* Telework Beat's new author
Welcome to the new Telework Beat newsletter. The focus isn’t changing – just the author. I’m a senior editor with Network World, and I’m taking over writing this weekly newsletter.
I’ll continue to look at topics such as the gear required to outfit teleworkers, available services, and common management, security and political issues. If there’s anything you’d like me to cover, please drop me a line at mailto:abednarz@nww.com . I welcome any and all suggestions.
I’ve been with Network World for seven years. I spent five of those years working out of the corporate office in Massachusetts and two telecommuting from home offices – first in Chicago and today in Minneapolis.
My experience getting up and running as a remote employee was vastly different in the two locations. It was early in 2000 when I set up my home office in Chicago. Getting a DSL line into my apartment was a torturous process that required probably a dozen phone calls and at least three site visits by representatives from the phone company and DSL provider – each of which pointed the finger at the other when things didn’t work. For two months I had to make do with dial-up. Our network manager will never let me forget it – not that I could anyway.
After teleworking from Chicago, I moved back to Massachusetts. Then last fall I moved to Minneapolis. The ink was barely dry on the deed when the cable company showed up at my new house, and I had broadband access before I’d unpacked the first box. It was so easy I decided to take things a step further and go wireless. I made one phone call and exchanged a few instant messages with a coworker in Massachusetts to confirm some encryption settings on the wireless network gear I bought, and that’s all it took.
I have to think my experience says more about the maturity of the industry than it does about my luck with service providers.
In 2000 I was one of 5.7 million U.S. employees who spent at least eight hours each week working from home. Today I’m in the company of 12 million such teleworkers, according to stats from Gartner. The research firm predicts 41 million people in the U.S. will spend at least one day a week working from home by the end of 2008. As demand has grown, it makes sense the industry has raised the bar for telework-related technologies and services delivery.
Working from home seems a natural fit for people with jobs like mine. A telephone, laptop and Internet access are pretty much all I need to do my job. But there are tradeoffs, of course.
I don’t miss driving to work, but I miss seeing my coworkers. I find instant-messaging exchanges to be a poor substitute for an in-person conversation. I’m not much of a coffee drinker, so I don’t really miss the free java, but I definitely miss the chance to eat lunch out every once in a while. It’s just not the same without friends from work.
I also worry sometimes that my manager might think my work ethic is weaker now that I’m not seen in the office.
On the positive side, as a teleworker I have more chances to eat breakfast with my family. At the same time, I’m more willing to schedule an off-hours interview to accommodate an overseas contact since it doesn’t require me to leave home.
It seems I’m not alone with these thoughts. About 65% of office workers agree that allowing employees to work remotely improves their work-life balance, according to a survey of 600 global workers that IP-telephony vendor Avaya commissioned late last year.
Over half (55%) believe that allowing employees to work remotely improves their productivity. However, nearly the same amount (60%) feel that companies are wary about providing the technology to allow telecommuting because they fear a loss of control.
I look forward to hearing more about how companies, employees and vendors are tackling issues like these. Your opinion is important, so please get in touch with me if you like.
