Sorry to be so late weighing in on this one, but I can comment on Chuck's post from the (ex-) manager's perspective.
When I managed the publications group at a small, feisty start-up, telecommuting was the norm. Two of our writers were remote, and the rest telecommuted according to their preferences. Some people chose to work in the office every day, others chose to telecommute two or more days a week. The only requirement I placed on the local writers was that they be in the office for our weekly staff meeting. The writers used a variety of tools to maintain good working relationships with their SMEs, with QA, with their peers, and with me. When the remote folks came to town once every month or so it was an event, with an all-day working session followed by a w(h)ine and cheese thing. Good work got done, management was happy, customers were happy, and the writers were happy. Into this Eden came the big bad snake of a company that acquired us. Policy descended from on high against all remote workers and telecommuting. As a result, I lost two of my best writers. It was short-sighted and wasteful, but my new VP didn't care. I no longer had the flexibility to manage the department as I saw fit. Fairly soon there was no department left to manage, but that's a story for another day. The moral of the tale is that telecommuting is entirely at the discretion of whatever level of the management hierarchy chooses to intervene. At the feisty startup, it was my call. At Snakes-R-Us, someone above me on the food chain wanted butts in the seats and no amount of persuasion on my part had any effect. ...Susan ----- Original Message ---- From: Charles Beck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Cardimon, Craig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 10:17:07 AM 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. 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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
