasn't noticed for several days.
When i worked for an Italian company (olivetti) they forgot about a whole development team. They spend six months programming a computer range that had been cancelled.
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Most of my co-workers are in Manila, Mumbai and Buenos Aires... I'm mean really who in their right mind would want to live in Tulsa, OK or Des Moines IA?!?!?
mein nehi janata