Telecommuting should be a more accepted practice

Jeraden

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,518
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As I sit here at work, not having had any personal interaction with anybody all day as I do my tedious desk job, I got to thinking... Just think of all the problems that would be solved if companies would embrace telecommuting.
Less traffic as less people driving
Less driving = less oil use = less pollution
which also means less need to upgrade the road systems as you won't have the rush hour crunch that usually necessitates the upgrades
Less time commuting = less wasted hours of your life
from a companies perspective, less people physically at work means less resources they need to provide - smaller buildings, less maintenance, trash removal, electricity, etc.

Sure, they company has to be worried about people slacking off at home, but assuming the employer has an idea of what is an acceptable level of productivity, that can still be monitored whether you are at home or at work. If you aren't getting the work done, you get canned.
Given that the majority of communications where I work is either phone or email, as I assume thats the same elsewhere, there is no reason to physically be present at work. Any other hurdles can be cleared with various videoconferencing, pc remote control, etc. software.

I just think it would be a big boon to the nation as a whole to get more people working from home and less wasting so much money/resources having to commute every day. I'd even go as far as to say the government should offer some kind of financial incentive to get businesses to move to a telecommuter-friendly business model. It will only save them money in the long run.

Ok, back to my tedious desk work in isolation...
 

letdown427

Golden Member
Jan 3, 2006
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I often ponder this. I mean, I take some calls, I do some work on the PC. It's not like I work with graphics or anything else that would limit my complete ability to simply work via remote desktop software.

Then I wouldn't have to drive an hour to work each day. Admittedly yes, there is some social interaction at work, but I agree with the OP.
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
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I slack off at work, so at home at least I could play fear. I sit 20 feet from our server room and except for once a week when I go in to ship tapes out, I could do everything over vpn. Where do I sign up?
 

ATLien247

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2000
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I agree to a point... but wouldn't telecommuting-friendly jobs be more susceptible to outsourcing?
 

j00fek

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2005
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Originally posted by: rudder
I slack off at work, so at home at least I could play fear. I sit 20 feet from our server room and except for once a week when I go in to ship tapes out, I could do everything over vpn. Where do I sign up?

:cool:
 

sohcrates

Diamond Member
Sep 19, 2000
7,949
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I know people that drive 1-2 hours each way to work, yet we all do the same job (i.e. sit in front of a computer in an office and don't really talk to anyone).

i have to imagine these people must hate their life. luckily, we are starting to roll out a work at home full time program.

take the work computer, and put it in your basement. voila! how simple is this? i think we will definitely see more of a shift towards telecommuting, possibly some government mandates (at least with regard to fed jobs)
 

TheTony

Golden Member
Jun 23, 2005
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Originally posted by: Trippin315
Originally posted by: ATLien247
I agree to a point... but wouldn't telecommuting-friendly jobs be more susceptible to outsourcing?
I would answer in the affirmative to that question.

Yes, but is the source of the outsourcing located in an office themselves? :)
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,973
34,176
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My employer has had a policy strongly supportive of telecommuting in place for almost a decade. All employees have laptops. We have a vpn in place. We've spent the bucks to make it workable. The front line managers hate it if they can't wander into someone's office and demand instant attention so no telecommuting has been approved for anyone.
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
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Not all parts of our company get to do it but, full-time employees in my dept are allowed to days a week to telecommute. I'm telecommuting right now.
 

trmiv

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
14,670
18
81
I'd do it. I could seriously do 95% of my work from home. As it is, I remote into most people's computers.
 

Dirigible

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2006
5,961
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I telecommute four days a week. Telecommutable jobs are definitely more susceptible to outsourcing. They tried outsourcing my job (well, aspects of it), but it ended in abject failure. They could try again and succeed though.
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
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Remember, if you can do your job from home so can someone overseas, much of the time.

Personally, if I didn't have any face time with people I'd be worried about my job. You are officially a commodity, and the time you have is likely limited, imo.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: ironwing
My employer has had a policy strongly supportive of telecommuting in place for almost a decade. All employees have laptops. We have a vpn in place. We've spent the bucks to make it workable. The front line managers hate it if they can't wander into someone's office and demand instant attention so no telecommuting has been approved for anyone.

When I was working commercial that was the problem I always ran into. Too many bosses feel that if they are paying you then you should be in the office period. Until companies figure out how to overcome that mentality then telecommuting will not replace real commuting.
 

Accipiter22

Banned
Feb 11, 2005
7,942
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I COMPLETELY agree with the OP...there's so many jobs (read: all of them) that I could've done from home, and more efficiently
 

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
4
76
Great post

My company is for the most part against telecommuting which sucks because its a telecom company. However I've been working at home anyway due to my 5 hour round trip commute. I think it's completely ludicrous that so many companies are afraid to embrace the future. THe biggest argument I've heard against telecommuting is that employees will slack off, but the bottomline is that if a person wants to keep their job they need to meet whatever objectives that have been set. It's no different than working physically in the office, if you don't get your work done you get canned. But despite some opposition I believe eventually telecommuting will be a common thing in the near future.
 

Triumph

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,031
14
81
The risk of losing your job is very real, but it's the only way I can see a solution to the traffic nightmare that is the DC metro area.
 

trmiv

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
14,670
18
81
Originally posted by: Descartes
Remember, if you can do your job from home so can someone overseas, much of the time.

Personally, if I didn't have any face time with people I'd be worried about my job. You are officially a commodity, and the time you have is likely limited, imo.


Yes but until they did outsource my job, I'd be able to sit at home in my underwear and work. I don't see the bad in that.
 

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
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Originally posted by: dabuddha
Would you be willing to take a slight pay cut if you could telecommute?

definitely, I'm saving a ton of bucks on gas and food.
 

mundane

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2002
5,603
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Originally posted by: Arkitech
Originally posted by: dabuddha
Would you be willing to take a slight pay cut if you could telecommute?

definitely, I'm saving a ton of bucks on gas and food.

The company would save $$ on office facilities.
 

SaltBoy

Diamond Member
Aug 13, 2001
8,975
11
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The only thing I do at the office that I couldn't do at home is change the water bottle.

Telecommuting FTW!