Commuting Pain

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Commuting Pain

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Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 12:53 AM

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Commuting Pain

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Post #1068083

Jeff Hamming

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 2:54 AM

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I generally work from home 2 days a week. My commute to the office is 1:15 - 1:30 each way. Since I consider door to door time as "working" and start my day working remotely at the time I normally leave for the office - my employer gets at least an extra 2:30 out of me on those days. Though, I will admit, that afternoon nap is tempting sometimes. Wink

Post #1068113

chris.turner

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 4:39 AM

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Not quite sure how you can consider your journey time as work time for your employer. They don't tell you where to live, so you travelling an extra 2:30 a day is hardly to your employers benefit. That might be different if you travelled by train (for example) and were able to do some work during your commute

Post #1068141

steveb.

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 5:03 AM

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chris.turner (2/23/2011)

I think he meant it opposite to how you read it, so if he has to leave at 7:30am to commute to work by 9am, then when working from home he will start at 7:30am so the employer gets extra an extra few hours work for free..

Commute for me at the moment is 3hrs each way!!..

Post #1068148

chris.turner

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 5:11 AM

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That makes a lot more sense Smile

Post #1068153

ronmoses

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 5:34 AM

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I haven't had great experiences with telecommuting. I know for sure it's not for me; I need that clear separation between work time and home time or else I'm easily distracted and I tend not to get a lot done. The brief drive to the office puts me into work mode, and I'm much more productive. But of course that says more about my own personal discipline than about telecommuting in general. And I might feel differently if my commute were longer than twelve minutes.

We do have two developers at my small software company who work offsite. They've been doing so for years, and they seem to be able to stay productive. However, I much prefer working with the in-house developers. It's so easy to walk over to another desk and look at some code, or see how a form is working, and make those tweaks on the fly. With the offsite guys, we wait for the next build to see whatever they've done this time, suggest changes, and then wait for the build after that to see those changes, and so on. I simply don't find it as efficient to have developers scattered across the state as it is to have the team all in one room where we can brainstorm and bounce ideas off each other, face-to-face.

Yeah, there's Skype and other technology to help bridge the gap, but it still doesn't compare to getting up and walking over to someone's desk to talk to them.

ron

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Post #1068163

Indianrock

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 6:01 AM

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I have to admit the limitations of email etc and the efficiency of working with people face-to-face. I used to telecommute two days a week, but not at all currently. Managers come and go as does their policy towards telecommuting.

However with a two-hour round trip commute, and gas now at $3.57 here near Sacramento, I'm pushing for it again. The employer is definitely getting extra hours from me nights, early mornings, weekends just because I can use the VPN and do virtually everything from home.

If you love living in an urban/suburban environment and have a short commute, or if you have small children at home or just can't stay focused at home, then telecommuting may not be for you. But I think we should be clear that there are advantages and some disadvantages for the employer for both in-office and remote workers.

Telecommuting full-time is a different bird altogether, but for 1 or 2 days a week, meetings can be scheduled when the remote worker is in the office.

Now as to teleconferences, many companies need to mature and learn how to run these. You need a moderator with an iron fist -- NO sidebar conversations or you're out of the room !

Big corporations know these things and run teleconferences or video conferences as if all were physically present.

It may take $5/gallon gas to get us moving in the right direction on this -- e.g. tax credits for companies who promote it.

Post #1068174

joe in the falls

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 6:22 AM

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I have been working remote 3 days a week for 1.5 years, as part of my original hiring offer. I work 1.25 hours away from my home, so I have a 140 mile roundtrip. No issues at all and find the flexibility makes me a happier employee. I also do not find myself missing all the office "crap" that goes on. In fact, I truly believe I could work 5 days a week from home with no issues at all. We use skype and other technology for meetings with no issue. MORE managers should offer this to employees...I mean, we are in the 21st century!

Post #1068189

David Benoit

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 6:55 AM

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I'll have to write my perceptions on remote working but will say that I have been working remotely either part or full time for the last 5 years with the last 2.5 being full time remote. Yes there are challenges and there is a mindset that has to be willing to support it but the benefits for both the employee and the company are very compelling. AND ultimately the technology is at such a point where there is really nothing hindering that "face to face" communication that some hold on to as a sticking point.

David

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Post #1068222

dan.dolan

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011 6:55 AM

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I telecommute 2 days a week currently. Having recently gone through an outsourcing deal (and being one of the outsourced), my old managers all were of the opinion that "if you can do it from home, they can do it from India" And there was a lot of truth to that. Since then, I have taken a new position with a manager in Europe, and the issues in remote managing of me are no longer as much of a concern. Still, in today's environment, especially at larger companies the concern over being outsourced (or more accurately, being viewed as a commodity) are very real if you work remotely.

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