Re: The telecommuting myth

[Michael Andrew Uhl <uhl -dot- mike -at- EPA -dot- GOV>]

Ron,

I suspect you're right: it's only a small minority who are
telecommuting.

My wife used to telecommute for her job at Glaxo. I was her boss. :-) I
was a contractor managing a small group of contractors. All three of the
writers on my staff telecommuted. They came in only for meetings and
delivering their documents. I worked on site.

My wife also got a telecommuting position at Bayer--in Clayton, NC,
about 50 miles from our home. She made good money and got to work out of
the house. The job bored her to tears and she quit it after about a
year. (The Glaxo job also bored her.)

Her experience and mine has been that we prefer working on site. I'm
surprised the *employers* are pushing the work at home, aka
"telecommuting" more. They're the ones who save money. On the other
hand, I caution my colleagues to not wish too hard for a telecommuting
job: be careful what you wish for; you may get it. Out of site, out of
mind comes into play for those who work apart from their on-site
colleagues. Office politics is an important part of a professional's
life, for better or worse.

Cheers.

-Mike
--
Michael Andrew Uhl (mailto:uhl -dot- mike -at- epa -dot- gov)
Lockheed Martin - U.S. EPA Scientific Visualization Center
Ph. (office) 919.541.4283; 919.541.3716 (lab)
P.O. Box 14365  Research Triangle Park, NC 27709


Ron Sering wrote:
>
> Well, I didn't check the archives on this subject, but since I figure there
> may not be many people working on the holiday, why not put this out there so
> those of us who are working can carp about it. After having worked for
> several clients/employers over the last few years, I am beginning to wonder
> how much telecommuting truly takes place in these wired times. I manage one
> or two days working at home per month (sometimes less), but these are
> granted only grudgingly, and have so many conditions attached to them that I
> really have more latitude to do my work when I come in to the office. So I
> have concluded that telecommuting is something that the magazines and Sunday
> supplements like to write about as a Big Trend, but that it has only
> miniscule acceptance in the Real World. Thoughts, anyone? If anyone is out
> there besides me....
>
> Ron Sering not Serling
>
> From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=