Telecommuting

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Telecommuting

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Terri-92562

Posted Wednesday, April 09, 2008 2:41 PM

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My office wants us to start telecommuting several days a week because they want to hire more workers but don't have enough office space. Most managers want their team in the office at least one day a week. Management wants us to "desk share". Non-management personnel would share a desk with someone who works in the office on alternate days. Feelings are mixed. Currently, telecommuting is optional but if they don't get enough takers they have said they would require telecommuting. There are people who would quit rather than telecommute. I live in an area affected by Hurricane Katrina. We were forced to telecommute for 9 months after the storm, while our flood-damaged buildings were being repaired. I was very glad to get back into the office.

Of those who telecommute "part-time", do you also desk share?
What provision, if any, does you company make for your home office. My organization will not provide any phone or internet service for your home office. They provide a laptop but not a printer. They stated that we are on our own with the IRS if we want to take a tax deduction for the home office space.

Do you use any collaboration software, net meeting, remote desktop?

I am interested in how other companies handle this issue.

Terri

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Post #482626

jezemine

Posted Wednesday, April 09, 2008 7:23 PM

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I telecommute one day a week on average. no desk sharing. without RDC I wouldn't be able to do it.

It's just like I'm at work except there's nobody coming into my office to bug me with random requests, so I get more done. :)

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Post #482713

Grant Fritchey

Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008 5:48 AM

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Sounds like heaven. We're trying to convince our bosses to let us telecommute regularly (we're able to do it now on snow days or when the cable company is coming over or something). We make it work when given the opportunity.

In addition to email, you need some version of instant messaging. That's as close as you can get to a conversation online. A document sharing portal such as Sharepoint so that you can track changes, check-in/out, have a common repository for data is a must. Phone conferences & live meetings are OK, but not nearly as good as being there in person. If you're working on databases, you should get all the database objects into source control like TFS or VSS in order to manage changes.

That's from my, limited, experience so far.

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Post #482933

steveb.

Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008 6:57 AM

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We have the option of working from home,

I agree with the comments about a messaging system we use Microsoft Office Communicator which works nicely as it ties into your Outlook calender so you can block out time and it show up that you are unavilaible.

Post #482988

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008 7:36 AM

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It's important to work with people, especially those that are opposed. Lots of people have trouble working at home. It's either hard to get started, or hard to stop. I've been doing it for 4 years, my wife for 14, both happen in cycles.

It's easier if you're in the office some days, but be prepared for workloads to suffer a bit as people adjust.

I might also recommend getting everyone together once a week, even if they have to "squeeze" into desks. If you have people on regular schedules, I'd also be sure you "regularly alter schedules so everyone gets time with everyone else. So if I shared desks with Bob and don't see him, we want to be sure that after a few weeks, Bob and I are both in the office and I might switch to sharing desks with John and miss him for a few weeks.

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Post #483028

ChrisMoix-87856

Posted Friday, April 11, 2008 7:38 AM

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Personally I would love to telecommute. I have worked at multiple companies as a DBA, and I could have telecommuted and performed my job at all of them. Too bad management never trusted the concept.

If management would get into the mindset of tracking work accomplished instead of time-in-chair, telecommuting could greatly improve productivity. And yesm, there are always some people who would be worse off, less productive, etc. telecommuting. Put them in an office and call me at home anytime!.

Post #483667

Karen L

Posted Friday, April 11, 2008 8:25 AM

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ditto what Chris said. We are totally set up for working at home but can only do it occassionally when needed. I would love to work at home right now and have, at the very least, the hour that I now spend driving to spend with my son.

What I want to know is how in the world do you find telecommuting jobs? Nobody seems to really advertise them.

Karen

Post #483715

steveb.

Posted Friday, April 11, 2008 8:40 AM

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From what i have found , they are usualy not directly advertised, but it can be mentioned in the Job Description.

I usually bring it up it interviews to see if there is any scope for working part of the time from home.

But due to unreliable internet service (thanks BT!) i have not been able to for a while.

Post #483727

Thomas LaRock

Posted Friday, April 11, 2008 9:43 AM

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our company headquarters does use a desk rotation for certain job functions because there is not enough space for all the people to work at the same time. so, there is a 'clear desk' policy in effect there, and when you show up to work you simply grab whatever space is available for your shift.

where i work we are allowed to work from home periodically. unfortunately for me it can be difficult to get work done when you have small children running about. so, either i go to work and get distracted by dozens of questions all day long or i get distracted by my children who want my attention. which one is easier to turn down when you need to get work done?

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Post #483811

Grant Fritchey

Posted Friday, April 11, 2008 10:28 AM

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I know where you're coming from there. I try to only work from home if I know the kids are going to be in school.

----------------------------------------------------
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood..." Theodore Roosevelt
The Scary DBA
Author of: SQL Server 2012 Query Performance Tuning
SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled
and
SQL Server Execution Plans

Product Evangelist for Red Gate Software

Post #483846

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