Why I Telecommute
From IckyWiki
Also, arguments against 8-5 strict workday.
These are mostly geared towards our own personal situation and probably don't apply to others. I don't need to be balanced; this is just for my own benefit (not likely it'd ever be shown to anyone who has any say about it in the company).
Contents |
Benefits to the Company
Cost to the company
- Real estate is a huge cost. Why not rent a smaller space and let MORE people work from home?
- When I'm at home, I'm paying for my own electric and water usage. This is not insignificant. If you are concerned I'm not using 'expensive office space' and heat, then don't rent the space.
- Your total cost for 2 workers here is my cable modem bill, which will probably decrease over time unlike real estate.
- If power or network goes out at one site, you pretty much have to send everyone home. If more people are distributed, there is less chance of losing many man hours due to this.
- In case of pandemics, an office shutdown would not hinder work getting done.
Quality and quantity of my work
- Office environment is far more distracting than home office. I have direct experience with this. Radios, loud phone conversations, people hanging over my cubicle wall all day--it's incredibly annoying, especially in an open office plan. I get far more done during normal work hours, at home, than I ever did in the office.
- I would have to get up far earlier, forcing me to work hours when I know I am not as productive; if I made up this time later in the day it would extend my time away from home further, which is not possible (see #Personal ).
- Discourages extra work during other, more productive (read later) hours (not everyone is productive from exactly 8-5 every day)
- I often program in my sleep and like to be able to start immediately on work while it's still fresh in my mind. This means I don't forget important details while driving in, and can solve problems more quickly.
- Motivation. Ability to telecommute keeps me far more motivated and loyal than a pat on the back, a paltry raise, or an Edge award (which are noticeably absent too now).
- I am far more likely to be willing and able to work issues as they come up 24/7 if I'm in my office all the time and don't have to drive in to get there.
- Most of the people I work with are in different time zones. I would spend hours waiting for people to log in, then miss others at the end of the day even if I were on an 8-5 EST workday; by telecommuting I can work more flexibly and reach people when I need to.
Benefits to me
Cost to me
- $3.25/gal * 350 mi/week / 15 mi/gal = $75.83/week * 47 weeks/year = $3564 per year. My last raise wasn't this much.
- I could buy a more efficient car and perhaps halve this, but that's another $20-25K I'm out of my own pocket to buy the car I wouldn't otherwise need.
- Wear and tear on car (maintenance costs).
- Work attire cost. It *is* an expense, particularly upon startup after 7 years of telecommuting.
- Time lost preparing to go to work which I wouldn't otherwise have to do
- Time lost driving
- Increased personal risk driving far more than I do now
- Increased risk of personal property loss parking car at work
- Increased risk of illness, which cuts into my own paid time off
Cost to the environment
- That's a lot of carbon output, getting me to and from work every day.
- Public transportation from this rural area to work is prohibitive due to schedule, total time, and availability
- Ride sharing is also not as available, this far out
Personal
- Total enforced work day would be, including driving, 10.5-11 hours away from the house for a minimal 8 hour work day. I can't leave my dogs in the house for this amount of time. Since both of us work and we live in a rural area, we don't have any options. Especially since one dog is diabetic.
- At least one of us has to telecommute, or has to be out of work completely for this reason. If the latter, we lose half our income. (this also goes under 'cost to me')
Not any more effective in an office, so why waste the time and effort?
- What water cooler talk I need, I can get more than enough of from irc, meet-me's, phone, communicator, email, etc. Usefulness of this is far underestimated by people who have never used irc.
- Except for one guy, everyone in my group is in a different city. My work day would consist of driving for 45-60 minutes, logging into irc, and otherwise only talking to him in person for the most part (and I probably wouldn't, as we're used to communicating electronically). I don't interact much with Rochester groups.
- Most of the project work I do is for people in other cities. We seem to manage communication just fine, and being in a Rochester office will not aid this.
- Most of my job does not involve communicating with others 'live', thus it is not at all important that my hours coincide with theirs exactly other than for certain scheduled activities. Even if this were true, see the bullet about time zones.
- Not everyone needs or prefers face-to-face interaction. There are people in my group I have never in 8 years met in person but I don't feel any less able to work with them. Putting a face to the name is not even a little bit important to me.
Company image
- We SELL telecommunications services. What are we telling our customers when we say telecommuting is not effective for businesses? It's a little like Coke telling its employees not to drink their products because they're bad for you.
- We work for a global, 24/7 company. Are we really saying the only people you can effectively communicate with are in your local city from 8-5 every day?
- The preferred work environment seems to be keeping workers in an office for designated hours with often intrusive net blocking software. What does this say about your level of trust for your workers?
- Does the company really not trust I'm working, 7 years into letting me telecommute full time? If so, management is ineffective in determining work output or project status and probably has a bigger problem than telecommuters.
- Why are you punishing workers that have consistently had excellent performance appraisals?
- In a time when the most innovative companies are going green, encouraging work/life balance, and encouraging alternative work environments, why are we going backwards?
