A few days ago I exchanged tweets with Emily Cagle about how more companies are beginning to embrace teleworking. Our brief chat made me realise more than 60% of the work I do for my biggest clients could be done remotely, yet I still feel obliged/compelled to go into the office.
It goes without saying that I always work on small web design projects from home, but the big testing projects I work on involve huge amounts of planning and documentation that could be carried out in a coffee shop, at home, in a library, or anywhere else I can set up my laptop and get an Internet connection.
Some benefits of teleworking
The more I think about this, the more I can’t understand why companies aren’t rushing headlong towards utilising a remote workforce. The list of benefits goes on and on:
- Eased traffic congestion
- Reduced CO2 emissions
- Lower stress levels
- Higher morale
- Fewer distractions
- Improved productivity
- Reduced costs
The above list is just a start.
A matter of trust
I think it boils down to trust. When a company takes on an employee, or hires a contractor to work on a project for three months, they want to see them working on it, Monday to Friday, eight hours a day. The irony is, being in the office guarantees a person is available for work, but there’s no guarantee they’re actually doing their job while sitting there.
Monitor productivity, not hours worked
Instead of looking at attendance, a modern approach would be to forget hours worked, and focus on staff productivity, and the monitoring of short-term goals. What difference does it make if someone works from home and takes four hours to achieve what would have taken eight hours in the office?
Making a shift in attitudes like this has got to be a good thing. It won’t happen overnight, but I think a change will start to gain momentum as Generation Y employees continue demanding more freedom and flexibility from employers.
What do you think? Do you already enjoy teleworking from home or another remote (i.e. non-office) location? Please leave a comment.
2 Comments
As someone who recently made the transaction from working in an office to working from home I can attest to the fact that it’s enabled me to become significantly more productive.
With all the tools available these days I still talk to most of my co-workers everyday, and we can easily collaborate via Wikis, Google Docs, etc.
I love that I get 30+ minutes extra a day as well without the commute. I can wake up 15 minutes later, or I can have 15 minutes more to myself in the evenings. It’s really been a godsend for my morale.
I hope our generation continues to push this movement forward.
I do it from time to time, but it’s not something that’s taken off in a big way here in the UK. It’s beginning to, and with companies such as BT and the CAA embracing it, hopefully things will start to snowball.
Thanks for the comment!