TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> The real reason I'm writing is that I have
> had some experiences with contractors who have routinely billed me for
> unproductive time spent working at home. I'm not saying that I think there
> has been malfeasance or fraud; I'd handle that in a very different way.
(The folowing questions/comments aren't really intended as questions for
Caroline, but for any manager who struggles to evaluate productivity of off-site
personnel.)
It's hard for me to see how this could be measured. If it isn't a case that has
the appearance of malfeasance or fraud, what indication is there that the time
at home was less productive than office time would have been? Are the tasks
broken down to such clearcut, measurable units that the time estimate is easily
predictable? Is the manager measuring how long he/she could do the job with
legacy knowledge and expecting the same performance level from a contractor? Is
any learning curve time anticipated?
Is it a problem with assignment of tasks that could not be completed off site
and therefore necessitated billed "trip time" to clarify items? On what basis
does one decide -- "it's not fraud but it's unproductive time"? Is this
perception/suspicion founded on fear or reality?
I can work at home when I want to, but do so only in limited spurts. I choose
the work that I take home carefully--things that are pretty obvious and
measurable to anyone who might care. I'd like do analysis work at home where
it's cool, quiet, and roomy enough to spread out my papers. Instead, I do more
visible things. I was told that a former employee here was often seen out and
about town on days that she was supposedly "working at home." So, I make sure I
never run into perception problems with anyone who might have trouble evaluating
the number of hours I should have spent on analysis or other hard to measure
tasks by not doing those tasks at home. I like being able to provide the warm
fuzzy of numbers--pages indexed, topics developed, revisions entered, etc.
I've never been questioned about what I accomplish, but I also don't want any
anxious manager worrying that I'm "unproductive" at home. I'm lucky, a
contractor would only have the luxury of taking assigned work. While there are
certainly unscrupulous peole who are less productive at home and who do abuse
it, how do honest people fight the perception that this is the rule rather than
the exception? And how do managers find ways to evaluate this objectively?
