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Subject:RE: Commute/Flex work options a Deal breaker? From:Susan Park <su_duncan -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com Date:Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:37:36 -0700 (PDT)
I'm fortunate to work for a company that hires very few on-site employees. I've been working remotely for about 2 years now, and I love it. My work is project based, and at any given time, I have about 2-3 projects. No one is standing over my shoulder micromanaging me--as long as I meet milestone dates and keep my project managers apprised of my status, it doesn't seem to matter when, where, or how many hours I work per week. My annual salary is probably a bit lower than market rate, but it's worth it to me to be at home.
Now that I've had this experience, if I had to find another job, would the commute/flex work options be a dealbreaker? I hope I never have to find another job, but if I did, it would be with an eye toward another telecommuting situation.
Susan
--- On Wed, 6/25/08, Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
From: Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com>
Subject: RE: Commute/Flex work options a Deal breaker?
To: "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 11:20 AM
It would depend entirely on how broke I am. As for incentive, I don't need
any more. I always look for chances to work by remote. So far I've never
allowed it to be a deal breaker. But if I were working job A onsite every day,
and job B came along offering remote work at the same pay or close enough,
I'd be out of job A so fast I'd leave a hole in the air.
I have been firmly convinced for years that 95% of what we do can be done just
as well at the end of a phone line as in a cube next door, and most of the real
reason for insisting that TWs work on site is hierarchy thinking by people who
have a vested interest in showing their bosses how many head they have in their
herds.
I've tried for years to promote the idea both where I've worked and in
general. I've come up with some fairly detailed business cases about the
financial advantages to the companies - less need for physical plant so lower
electric bills, less liability; fewer commute miles per head so less pressure
from the EPA, etc. So far it's all fallen on deaf ears.
Remote working would require a major shift in thinking (and personality, in a
lot of cases) on the parts of the bosses, and they don't want to be forced
into any changes. For a lot of them it's a visceral thing. A lot of them
see remote working as a challenge to or a reduction of their authority, so
they'll resist it to the bitter end.
Plus, I think a lot of companies got burned by telecommuting in the late
80s/early 90s when the tech stock bubble was building. A lot of companies who
were anxious to build quickly and were hiring frantically let a lot of people
set up telecommuting in order to get them on board quickly, and a significant
number of those people sloughed off too much. I've heard stories about
workers who would set up batch files that would automatically send something
pointless over the net at set times, so it would look to anyone monitoring
traffic like they were working while they were actually out at the lake. So
some companies once burned, twice shy.
To be fair to the employers, making a remote working setup viable requires
workers with somewhat greater than normal dedication. It's hard enough
finding workers who have the dedication to show up in the cube by 9 every day.
Finding someone who's reliable when the boss isn't standing over his
shoulder is a whole new matter.
--- On Wed, 6/25/08, Melissa Nelson <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
> From: Melissa Nelson <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>
> Subject: RE: Commute/Flex work options a Deal breaker?
> To: "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com"
<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 10:58 AM
> It would depend on the entire work situation. My present
> boss does not offer flex time. He is of the mode of
> "it ain't work, if it ain't done in a
> cube!" Fortunately for me, I live a mile away so it
> does not really enter into my situation. I did turn down a
> position in DC (about 25 miles away) that offered no
> flexibility, and did not even seem to understand that
> subways break down and sometimes you are just late.
> Therefore, I think it does depend on the whole job
> situation and environment! As a born and raised Utahn...I
> am tickled to see the governor do this, I think it is going
> to have to happen more and more as gas prices make commuting
> more and more expensive.
>
> Melissa
>
>
>
> > Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:53:15 -0600> From:
> straylightsghost -at- gmail -dot- com> To:
> techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Subject: Commute/Flex work
> options a Deal breaker?> > As a Tech Writer, many of
> us know that our work affords us some>
> "flexibility" in the normal work routine:> *
> Tele-work> * Flex Schedules (Four 10 hour shifts/wk,
> etc.)> * and so on...> > I pose a question to the
> group...> > On Friday, the Governor of Utah will
> announce that ALL State offices> will switch to a 4 day
> work week (10 hour shifts) and close on Friday.> This is
> to meet the needs of State workers and reduce strain on
> the> Commute (which is a serious issue in this
> State).> > Here's the question:> > Would
> you go to work for a company that refused to budge (with
> no> proper explanation or reason given) or offer any
> flexibility in work> schedules? Even with such a
> precedence being set on a governmental> level?> >
> Would influence your decision if you were looking for a
> job?> Would it be incentive to seek out anot
> her job with more flexibility?> > Just
> curious...> > -Collin>
> ________________________________> collinturner.com>
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True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
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