Working from home - why isn't it more popular?
Discussion
I was just reading http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11879241.
I work from home maybe once a week but I'd like to change that to 3-4 times a week really. Not only would it remove me from the hell that is my commute, it'd save me money and I'm generally much more productive because the 18 year old four metres away from me that constantly drops his massive keyring on his desk while he fidgets with it ALL DAY LONG doesn't live there.
Why are companies still seemingly reluctant to let those that can, work from home? Do they really not trust them? Surely it's a pretty simple metric - let them work from home, and see if productivity goes down or up. Makes more sense to me than not even entertaining the idea.
I will tell my employer I'm working from home for the entire Olympics.
I work from home maybe once a week but I'd like to change that to 3-4 times a week really. Not only would it remove me from the hell that is my commute, it'd save me money and I'm generally much more productive because the 18 year old four metres away from me that constantly drops his massive keyring on his desk while he fidgets with it ALL DAY LONG doesn't live there.
Why are companies still seemingly reluctant to let those that can, work from home? Do they really not trust them? Surely it's a pretty simple metric - let them work from home, and see if productivity goes down or up. Makes more sense to me than not even entertaining the idea.
I will tell my employer I'm working from home for the entire Olympics.
Fittster said:
Because people can slack like hell when working from home. They might not slack but if your an employer how can you be sure you are getting what your paying for.
Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
It's true, I work from home for a lot of the time, and I slack off all the time. Unfortunately I'm also the boss and it inevitably means my days are frequently 18 hours long purely because I have the attention span of a neon tetra at times. Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
It's very easy to monitor what people are doing remotely - my mate works for one of the biggest software development companies in it's field as one of their top devs, the office is down south, he's been there a handful of times, lives in the north. Works nicely for him and the company as everything is remotely done and everyone is always in communication with eachother.
Fittster said:
Because people can slack like hell when working from home. They might not slack but if your an employer how can you be sure you are getting what your paying for.
Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
You'll know how much an employee can do within a given number of hours, anyway. If they are routinely managing two projects a week or seeing 5 clients a week, then when working from home, it takes them 3 weeks to manage 1 easy project or they see 1 client a week, then you know they're slacking. Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
There's also the motivation aspect and social aspect to consider.
In a target related job (Deadlines, goals, etc) there's absolutely no reason you should be forcing your workers into the office.
If you want x done by n, and they can deliver that from home then why wouldn't you allow that?
They could slack of 90% of the time they're at home and I don't see why it would matter one bit as long as they deliver.
Anyone else agree?
If you want x done by n, and they can deliver that from home then why wouldn't you allow that?
They could slack of 90% of the time they're at home and I don't see why it would matter one bit as long as they deliver.
Anyone else agree?
Fittster said:
Because people can slack like hell when working from home. They might not slack but if your an employer how can you be sure you are getting what your paying for.
Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
You can be sure very quickly because things won't be getting done, that should surely be obvious.Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
Most people I know get more done while at home. I work in the times I would usually be sitting on a train. Maybe not everyone is like me, but I am. It's win-win for me and my employer.
scotal said:
Won't you actually tell him you'd like to be working from home for the entire Olympics and ask that he allows it?
Yes, that didn't come across that well 
Fittster said:
Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
This archaic view of employment - paying people for attendance, not outcomes - is probably at the nub of why employers run away screaming from WAH, like little girls from a spider.Other genders, ages and objects of irrational fear are available
Frankeh said:
In a target related job (Deadlines, goals, etc) there's absolutely no reason you should be forcing your workers into the office.
If you want x done by n, and they can deliver that from home then why wouldn't you allow that?
They could slack of 90% of the time they're at home and I don't see why it would matter one bit as long as they deliver.
Anyone else agree?
Completely. Already people with kids get flexible working hours to enable them to do the school runs and things, I see no reason why that shouldn't be extended to everyone where possible. If you want x done by n, and they can deliver that from home then why wouldn't you allow that?
They could slack of 90% of the time they're at home and I don't see why it would matter one bit as long as they deliver.
Anyone else agree?
My job is project based systems/software dev. It doesn't matter where or what time I do the work, as long as it's done before a certain date. We as a team communicate over an internal IRC server, I hardly ever touch a phone even. I ought to only have to come into the City for meetings or social gatherings.
CommanderJameson said:
This archaic view of employment - paying people for attendance, not outcomes - is probably at the nub of why employers run away screaming from WAH, like little girls from a spider.
CommanderJameson said:
This archaic view of employment - paying people for attendance, not outcomes - is probably at the nub of why employers run away screaming from WAH, like little girls from a spider.
I always assumed it was because employers assume their staff would slack off mightily if allowed unrestricted WFH. "Extra day off innit" Other genders, ages and objects of irrational fear are available
Certainly the people I know that do it seem to get a lot more personal stuff done on WFH days than they do paid work.
CommanderJameson said:
Fittster said:
Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
This archaic view of employment - paying people for attendance, not outcomes - is probably at the nub of why employers run away screaming from WAH, like little girls from a spider.CommanderJameson said:
Fittster said:
Remember most people are paid to do so many hours not achieve X, Y and Z then knock off.
This archaic view of employment - paying people for attendance, not outcomes - is probably at the nub of why employers run away screaming from WAH, like little girls from a spider.Other genders, ages and objects of irrational fear are available
Stu R said:
It's true, I work from home for a lot of the time, and I slack off all the time. Unfortunately I'm also the boss and it inevitably means my days are frequently 18 hours long purely because I have the attention span of a neon tetra at times.
I'm the same. I wish I wasn't, but I am. Although your PH posting rate is slightly ahead of mine. 
What bugs me is that I'm in a job where a lot of people work from home. So you call them up - and they're not there. Or you ring their mobile, and they're clearly in a shopping mall etc.
It's sods law though that if I go to get something out of the car etc, someone will call while I'm away from my desk.
CoopR said:
It infuriates me that the government goes so far to dissuade people from commuting but don't push home working at all.
Easier to tax things such as office parking spaces rather than give tax-breaks to employers/ees who work from home I guess...
Giving employers an Employer's NI break on every employee they have telecommuting would be a simple to implement incentive.Easier to tax things such as office parking spaces rather than give tax-breaks to employers/ees who work from home I guess...
Our traffic congestion problem is not caused by too many cars, it's caused by too many journeys.
I worked from home for 5 years. I usually did more than my required hours, checking emails and reading stuff in my time in preparation, for example. I found this to be the case with my old boss when I worked in office and she was p/t with home access, she was alwazys picking up stuff in her own time.
It worked well all the time comms with the office staff were good, even managed one staff remotely.
It worked well all the time comms with the office staff were good, even managed one staff remotely.
CoopR said:
It infuriates me that the government goes so far to dissuade people from commuting but don't push home working at all.
My wife used to be a civil servant and many of them were due to be working from home by middle to last last year, but the coalition Government knocked the idea on the head when they came in.Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff