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View Full Version : Who here telecommutes?



Matt Meiser
03-27-2007, 9:49 PM
I was contacted the other day about a job opportunity where I would telecommute. The company is a small, but well respected company where most of the employees work this way. I'm hoping to get some perspective from those who are in this situation on what it is like not to go into an office every day? There would be some field work (about 15%) when I would probably be interacting face-to-face with co-workers. I can see a number of advantages--dramatically reduced vehicle expenses, lunch expenses, and before-and-after school daycare expenses (I'm pretty sure we could make that one work once my daughter is in all-day school.) I can also see some negatives like not going to lunch with the guys and a reduced sense of what's happening around the office.

Jim Becker
03-27-2007, 9:59 PM
Me...for 10 years now. I actually prefer it, although I sometimes end up doing work-work at odd hours. And I figure it also saves the company boatloads of money when you consider real estate costs even for a 10' x 10' cubical. The only costs to the company are telecommunications related and that's a small fraction of what an office would cost in a class-A building somewhere! "Water Cooler" chit chat has moved to IM these days and not having folks "walking by" means less distractions when I really need to concentrate. A very large percentage of workers in my company now work virtual...of course, it makes sense since we make the communication techology that makes it possible...;)

As to lunch, I still go out on days I'm not traveling. I feel I must "leave the office" for that hour or so. Sometimes I hook up with a coworker (usually fellow 'Creeker Robert Tarr) on the rare day we are both not traveling and other times, it's just me an a trade magazine or an errand.

I do prefer that the girls are in after-care most of the time. Although I can work with them home, it sometimes gets dicy if I'm making a customer presentation and the background noise kicks up.

Michael Cody
03-27-2007, 10:54 PM
I was contacted the other day about a job opportunity where I would telecommute. The company is a small, but well respected company where most of the employees work this way. I'm hoping to get some perspective from those who are in this situation on what it is like not to go into an office every day? There would be some field work (about 15%) when I would probably be interacting face-to-face with co-workers. I can see a number of advantages--dramatically reduced vehicle expenses, lunch expenses, and before-and-after school daycare expenses (I'm pretty sure we could make that one work once my daughter is in all-day school.) I can also see some negatives like not going to lunch with the guys and a reduced sense of what's happening around the office.

Being a service tech, unless I have an on-site job, I telecommute most of the time. I have a few suggestions and caveats:

1. It's bad for the diet .. easy to munch away when you are home all the time

2. Set a work time and play time. Make it just like going to the office. If you don't then it's easy to waste a lot of time

3. It's great to work in whatever you want to lounge around the house in. I love that part.

4. Get a phone headset if you are going to do a lot of phone work (I do a lot of that)

5. Set up an office, preferably in a separate room. Not to do the tax thing (that is rarely worth it) but to make it private. I hate talking to someone when my dog decides I absolutely need to know about that loud car that just went by or the kids next door having fun outside.

6. Essentially don't get to comfortable. I too work at a lot of odd hours but I do try to make it into the office at least once every other week just to let them know I am around, but I love working from home when I can.

Ken Fitzgerald
03-27-2007, 11:06 PM
Matt..........I've been working out of my home for 30 years now. I've been telecommuting since laptops were first commercially available. The down side.............it's hard to get away from your work. It's always down stairs ( in my case) and conveniently close. I often go downstairs with the intentions of doing 5 minutes of paperwork and end up doing several hours worth of work. Also depending on what you do, there is no really easy way to keep company "stuff" from invading and taking over the entire house. I work for a large corporation and it's hard to find a room in my house that doesn't bear witness to it's trademark. The good side, you can often do little things around the house as time allows. You don't have to commute that often....

Scott Brihn
03-28-2007, 8:50 AM
I have been working remotely for seven years. My office is in the basement and completely separated from the rest of the house which helps tremendously now that we have small children. During off hours I can't even hear the business lines ring in most areas of the house outside my office.

You are correct about saving on commuting, vehicle, and lunch expenses. I bought a new truck in 2001, and have only put 30K miles on it. Most of those are from driving to and from the airport and sawmill. I don't enjoy eating out and prefer to make my own lunch upstairs.

I believe personality and self discipline play a major roles in whether someone can be successful working from home. Only you can determine if the fit is right.

Rich Konopka
03-28-2007, 6:58 PM
I have been Telecommuting for 13 years.

I have found that our electrical (a/c. lights) bill is higher than normal.

My company pays for High Speed Internet (15mb down / 1.5 mb up) and phones.

You are removed from office politics. Good and Bad.

You are definitely more productive.

You need to be diciplined on not working excessively. Checking email after supper turns into 2 hours of no shop time or family time.

I get to see my kids off and when they come home from school.

My best Friend at Work is my dog.

I do miss the social aspects.

No NCAA or super bowl pool.

I have my own Coffee Barista (http://www.keurig.com/index.asp?mscsid=L4RDLCB5MFUU8LW2KD5027VV57SADKPB) at home

You need to have a routine.

You have your own freedom.

I can listen to music and turn it up on a great song without interrupting anyone.

I always have a confernce room available for meetings.

No Commute. Friday commute is the best !!!:D

ken brueggestrass
03-28-2007, 9:25 PM
I will echo everything mentioned above, will add one more thing. Suggest you have a sit down with the LOYL and help them understand THEY will be the social outlet for you, both social-social and work-social. LOML and I are going through it now and it's seems her work social group has exploded while mine has deminished to zero, it's been challenging. Have you ever heard "I get more done in four hours on a Saturday.........". You may find that level of productivity every day. Good luck.

Matt Meiser
03-29-2007, 8:45 AM
My wife and I were talking about the social aspect last night. We also discussed that if I were to get offered a job, we would probably look at starting to finish our basement and building me a "work" office separate from the home office.

I should learn more about the opportunity next week. I was contacted by a head hunter representing the company who thinks the president of the company will want to interview me next week. The company recently won a project with one of the clients I manage so I'm thinking there is a connection there.

Peter Lyon
03-29-2007, 9:58 PM
I guess I'll have to be the lone dissenting voice here. Over the past 10 years or so I can remember allowing 12 employees to telecommute. For 6 of these, it didn't last a year. Four people made it to two years and 2 have made it work long term.

The low success rate maybe due to the nature of our work (technical/policy analysis for a state agency). In some cases, I insisted that the employee return to work in the office evironment. In others, it was the employee who decided that it wasn't working out. Perhaps telecommuting is better suited for a sales type or contract jobs.

I just thought of something... it could be that they have a jerk for a boss! :-)

Jim Becker
03-29-2007, 10:19 PM
Peter, you're correct...it isn't for everyone or for every job function/responsiblity. We have a very large percentage of folks in our company who work virtual. The largest chunk are in sales/sales support with additional resources in non-lab development work. (telecommunications solutions) Most post-sales maintenance functions are also virtual at this point, although they may "gather" for assignments at one facility or another, depending on local management preferences.

Matt Meiser
03-29-2007, 10:44 PM
I do software development and this would be another development job. My current employer has a pretty relaxed work-at-home policy so I've done it from time to time. Several years ago when we were in a smaller office and out of space another guy and I shared a cube and worked at home on opposite days. When we moved to our current house I mostly gave it up because we had Direcway which didn't support our VPN, now that we have something better I could do it again, but due to the current office politics I'm almost afraid to not be there. When I work from home I do find that I can get up about 7 and get in a solid 8 hours of work by 3-4 and feel I've accomplished more than I ever would have gotten done in the office.

Cliff Rohrabacher
03-31-2007, 7:59 AM
I walk across the hall; my office is in my home.

To get me to take a commuter job you'd have to give me 30 days paid vacation immediately, a company car, an office with a door and a receptionist outside and somewhere over $300K per annum.

I will never again become a member of that unhappy angry mob who jam the highways of NJ and NY playing beat the clock only to have to say "yes sir / mam" all day long to some arrogant bozo.

If the company is reputable and the work is interesting and the pay is good - - - Take the Telecommuter job

Jim Becker
03-31-2007, 9:17 AM
I walk across the hall; my office is in my home.

My commute is even better as I have a choice of routes...front stairs or back? :D

Curt Fuller
03-31-2007, 11:10 AM
When I first read the caption "telecommute" my first thought was of those that talk on their "tele" as they "commute". You see I work at the opposite end of the spectrum as a truck driver. One of my ever increasing responsibilities is to try and keep "tele-commuters" out from under my truck. There are many similarities in "tele-commuting" and "drunk driving" including the perception "I can drive better drunk (while talking) than most people drive sober (while paying attention to their driving)".

Dan Lyke
04-03-2007, 11:56 AM
I'm a computer programmer. I've had a couple of jobs with relaxed office policies, and I'm currently part of a startup where we're all telecommuting.

In general in the places where I had my option of where to work I found that if I was going into the office a lot it was a symptom of being unproductive, I was having to work lockstep with other people, or get guidance, or whatever, and when I was at home I was producing a lot more.

So as I've looked at various other opportunities I've learned to use some of the things I got out of those experience in evaluating office environments: Is the office being used productively, or does it exist largely because of management failure and lack of other social opportunities?

There are big problems with working from home. There are days when I just need human contact of some sort ("No, really, honey, I want to go do the shopping!"), and it is possible to get distracted, but it's also possible to get distracted at the office.

So I save commute time, which I'm happy about, but there are trade-offs, and a well managed office environment can be more productive than working at home, but well managed environments, in my experience, are also pretty rare.

ken brueggestrass
04-03-2007, 5:03 PM
As an edit to my above, I say I work at home but I really don't. An in law works from his house about two blocks away from mine, he has no kids, no wife, no animals and he also works out of his house. I was told by many to decide where your dedicated work space would be, basement, spare bedroom, whatever and it didn't matter if you showered or got dressed, but you need to physically move to your designated work space at the time you feel appropriate (8 am) and begin to do something. If you don't get in the habit of doing this, you start getting very lazy very quickly. But for me, it's been a great move. If the job opportunity seems worth doing, nevermind the ability to work from home, then it might be a good move. In other words, don't allow the home thing to factor into your decision, unless your the guy from above who appears to like driving on NY NJ freeways.

Matt Meiser
04-04-2007, 10:32 PM
Well, I had a 2 hour phone interview for the president of the company and will going for an in-person interview, probably next week. BTW, Ken, their home office is in your hometown.

One thought I had today was using the office I built in my shop as my "work" office, but as my wife pointed out I'd have to come in the house for a restroom which would not be fun in the winter.