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Re: If there is such a shortage of good tech writers...
Subject:Re: If there is such a shortage of good tech writers... From:Jane Bergen <janeber -at- CYBERRAMP -dot- NET> Date:Sat, 6 Feb 1999 10:02:38 -0600
I think the reluctance is probably the result of several factors:
Security is a big issue for companies now. They finally got it through
their heads that employees are no more loyal to the company than the
company is loyal to employees. The companies have to worry about
documentation turning up in the hands of competitors, about their own
network security (a problem for dial-in users working at home), and a
variety of legal and insurance issues for work-at-home employees.
Work-at-home employees often make managers nervous because the
managers can't see what the employee is doing on an hour-to-hour
basis. The managers also have communication fears....they can't get
the employee on the phone, the employee isn't answering e-mail, etc.
Employees have sometimes abused the work-at-home privilege, at least
in the eyes of the employers.
Some companies may also be concerned with the issue of support. If an
employee works from home, the employer may feel (real or perceived)
required to provide IS support. In most cases, the employer does have
to support the employee as a dial-in or remote user. That's not always
easy because the IS manager has to trouble-shoot the employee's modem,
etc.
All these issues aside, I think employers are warming up slightly. The
advantages for employers usually outweigh the disadvantages. Whether
it works for you largely depends on the situation: how far you are
from the employer, how well you maintain communication and trust with
the managers, the nature of the industry, the employer's security
needs, and so on. And it only takes one bad experience to really turn
a manager off to the idea of managing a work-at-home employee.
Jane
----- Original Message -----
From: Dick Schellens <richard_schellens -at- england -dot- gdt1 -dot- com>
> why is it so hard to get off site work?
>
> One might think that companies would become more flexible as
their
> needs for technical communications grow.
>
> Any thoughts?
