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I agree 100%! Working from home really is a privilege and doesn't do the company much good. I personally know many people that have "hands off" bosses that let their employee do whatever they want and they exploit the heck out of their situation. I'm guessing these people do maybe 20 hours of actual work per week and spend the rest surfing the web, taking the day off by "working" from home, etc.
Well that's just a bad boss then and maybe they need to do a better job when it comes to the type of people that they hire. Seems like that's just par for the course these days!!! Don't try and label everyone out there a slacker if you don't have good workers then that's your fault. Plenty of people get a lot of work done at home AND actually get MORE work done at home.
Especially when compared to the completely stupid and flawed open office environment that companies are converting to. I can get more work done alone than I can surrounded by 10 people munching on their potato chips and carrying on conversations with who knows how many people. Everyone says there are too many interruptions in offices now especially in the open office environments. Offices are a huge fail now and idiot management was duped by all these consultants that tried to come in and sell them the office of the future. What they sold them was an office that doesn't work and no one likes!!
it basically comes down to this. when you run a company and pay yourself you can make these judgemnt calls, until that day its not your decision to make!
dont get me wrong, i agree with you, but your employer is paying you so they call the shots. i do think some people are more productive in a work at home setting and i do agree you cut out commutes and some people could potentially put in another 2 hours a day of work vs commuting.
that said i think for the vast majority people are less productive. you can't help but take care of personal things at home while you are there. also where as at the office you may not take a bathroom break at a certain time at home you will becuase yoru alone and can.
probably 90% of peope are more productive in an office because your under the microscope
For some people who work from home (and depending on their job), their work can often be measured with other tools in place anyway, such as from the database they use to how many calls they take or how many sales are made if the job is commissioned-based.
I see work from home as a privilege and it is somewhat mainstream, but still not widely accepted yet ( it is on track to be more widespread, of course). The employer usually has to trust the employee who works from home. Some managers do not trust their direct reports, so it just depends. I think as time marches on, telecommuting will be more widely received. I know in some past jobs where I telecommuted there was jealousy among employees who knew I had worked from home. That did not help with office politics, so sometimes telecommuting is frowned on due to politics or opinions. And yes, people assume that the remote workers are slacking, false assumption, but all that probably depends on where you work and the corporate culture.
I don't like working in offices for the most part, but I can see the reasons why someone would want to work from home, while others stay too distracted by things in their house. I personally prefer working from home myself. I don't think I would want to return to working in an office full time, I definitely don't miss all of that.
I agree 100%! Working from home really is a privilege and doesn't do the company much good. I personally know many people that have "hands off" bosses that let their employee do whatever they want and they exploit the heck out of their situation. I'm guessing these people do maybe 20 hours of actual work per week and spend the rest surfing the web, taking the day off by "working" from home, etc.
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Originally Posted by southbel
I agree with you. As someone who manages people, I have found when you actually trust your employees vice trying to control every single moment of their working day, they produce more. Kind of sad that some people think grown adults need such controlling supervision. If my workers do their job, I honestly don't care what else they do because they've done what I paid them for.
Chicago87, how is that "exploiting" the situation? Southbel summed it up pretty well; as long as an employee is getting the work done, why does it matter if it only takes them 20 hours or if they surf the web for a bit? What you're saying makes sense for hourly jobs, but those jobs typically aren't good candidates for telecommuting.
This is exactly it. There also have been many studies that show people are more productive if they can physically talk to each other. There is productivity loss if people only communicate over phones/email as opposed to being able to stop by and talk in person.
I disagree. I think people spend way too much time talking in the office and it decreases efficiency. Of course meetings and some face to face time are necessary, but email is much more efficient. When I email someone on a Monday I don't have to spend 10 - 15 minutes asking how their weekend was and answering questions about my weekend. Emails do not interrupt, but someone walking up to your desk certainly does. I can answer emails promptly and set priorities to get work done efficiently with very little talking.
My job could easily be done from home. I don't know why I have to come into the office every day when I use email for 90% of my job and I can log in to our company network from home.
Chicago87, how is that "exploiting" the situation? Southbel summed it up pretty well; as long as an employee is getting the work done, why does it matter if it only takes them 20 hours or if they surf the web for a bit? What you're saying makes sense for hourly jobs, but those jobs typically aren't good candidates for telecommuting.
They are exploiting the situation because there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Instead of actually doing the work, they drag their feet and come off as much more busier than they really are. When someone actually needs something to get done, they use red tape as an excuse and say how everyone is "so busy" when they are really just surfing the internet and taking 2 hour lunches.
Some of these people have it so good, they will never ever leave. They have a racket going on.
I disagree. I think people spend way too much time talking in the office and it decreases efficiency. Of course meetings and some face to face time are necessary, but email is much more efficient. When I email someone on a Monday I don't have to spend 10 - 15 minutes asking how their weekend was and answering questions about my weekend. Emails do not interrupt, but someone walking up to your desk certainly does. I can answer emails promptly and set priorities to get work done efficiently with very little talking.
My job could easily be done from home. I don't know why I have to come into the office every day when I use email for 90% of my job and I can log in to our company network from home.
Umm bandwidth? Licensing? For security reasons we use some type of emulator like citrix. We cannot print unless we're in the office. Fortunately i rarely needed anything printed
My Aunt works from home 4 days a week. At first she loved it, but it is beginning to grow old. She says that she is beginning to lose the distinction between home and office; everything is starting to blur together. Telecommuting is convenient in theory, but in practice it can be very depressing. It is also incredibly lonely.
They are exploiting the situation because there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Instead of actually doing the work, they drag their feet and come off as much more busier than they really are. When someone actually needs something to get done, they use red tape as an excuse and say how everyone is "so busy" when they are really just surfing the internet and taking 2 hour lunches.
Some of these people have it so good, they will never ever leave. They have a racket going on.
I see what you're saying in a way. I think those people are cheating themselves out of career advancement, but they aren't doing anything wrong in my opinion. I don't think it matters if they take 2 hour lunches or surf the internet so long as their manager is happy with their results.
I disagree. I think people spend way too much time talking in the office and it decreases efficiency. Of course meetings and some face to face time are necessary, but email is much more efficient. When I email someone on a Monday I don't have to spend 10 - 15 minutes asking how their weekend was and answering questions about my weekend. Emails do not interrupt, but someone walking up to your desk certainly does. I can answer emails promptly and set priorities to get work done efficiently with very little talking.
My job could easily be done from home. I don't know why I have to come into the office every day when I use email for 90% of my job and I can log in to our company network from home.
Talking with people in the office increases efficiency. People who know each other and work well together produce better output than a collection of people doing work on their own. The lone wolf who doesn't socialize at all is nearly always a worse producer than the person who chats a bit.
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