While I now work for a progressive silicon valley company (Cisco Systems) at my previous company telecommuting was frowned upon. Of the 350 or so people at that company I don’t know any that telecommuted even part time. For some jobs, such as those in manufacturing, it doesn’t make sense, but for lots of other jobs, such as technical managers, I think you could do your job just as well from home; and while 100% telecommuting would present some real challenges I think working from home a couple of days a week could reduce the amount of fuel workers expend getting to and from work, as well as provides the opportunity for less distractions than sitting at your desk all day.
I think my previous company’s reluctance comes from their philsosphy of distrust. How can I know you are really working if I can’t watch you whenever I want? I guess they figured that employees that telecommuted would sit home and watch tv all day. IMHO, in this day and age of technology, with IM, email, video conferencing etc. it’s easy to be plugged into what is happening at work without having to sit at a desk.
Here’s a quick poll to see if your company encourages or discourages telecommuting. If you are self employed, or you work in a retail environment, then this doesn’t apply to you.
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Does your company allow you to telecommute (assuming you have a position that doesn’t require you to be in the office all day every day)?
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If not, what is the rationale for not allowing workers to telecommute?
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If they do allow telecommuting are there any restrictions they put on it?
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Do you telecommute more than 2 days a week? If you do, what do you do for a living?