Why your boss won't let you telecommute
Posted
Jul 03 2008, 01:21 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This guest post comes from Randall at Credit Withdrawal.
If you work in a major metropolitan area, your daily commute probably eats up a significant part of your day. A half-hour commute (typically about 25 to 30 miles) can easily turn into an hour or more with traffic jams and congestion.
If you travel farther, the frustration level just goes up from there. Now that gas has topped $4 a gallon, it's moving from frustration to major hurdle for many people. The combined cost in time and money is causing many people to reconsider their jobs.
Add to this the cost of office space, and you would think it would be easy to convince most companies to allow telecommuting as a widespread practice.
Not so.
You slacker you!
One of the most common excuses I've heard is that there is no way to verify that the employees are working the full eight-hour quotient. Since most people in the office don't work a full eight hours, I've never understood exactly why this is an issue. It's more a red herring than a reason.
Verifying that work is completed on a timely basis is usually not a significant task for an organized manager. The problem is that most unorganized managers don't want their people too far away, because they can't "drop by" and make sure they're working, regardless of the schedule or deadline.
The saddest part of this is that many studies show that employees who work at home are not only happier, but they actually put in more hours of work when they're at home. It's easy to just "do a couple more things" when you only have to walk in the other room and fire up the computer. Productivity for more and more jobs isn't tied to a 9-to-5 schedule. Writing reports at midnight, or finishing off that sales survey at 3 a.m. is still working.
Out of sight, out of mind
Another common reason given is if everyone is gone, the team will have less communication. To a degree, this is true, but with today's myriad of ways to communicate (phone, IM, e-mail, virtual conferencing, etc.) it's really just a matter of making the effort to communicate. For those who can't or won't use alternative methods to sitting at your cube and yakking, this is a significant telecommuting deterrent.
Suggest a coordinated way to communicate with your co-workers, with fallback methods. For instance, start with phone conversations, followed by IM for short questions, and e-mail for detailed questions or conversations you want to continue. Videoconferencing for group meetings, with everyone getting Webcams, is also a possibility. (But you have to get dressed first! No exceptions! Letting your co-workers see you in your Transformers pajamas isn't going to get that next promotion.)
I can't do it, so you can't do it
Even as the common employee has more opportunity to telecommute, the same can't be said for managers. Managerial staff generally has to be more available to upper management, and consequently more visible to upper management, to be perceived as being effective managers. Politics, empire building, and other matters common to climbing the corporate ladder just can't be done at home. Schmoozing with the boss over his kid's acceptance to Princeton, or showing sympathy for his second divorce just doesn't sound the same via e-mail or over the phone.
As you move up the corporate ladder, it becomes more difficult to perform your duties from home. One reaction to that is the desire to keep your own staff within arm's distance as well. A manager whose staff works like a well-oiled machine is in line for a raise and/or promotion. If you can't show off your staff, chances for promotions are fewer. Even if everything looks good on paper (productivity up, defects down, deadlines met, etc.) many upper-level managers rely more on their "gut instincts" when it comes to judging a manager. A manager without (visible) staff is like a general without troops. Distinct disadvantage.
Ideas to change the hearts and minds
If you're campaigning to get telecommuting, compressed work schedules, or other means of shortening the commute to work, here are some possible reasons you might want to bring up to your boss.
Happy workers. Of course, a shorter commute (or none at all) would make for happy workers, and happy workers are less likely to leave the company. Losing good employees is the bane of all managers. If you could find a job doing what you're already doing, but be allowed to work from home, wouldn't you seriously consider making the jump?
Extended work hours. Most at-home workers end up working more, not less, so productivity would end up being higher overall. Management loves to squeeze as much work out of a person as it can, and if managers get even a part of the time the employee saves in a commute as some extra work time, it's a benefit to the business.
Fewer sick days. Many employees have to take sick days off when spouses or children get sick or are suddenly out of school (teacher conferences, unexpected half-day let-outs, snow days, etc.). Also, bad weather conditions or anything short of a national emergency can be dealt with because employees can still do work from home. Fewer sick days = more productivity.
Less office space needed. I've personally seen this at a number of large businesses. You get a lot of employees, but end up not having room for adequate workspace. And with office space at a per-square-foot premium in many places, it makes economic sense if you can eliminate the need to acquire more office space.
Just going up to the boss and asking if you can work from home probably will be a non-starter unless you can leverage these reasons, and probably a few more, to show that it's a benefit to the company as well as yourself. Your company and boss might be willing to work with you, if they can see a positive side for them as well.
It's not an impossible task to convince the boss to let you work from home, just difficult.
Good luck!
Do you have any ideas on how to convince the boss to allow you to telecommute? Leave us a comment and share them with everyone.
