Why your boss won't let you telecommute

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

Renee — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:34:41 GMT

this can backfire:

how do you know she didn't use her home phone for the calls?

Landlines are much cheaper now and most have plans where you can call anywhere for one flat rate.

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

Renee — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:25:05 GMT

One day, people will say - "In olden times, people used to have to COMMUTE to work! And they had to work for 8+ hours in a row! Can you imagine!????"

With the exception of customer-facing positions, work will one day be interspersed throughout the day with - life - for lack of a better way of putting it - especially to compete in a global economy.

But first, all the old farts who think you have to be seen to be working have to retire. The hope for the future is in the elementary schools as we speak.

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

LK — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:37:33 GMT

If you can work at home and save the cost of gas, cut down on traffic and decrease someones road rage even just a little then THREE CHEERS FOR YOU. I would love to work at home and could eaily do so. I work alone in my office 90% of the time anyway. Unfortunately my boss feels it could breech client confidentiality (or that is his story-I think he is afraid of not having complete control.

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

Dom — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:34:03 GMT

I agree wholeheartedly with this article. Working from home would be enormously productive and time efficient (and not only because you no longer have a commute). The office distractions are inevitable, between the banter of people passing in the hallways or the din of coversations in the lunchroom. Not to mention, you would save time and money by not going out for lunch at the invitation of your coworkers, or because you were too rushed in the morning to pack your own. Thanks for the tips for marketing yourself as a telecommuter to your boss!

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

KeltWolf - Texas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:40:08 GMT

I have telecommuted in various jobs over my entire career. I love it. I am much more productive than I am at the office - and this has always been the case. I do end up working at odd hours as needed.

Most days I get up, get ready for work the same as I did in an office. I usually dress as if I am going in - skirt suit, shoes etc to get me in the 'office mood'. This is effective and with my home office next to the kithen, coff or water is no problem.

In my current job, as a software architect, the office was cut down by 50% and the back offie folks moved into the consultants offices. We cannot effectively work at the office now as the noise level is not conducive to customer calls and online software demos.

To those who bemoan the fact that workers may stop to thow in a load of laundry - how much worse is that than the 3 or 4 smoke breaks per day - or the extended lunch hours to go to the mall or do errands? What about those sitting at their desks shopping on eBay; playing computer games; surfing the news; blogging...

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

laptopdiva — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:38:43 GMT

remote (all states), off site, off shore, telecommunting etc. all these options are in place for a lot of the employees at my firm, other people only come into the office one or two days a week. The rest of us are at the mercy of our managers who have the final say as to where we work. Makes no sense, I am not even in the same office/county as my manager and must remain logged on at all times be it a sick day, vacation day or otherwise, so when I asked if I could work from home one or two days a week the answer was no. And yes in the office people go have breakfast, long lunches, idle chit chat, personal phone calls, we all do it from time to time but some spend more time doing that then actually working and with no repercussions.

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

ThisCanBackfire — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:45:39 GMT

I allowed one of my sales people to telecommute 2 days per week when gas prices skyrocketed this spring. She was to make her expected number of sales calls each "work-from-home" day from her company provided BlackBerry. After a month of this, I checked the cell phone records. ZERO sales calles on her days working from home. I guess she thought I wasn't going to check. I tried to be an enlightened boss and got burned.

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

Dave — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:07:50 GMT

I'm oncal 24/7 in an IT shop - get access at home thru fast cable modem. However, it is impossible to convince our Manager, Director and VP that woking from home makes sence. They all live less than 5 miles away, so since it doesn't benefit them....the mentality is you can't do it. How do you change that mind set, because we tried everything.

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

Jon — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:35:54 GMT

I started my computer consulting company a little over 5 years ago, we decided NOT to procure office space.

This was not just because it allowed people to telecommute and to save overhead, but so that our folks would spend their working time either with the customer (on the customer site) or in an environment of their own chosing getting the job done.

Other than feedback from potential buyers of the company, I have had 100% positive feedback from the team and practically 0% staff turnover. It works well for us because our compensation plan is structured around results (time that the customer is willing to pay for - in the form of billable hours - not just hourly wages. So there is never any need to justify the time spent working, or the work schedule with our management - rather inidiviuals deal directly with the customer. And funnily enough, people tend not to mess around with their customer when their livelihood depends on that customer agreeing to pay.

In addition, the very real savings in overhead allows individuals the opportunity to behave like independant small business operators and keep significantly more of the revenue for themselves.

For those who prefer to be outside their home to work (and lets face it everyone does from time to time), there is very often the open invite to take up 'residence' at the customer location for the duration of the project.

re: Why your boss won't let you telecommute

How can I telecommute??? — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:41:38 GMT

I'd like to know what jobs are allowing telecommutes? I would love to take a position as such but I can't find one anywhere. I think people have to actually put in a certain amount of time at the office before they'd be allowed to telecommute. I think telecommuting is a great oppourtunity for business america and for people in general. Just think of the amount of money that could be saved by working from home, thus eventually eliminating many hazards our economy face in pollutants or commuting accidents not to mention the money we would save to stay home. To the folks that work in factories or simply can't leave, don't be mad at the ones who can, just simply get educated and change jobs however there is something out there for everyone. We have a strong america but with the stresses that we face personally, how can we be expected to be happy about sitting behind a desk yet wondering will we make it to the next paydate because of rising prices? I'd certainly work longer hours if I could stay home. If anyone know's of a job out there that allow's commuting, please write down comments/info on were to find.