i’ve stopped using Yahoo long before Google became a verb. i imagine it’s the same for most people.
You offer a number of persuasive counterpoints to the notion that telecommuting is good in and of itself; but for now I’ll address just a couple of them. Undoubtedly I am projecting my own ideal of personal convenience; I’ll admit it. On the other hand, I agree with the points many have raised about not wanting to feel disengaged from the company or one’s co-workers. I haven’t had the opportunity but I don’t think I’d want FT telecommuting myself.
Another way of looking at it is that telecommuting should not be merely a mechanism of avoiding a place you consider horrible, because if that’s the case you shouldn’t be employed there in the first place. I recognize that, but also believe that some telecommuting should be allowed as a company policy, at the discretion of individual workers and those managers in their chain of command. It shouldn’t be such that the company dictates you can only do it when you are in extremis with regard to personal emergencies.
We’ve arrived at a state in which living within a reasonable commuting distance is simply out of reach for many people, and telecommuting to some extent is one way of addressing that issue. Likewise, we have a serious addiction to fossil fuel in this country, much of it imported from countries that don’t particularly like us. Yet a great deal of our fuel consumption is non-discretionary in the short term; that is to say we do it because we have to commute. It’s not as if we’re just taking long drives in the country for pleasure. One way to reduce dependence on imported fuel is to address the demand side, as a way of stretching supplies at least until alternatives become more available. Telecommuting is obviously an answer to that as well, as far as it can reasonably be implemented.
Having said that, I acknowledge that it’s inequitable to expect all the accommodations and concessions to come from the employer’s side of the table. IMO there would ideally be some give and take on both sides of the discussion.
I believe the Times article said that studies have shown that call center workers are more efficient at home, and I can believe it. I would think that since the calls are coming in, goofing off would be difficult or impossible. Metrics like call completion time are just as easy to collect at home as in an office. Reduction of commute time would be a big plus and a stress reliever. And I doubt there is much innovation or even interaction involved, because calls that get kicked someplace else can get kicked as easily at home.
But that is way different from the innovation Yahoo is going to need to survive.
FWIW - About 10 years ago, I did some work with Well Fargo outsourcing some call center work to at home users. After 6 months about 50% of the people quit or moved back to office call center work. They couldn’t handle being alone all day. The other 50% absolutely thrived in the at home environment and typically outperformed their in-office peers month after month.
Commute time was the biggest difference between the two groups. The folks who lived in a rural setting had no problem adjusting to being alone all day. Those who lived in the city felt isolated in their own home.
I’m sure some of them do, but it inevitably brings up the question of who else needs to be slapped, as it were, among the 95% of Yahoos who already do report to the office. Targeting telecommuters is a case of reaching for low-hanging fruit, and the disengaged, the disgruntled and the unproductive ones will undoubtedly decide to leave, or be shown the door as it becomes evident that being in the office doesn’t make them any more useful to the company.
Also, as Martin pointed out, companies generally would rather have the unencumbered and childless rather than young parents with all that looking after small child entails. I mean, at home I can barely even post on here sometimes due to one of our cats continually planting her 25-pound self on my lap, in front of my computer (should post a pic of that one of these days…). So in all seriousness, I do agree that telework isn’t appropriate for everyone, but then for many people it is.
msmith537, as always with the exclusion of those who just aren’t suited to telecommuting based on their job responsibilities or other circumstances, I disagree that it does nothing for the employer. It stands to reason that the time saved from commuting enables a healthier, happier life for the worker, making them more productive on the job.
I hope this isn’t inappropriate in Great Debates, seeing that the discussion seems to have petered out or moved to the Pit. But it is a cat picture, after all.
Apologies for the fact that it’s black and white. I was sitting next to a fluorescent lamp and the white areas on her face, chest, and paws were too bright in the original color picture.