Career Ender?
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Yesterday I wrote about The Global Talent Pool and today I'm sort of continuing the theme on remote work with a commentary on telecommutting.
I saw this article that telecomutting could limit your career (there's also a discussion on Slashdot). It's based on a survey of executives that say they're less likely to promote someone that's a telecomutter.
Surprisingly a good number of the people responding said they'd consider a job telecommuting. And that they think telecommuters are as or more productive as those in offices. Like most surveys and statistics, this one leaves a lot open to interpertation.
I'm not surprised that the executives prefer telecommuting while ot wanting the people they promote to do so. It's the old "do as I say, not as I do" attitude. I'm sure executives wouldn't want their careers held back because they were telecommuting. I'm not surprised they see telecommuters as more productive either. It takes a certain kind of person to work remotely. To even be at all successful you have to be something of a driven individual, so it's natural that those that choose to do it will be successful.
But overall I think it doesn't matter. We're swinging back a little from the 80s and late 90s where people worked insane hours, toed the line, and did everything to advance their careers. Now family time is more important to most people, even in one of the most driven careers: NFL head coaches.
So make the best decision for you. If you want that executive job, you might want to be sure you get more face time. If not, pick the job you think works best.
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"We're swinging back a little from the 80s and late 90s where people worked insane hours, toed the line, and did everything to advance their careers."
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This comment reminded me of the many times I have read or heard people say that the day which really made them think about this life-work balance and re-evaluate their priorities was 9-11-01.
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Sad that an event like that made them wake up, but it takes something.
Life is short. Enjoy it while you can and as you experience it. But life is a journey as well. You have to remember to pace yourself.
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I worked from home after 9/11 out of necessity. The project I was on was slashed due to "budget cuts," which they said was because of the economy after 9/11. (Actually, they just used 9/11 as an excuse to euthanize a project that was in need of a bullet to the head anyway). But I digress. After the project was canceled in Jan of '02, I worked from home for the next two years, doing various odd jobs for former clients. The pay wasn't anything compared to the pre-9/11 days, but we survived.
I enjoyed working from home, and will do so again if the opportunity presents itself. However, you lose a lot of the benefits of "team" programming when you are home alone all day. Even though you can teleconference and video conference, its not the same as being in the same room with your friends scribbling out design ideas on a white board.
I'll admit that I wasn't quite as productive at home as I am in an office, but it was close. Also, it seems like I am able to work longer hours when I am at a client site, which translates to more money of course. At home, it was too easy to say, "that's enough for today," and call it quits.
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I enjoyed working from home, and will do so again if the opportunity presents itself. However, you lose a lot of the benefits of "team" programming when you are home alone all day.
There is a lot of truth here. People who are directly there, at least part of the time have a closer interaction with the organization and there is no reason this should not translate to improved promotability. Even excutives who like to telecommute would fail to get too much farther up the ladder if they did not spend a lot of face time with others in the organization.
You can't really have it both ways. If you define your skillset as one that can be done entirely remotely, you are also defining your skillset as one that can be done by people anywhere (both in the country and out).
I think it could be argued that a person who spends a significant (if not all) time on site is committing a bit more personally to the organization than one who merely sends in work.
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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I currently work for one of the big outsourcers performing remote sysadmin work and solutions architecture. I have been telecommuting for the past two years and I have realized the following during that time;
1. I am a heck of a lot more productive working from home than I am when I visit the office
2. I have built up a lab environment where I can test and learn things at my leisure (hard to find the available resources at the office)
3. I get to see my kids off to school and see them in the afternoon (Trust me after working 60hr work weeks in an office env and not seeing my kids grow up this has been a blessing)
4. I am saving a great deal of money by not commuting, eating out, dry cleaning etc.
Sure I miss the face-to-face interaction, but when working for an outsourcer you are essentially a consultant and I don't usually work with my fellow team members on the projects I support anyway.
I don't know if being a telecommuter has been a detriment to my career growth but I seriously doubt I would make any more headway if I was at the office.
I have obtained multiple recognition awards for my work and it didn't matter if I was in the office or not.
In the end folks it all depends on your individual situation.
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I have a lady friend who telecommutes as a Marketing Analyst. It looked great at first. She'd hardly met anyone in the company when a truck from Staples pulled up and virtually unloaded and set-up her home office. Next day UPS arrived with a shiny new Dell laptop, router and docking station and monitor. Wow! I could not believe it was actually happening. This new trust on the company's part was so implicit. I thought she had it made. Her career or any advancement is doomed! It's great if you want to be totally isolated, be fed all your work via a wire and communicate (as we are now) over the same wire. Miscommunication is frequent and she's always at odds with her boss. But she's still doing it. I attribute her success as a hermit to her diligent work ethic. (Her dad was a Mailman). My advise... If you do take this work-style on, be sure to have a game plan and use the time you save not commuting and standing in the lunch-line to form your own business on the side. Invent something. Sell something. Then, if you ARE driven, you can eventually promote your self to a higher paying position.
Jim
http://www.db-consultants-inc.com
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"It all depends on your individual situation"
... is correct. For some people working at home would simply not work: cramped work space, distraction from family etc. People who are very organised or have a big house could work-from-home - but it certainly wouldn't be the work mode of choice for a lot of younger, single people who want a bit of social interaction.
With the commute to work by car rapidly becoming less and less desirable (the recent UK storms turned 30 minute drives into 4 hour affairs in Manchester) employees would probably like to try out working from home. But I'm not sure that managers in IT departments like the idea very much; and I'm not sure that everyone who would like to try it will like it.
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The company I work for start a program in august to have everyone work 1 day a week from home. There have been the ups and downs associated with it.
Some people have taken advantage of the situation and used it as a freebie day to goof off. Others have good work ethics and have shown that they can be very productive from home.
From my own experience, in small doses telecommuting can be a great thing.
Having 1 day a week i can sleep in till 7:50 and just jump out of bed and log in is great. Being in IT at my company means having a constant supply of nagging questions and interuptions all day long. That one day i'm not in the office the interruptions all but stop. I manage to sit at my desk and work on a project for several hours straight without being called away to resent someone's voicemail password or fix a computer that's crashed or whatever emergecency of the moment comes about.
I'm hoping to get the boss to let me work 2 days a week from home soon.
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I did a research paper on this when I was working on my Masters. Part of the findings in the research paper are cited and incorporated into this Wikpedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telework
Have a look. It's very interesting.
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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A friend told me about an article he read about Best Buy's corporate office in Minnesota that made the transition from a stodgy 9 to 5 culture to eliminating work hours and requirements to come into the office altogether. According to my friend, Best Buy only grades their corporate employees on results. They don't care if you work on the beach, by the pool or in a cubicle. They don't care if you work 9 to 5 or midnight to 8:00 am. Face time, sick days and work hours are irrelevant. Results only. I like it.
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I read this article too and thought it was neat - make everything results driven - and with a system that they say "works"....really a win-win for everyone..
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
It all depends on your specific situation, I think. Some folks have mentioned the "team" environment is lacking. I work for a large corporation and my main project "team" is spread out across FL, CA, MO, WA, and DC, so whether or not i'm in the office doesn't matter - all of our communications are virtual-based anyway. Plus we have so many telecommuters in my local department, that even if I was in the office, a lot of my co-workers aren't.
I have been working from home for about 1.5 years, now (I have been with this company for 25 years), and find that I work longer hours, but it's not as painful, and I am more productive. I'm an old, married guy so the social interaction part isn't all that important to me, but I do miss some of it. I try to get into the office once a month or so, just so they don't forget me.
I also agree that promotions, recognition, etc. are not as likely to be bestowed upon virtual workers to the same degree as in-the-office folks, but again, that probably depends more on your corporate environment and management. Mine's pretty stingy with promotions, anyway, so I don't think this has affected me much. If you're a young fast-tracker, then telecommuting may not be your optimal choice.
For me, the time and money saved in not having a daily commute, is worth it. The company furnishes a Laptop, dock, pays for business line or cell phone and cable internet connection, so I'm reasonably content.
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here's the article itself:
Best Buy Realigns Work Environment for Results
Best Buy is looking for better results. The company, according to the Dec. 11 BusinessWeek cover story, has gone off in a radical direction to recreate its corporate culture and achieve results beyond anything it has accomplished before.
A program called ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) allows workers at the company's headquarters to make decisions on when they come to work, where they do their work, etc. The only thing that matters in the final analysis is results. As the magazine put it, "Work is no longer a place where you go, but something you do."
While technology companies have allowed workers to go about doing their jobs without reporting to a physical office, it is not something that you will find in most large corporations and especially those in retailing.
Interestingly, the idea for ROWE didn't come from the top. Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson, said, "ROWE was an idea born and nurtured by a handful of passionate employees. It wasn't created as the result of some edict."
Mr. Anderson may not have anything to do with the creation of the ROWE program, but he fully supports it. In fact, he was so impressed with the results of the program, Best Buy set up a subsidiary called CultureRx to help other companies duplicate its results.
Since ROWE was initiated, Best Buy has quantified a 35 percent increase in productivity in the departments using it. The average voluntary turnover at the company has decreased and employee engagement is up significantly.
Phyllis Moen, a University of Minnesota sociology professor is studying the ROWE program in a project sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She said, "Our whole notion of paid work was developed within an assembly line culture. Showing up was work. Best Buy is recognizing that sitting in a chair is no longer working."
The next big experiment in ROWE will come at store level. Next year, Best Buy will begin testing with managers and hourly workers in stores. How it will work and whether it will succeed remains to be seen. What is known, however, is that Best Buy has a 65 percent turnover rate in its stores. The company, clearly, is willing to try just about anything to fix what's broken.
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It does greatly depend on one's career goals, etc.
I've been working remote exclusively for 6 years, and more often than not for the last 20. While it does at times limit the career options (for example, I have turned down more than one "office" job by choice that would have been "smart" career moves), if you have the right personality for it, it's the best way to work. It certainly avoids the political aspects of most workplaces, and if you have a strong worth ethic you will get more done in less time.
The key factor of success seems, at least in my experience, whether you are the type of person who prefers flexibility over raw immediate rewards.
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