I've been working from home since 2008 and have no intention of ever going back to an office. Your example is likely failed management. My employer is very happy with me thank you very much. I have a job to do (as do my counterparts who work in the office). If I don't accomplish my work it is pretty obvious. In reality, I've gotten numerous promotions and have consistently been ranked very well during my performance reviews.
What ends up happening (at least in my case) is that I get to my "office" prior to my co-workers and push away from my desk later. You see, I don't waste time or resources traveling to and from work every day. I don't have to leave by 4:30 to catch the train. In the end, I'm sometimes the only one who is working at 5:30 because everyone that works from the office is in transit home.
If you can work from home, I would highly recommend it. It takes discipline, and a dedicated space. I have a door I can (and do) close when others are home. The woman in your example was obviously abusing her situation and a good manager would have been able to nip that in the bud. You cannot do parenting while you are working from home.
I concede that you may not have what it takes to work from home. Perhaps you require constant supervision. For each his own I guess. Just don't try to force your limitations on others.
I've been doing this successfully for a while now and my wife will be joining me shortly. Once that happens we will be able to have a lot more freedom in our lives. We can work from anywhere we wish as long as we have reliable broadband. Sure glad my boss is not a little tin-pot dictator like you appear to be.
You are exactly right.
I have worked from home now for 2 1/2 years (and 1 1/2 years a while before), mostly on contract work, and I have never been as productive as when I work from the house. I won’t take a position now unless I can do it remotely.
I get on-line before most people make it into the office, and get off after most have already gone for the day. I don’t necessarily work more hours, but I have more presence on the corporate network than most others, and am available faster when needed. I don’t have to drive anywhere, so I can get “there” earlier, and leave later.
In today’s out-sourced business environment, it really doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you have a network connection and a phone. I regularly have team conference calls/meetings with people globally (U.S. over all time zones; Western Europe; South America; India; etc.) as all the teams I have worked on in the last 12 or so years are not local to one location. It is highly inaccurate to say that you need to be in an office environment to develop a team. That is corporate-policy-speak, HR drivel; purely a micromangement thing. It is just another way to try and control all employees, without regard to whether or not it is appropriate or needed.
The people that screw off at home are the same people that spend 2-3 hours a day at the coffee machine/water cooler, or gossiping in someone else’s cube, and are always behind on their assignments. An inability to discipline oneself works the same at the office and at home. (Unfortunately, most of the people that I have seen that cannot work unsupervised at work or at home are of the “younger” generation of employees... coincidently, most are also liberals of the entitlement mindset...)