Some Employers Are Rethinking Telework, Citing A Need For Better Productivity
There. Fixed it.
For me, there’s nothing like being there with the work in front of you and all resources (including personnel) at hand. If I can wrap up a question or touch-base, I don’t mind walking to another person’s office instead of slinging e-mails that won’t be read or leaving phone messages that won’t be listened to until much later. And I’m happy to help someone get their work done if the intrusion only lasts for few moments.
Human nature demands collaborative, physical, face to face, communities. Family, school, leisure, work etc.
The robotics revolution will soon teach us this again.
It really depends on whether you are colocated with your team or not. When I was working, my team of 20 had only two or three people in each location - New Jersey, Columbus, Bournemouth, Mumbai, Texas. It really didn’t make any difference whether you came in to the office, and I used to log in from home at 7 AM to catch the guys in Mumbai, and shut down at 7 PM when my boss in Chicago went home for the day.
There’s no way I’d get anything done telecommuting. With all my DVDs and the stream, just too much awesome non-work available at home.
Here is a suggestion. Perhaps it is more of a character issue than one of location.
There are untold number of people who are self-employed. Some have a storefront, some work from home, some travel. The key to their success? They are productive and motivated (I want to eat, therefore I need money). So working from home or the road or in a storefront of your own control isn’t the problem. You will produce the results if you want to survive.
Maybe that’s the simple message IBM and other employers “rethinking telework” need to get across rather than dragging people to a central physical location.
As soon as IBM cuts back on off-shore resources then I'll believe that "better collaboration" is the reason.
My bet: Folks just think it’s harder to lay off/fire ya if they know what you look like.
I have been working from home for several years and LOVE not being in the office. I write software so I’m mostly on my own anyway. I do not miss the pop-ins or water cooler chat. I’m also in FL which is several states away from the office.
Sounds as if they are getting tired of paying top dollar for some people to sit at home playing video games and surfing the web.
You see so much of that going on even in the office in a controlled environment that there is no question it is a big problem with those working from home (or from Starbucks).
When I worked for a major electronics firm I was the only person on the design team who was based in Arizona. Everyone else was either in Indonesia or India. That meant that meeting times could be at 4:00AM or 11:00PM or other odd hours. There was no reason to have an office at the plant and due to the odd hours and location of the other team members ... going into the office was not productive in the least. Also the position required long simulations (10-14 hours) that needed monitoring and interfacing. FAR more productive to do the monitoring from the remote office. In my 38 years in the electronics industry I have worked most of it from my home office. I have worked in huge multi-story buildings in Silicon Valley where I have been the only person on an entire floor and even in the entire building at times (not even a receptionist). Traffic in and out of Silicon Valley can take 1-3 hours each way from even the closest bedroom community. I know cause I did that commute for over 20 years. By the time a person gets to the office after a long commute they are usually already tired and not as productive as they would be if they spent even half that commute time working remote. Sorry but those hours are better spent working from home. One face to face meeting a week should take care of any in-person interfacing that may be needed. So in many cases it is NOT more productive to come into the plant every day. I haven’t even mentioned the sociological impact of a 8-10 hour job coupled with a 2-6 hour commute.
In the interest of reducing traffic congestion and carbon dioxide emissions, every government working in the U.S. whose job is capable of being teleworked should be required to telecommute.
Once that order has been implemented, those jobs should be outsourced to the Philippines.
Not in the case of IBM. Requiring most of their remote workforce back into the office is by design known as "Reduction by Relocation".
Its purpose is to easily motivate a portion of their workforce to self-terminate (quit), thereby eliminating severance and (in many cases) unemployment benefits.
IBM knows full well that a portion of their remote workforce will rather leave the company then move their families to an IBM office in a different city and/or state.
It is just a cost savings move, done under the lie of Better Collaboration.
As always, watch the money.
I do Helpdesk work and sit in a cubicle talking on a phone. I wish to work at home in a more comfortable cubicle. All I need is a desk and computer and phone and a Lazyboy.
I sometimes work weekends and am by myself. I like it.
I had in the past had co-workers who talk very loud, are rude and do not shower everyday. I would not miss that collaboration.
The Russians are looking for better collusion, too.