Understood and agreed. Sigh. Eventually, telecommuting won't be a privilege to be abused. It will be business as usual. THAT will be cool.
Also, face-time counts, big-time. I make sure I am one of the first into the office every day. That helps when the guy who owns the place greets me by name in the morning in the hallway, and I return his greeting. I doubt this would happen if I worked from home. For one thing, I wouldn't be here to greet! Personally, I would go for maybe one day a week at home. But I just don't know. Telecommuting is cool and convenient. Face-time is a heavy worthwhile investment that requires your face to spend time in the office being seen getting things done. We have two opposing forces. I love the IDEA of telecommuting, but I'm still siding with face-time. Face-time has more muscle. -- Craig -----Original Message----- From: Charles Beck [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:17 PM To: Cardimon, Craig Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: [TCP] Telecommuting has mostly positive consequences I'm not really sure why, to be honest. I don't believe it is for the reasons you posit. I don't *think* it is because he doesn't trust me to be working. He knows me better than that, I believe. I think it is more because the larger corporate culture discourages it. Although I work for a very progressive and forward-thinking company (in most respects), the corporate culture also shares this value. As I understand it, before we were acquired by the current parent company (I wasn't here yet), telecommuting was not only accepted, it was encouraged, to the point where the company had employees living literally all over the North American continent. Then when the current parent company acquired us, the corporate culture changed, and they no longer encourage telecommuting, preferring for the most part to use it only in case of emergency. And, if I have a good reason to work from home, be it health, bad weather, or family needs, he generally does not oppose it. He just doesn't want me to abuse the privilege, whatever that means to him-even if it's only not violating the "official company line". That's just my guess, though. Someday I'll work up the courage to ask him more directly about it. In the meantime, I'm reasonably content, because I do understand the value of face-time and the serendipitous conversations around the microwave or coffee machine, both of which would not happen if I were telecommuting all the time. I really would only want to telecommute one or two days a week, to be perfectly honest. And it's certainly not worth jeopardizing a great working relationship. If he feels that way about it, it is no great burden for me to respect that and go with it. Chuck -----Original Message----- From: Cardimon, Craig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 12:15 To: Charles Beck Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: [TCP] Telecommuting has mostly positive consequences >>>>> I knew this was true for me, but it's nice to know there is some formal research to "prove" it. Now, if I could just convince my manager. He's a really great manager, but he has this one tiny little flaw: He doesn't really like telecommuting. *sigh* <<<<< The inquisitive part of me really wants to know why. If he has an MBA, the reason is clear enough. It's part of the education. If you can't see them working, you can't trust them to be working. Management vs. Employees. There's got to be a reason. Time to drag him into the 21st Century, or he will be the one left behind, when people begin leaving for jobs where they will be allowed to telecommute. ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
