Filed in archive
Management
by Scott Wilson on June 25, 2008
Interesting post from Ken Hardin over at IT Business Edge titled "A Crotchety Manager's View on Telecommuting" outlining some new and critical perspectives of telecommuting by staff. This is commentary on a growing trend (which we've noted previously) in Corporate America to restrict remote work options for staff, presenting a rare supporting view from management's side of the table.
Ken doesn't actually come across as all that crotchety, and his complaint basically boils down to availability. That wasn't what I was expecting, frankly; productivity and some general suspicion of vaguely described "shenanigans" are what I expect to hear from the truly crotchety old-school manager when it comes to telecommuting. But Ken's concern is that staff re-arrange their schedules and therefore are sometimes not in front of their (remote) computer at times he may need them.
This surprised me a bit, because it essentially mirrors the largest concern of STAFF when it comes to telecommuting, namely that the fact that technology has suddenly made them available outside their normal daytime work schedule has created an expectation that they be able to deal with any sudden work issue at any time, day or night. Their free time has been up-ended by this; it seems only natural, or fair, that their actual scheduled work time become more flexibly to account for it.
I think Ken's fear is misplaced. I don't doubt that he has had negative experiences with staff availability during their scheduled work hours, and it's possible that he religiously restricts people from working OUTSIDE those hours (he doesn't say), but in my experience the balance seems to rest far more on the employer side of the ledger than the employee side... and I think that most recent surveys bear me out in this. Americans spend more time working now than ever, and much of that is made possible by their new ability to work from home as easily as the office in many roles. It seems more than a bit hypocritical, then, for any boss, crotchety or not, to complain that his staff are squeezing in their personal lives during whatever hours they can.
Ken doesn't actually come across as all that crotchety, and his complaint basically boils down to availability. That wasn't what I was expecting, frankly; productivity and some general suspicion of vaguely described "shenanigans" are what I expect to hear from the truly crotchety old-school manager when it comes to telecommuting. But Ken's concern is that staff re-arrange their schedules and therefore are sometimes not in front of their (remote) computer at times he may need them.
This surprised me a bit, because it essentially mirrors the largest concern of STAFF when it comes to telecommuting, namely that the fact that technology has suddenly made them available outside their normal daytime work schedule has created an expectation that they be able to deal with any sudden work issue at any time, day or night. Their free time has been up-ended by this; it seems only natural, or fair, that their actual scheduled work time become more flexibly to account for it.
I think Ken's fear is misplaced. I don't doubt that he has had negative experiences with staff availability during their scheduled work hours, and it's possible that he religiously restricts people from working OUTSIDE those hours (he doesn't say), but in my experience the balance seems to rest far more on the employer side of the ledger than the employee side... and I think that most recent surveys bear me out in this. Americans spend more time working now than ever, and much of that is made possible by their new ability to work from home as easily as the office in many roles. It seems more than a bit hypocritical, then, for any boss, crotchety or not, to complain that his staff are squeezing in their personal lives during whatever hours they can.
Permalink: Telecommuting perspectives
Tags:
telecommute
telecommuting
2007
more
perspectives
telecommuting+perspectives
advertisement+book
yours
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/126317
Addthis
Ask
Blinklist
del.icio.us
Digg
Fark
Facebook
Google
Lycos
Ma.gnolia
Mr Wong
Netscape
Netvousz
Newsvine
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Slashdot
Tailrank
Technorati
Wink
Yahoo
Vote for Telecommuting perspectives:
|
Rating: 9.33 out of 3 vote(s) cast.
|
Response from:
Ken Hardin
(06/26/08 11:01am)
Response from:
Scott Wilson
(06/26/08 12:15pm)
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the comment. My apologies for under-rating your crotchetiness. :)
I certainly agree that the nature of the position should dictate the level of telecommuting supported by the company; perhaps obviously, it's not a solution that lends itself to receptionists or factory mechanics.
But I also think that too much blame is placed on the mechanisms in these cases and not enough on the people. I frequently see this when it comes to personal use of the Internet in business environments. Employers spend thousands of dollars putting in place controls to block off non-work related websites or to patrol e-mail use, but it's a losing battle. If you have someone who goofs off on the job or, in your case, can't be available when required, then you have a staffing problem, not a technology problem. They'd be on their cell phone or writing personal letters with a quill if they weren't surfing the Net or out running errands.
You're to be commended for keeping business out of your staff's personal time, far too few managers resist that temptation even when dealing with good employees.
Cheers,
Scott
Thanks for the comment. My apologies for under-rating your crotchetiness. :)
I certainly agree that the nature of the position should dictate the level of telecommuting supported by the company; perhaps obviously, it's not a solution that lends itself to receptionists or factory mechanics.
But I also think that too much blame is placed on the mechanisms in these cases and not enough on the people. I frequently see this when it comes to personal use of the Internet in business environments. Employers spend thousands of dollars putting in place controls to block off non-work related websites or to patrol e-mail use, but it's a losing battle. If you have someone who goofs off on the job or, in your case, can't be available when required, then you have a staffing problem, not a technology problem. They'd be on their cell phone or writing personal letters with a quill if they weren't surfing the Net or out running errands.
You're to be commended for keeping business out of your staff's personal time, far too few managers resist that temptation even when dealing with good employees.
Cheers,
Scott
Subscribe
Marketplace
-
Online MBA Degrees - earn your mba degree online with one of hundreds of programs available at elearners.com
Use the search to look for other interesting posts
| RSS |  See all blog subscribe options |
 What is RSS? | |
| Yahoo! |
|
| Addthis |
|
| Bloglines |
|
| Newsletter | |
| Follow us on Twitter! |
I just wanted to respond to one point in your post.
You write:
“But Ken's concern is that staff re-arrange their schedules and therefore are sometimes not in front of their (remote) computer at times he *may* need them."
My concern is not that employees are not available when I *may* need them -- it's that they are not available when they've agreed to be available to myself or others with whom they work.
As I wrote (or at least, tried to write), the flexibility you are able, as a manager, to extend to a team member should be determined by the nature of their work. If you are talking about a coder who simply has to post a build (always with the IT) once a week, I really don't care when they are doing the coding, as long as they respond to messages in a reasonably timely (and pre-agreed) fashion and make their deadlines. If you are talking about an editorial staffer who is processing content on an intra-daily schedule, they simply have to be readily available in given windows of time. That’s the nature of the job, regardless of where it’s done.
I don’t doubt, as you and surveys contend, that employees often are beset by employers who expect 24/7 availability. I imagine that is largely spawn by the misunderstanding of “flexibility” in scheduling to mean just free-form randomness. Good for no one in the equation, and, yes, the employer is going to push until it gets what it wants. Because I try to establish clear expectations up front, I seldom have need to contact anyone outside regular hours. I hate doing that – always have.
Thanks again,
Ken Hardin
IT Business Edge
BTW, I am, in fact, crotchety. :)