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As a manager, I find that telecommuting can work very
well or very badly. Sometimes it depends on the work
environment, not so much because writers have to "meet
with" SMEs, but because it may often be necessary to
literally stalk them through the halls and corner them
at lunch when the only way they can escape is to
abandon a meal. However, most of the time it varies
depending on the employee. Some people telecommute
well, others do not, and the odd thing is, it's often
not possible to predict which it will be from their
in-office performance. I've had people who I previously
considered to be star performers in-office go all to
hell remotely because they couldn't juggle their work
with what was going on around them at home, or just
become sort of...strange...without the human interactions
that occur in a typical office (we once had a perfectly
acceptable performer who telecommuted successfully for
six months and then literally disappeared, never to be
heard from again). OTOH, I've also had people who were
somewhat marginal in-office improve considerably when
given the opportunity to telecommute a few days a week.
My own approach to telecommuting employees is that
unless someone is on a formal improvement plan, I'm
willing to give it a try a day or two a week and then
expand it from there if it seems to be working, but in
the past couple of years many companies seem to be
killing the practice at the corporate level without even
asking managers of telecommuters how it's been going.
Gene Kim-Eng
------- Original Message -------
On Thu, 1 Apr 2004 10:56:17 -0800 Ned Bedinger wrote:
Managers often declare that writers have to be in
the office to discuss project with engineers or
other clients. This is the weakest load of
nonsense ever since the world began. But a real
sticking point for managers who can't bring
themselves to manage virtual employees.
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