Today we have a guest post from Brenda Dentinger. Brenda has been with Citrix for over 5 years and is an
expert in technology and support services. She is exclusively focused
on the remote services and support industry and often writes about
remote support topics in her blog. This post is a cross-post from Brenda's remote support blog that I thought would be interesting for our community.
Business Week's (BW) article Telecommuting: Once a Perk, Now Necessity highlights the benefits of working remotely. In fact, some companies are mandating that employees work from home vs spending hours in the car each way for the daily commute. "The flexibility will cut costs and at the same time accommodate both loud talkers and hermits." writes BW author Michelle Conlin.
Yet, HRRecruitingAlert.com reported that execs are resistant to the idea even though people are often more productive when working from home. A telecommuter, BW highlights in their article, Eve Gleb, said she inititally didn't know what to do with her extra time but now she goes for a walk and is more productive then when she is at the office. Another BW telecommuter, Grace Renteria, said "I only go into the office when I don't have a lot going on." (How that for a shift in perceptions about web commuting!) According, HRRecruitingAlert.com 21% of employees would take a pay cut to telecommute. Yet, Eve Gleb's company actually gave her more money to telecommute and Grace Renteria saves $70 on gas a week, $15 a day on lunch + wear and tear on her car. (hum....there just might be something to this.)
Some other findings from their report:
Are you seeing your remote workers on the rise in your companies?? Tell us your story.
Photo by: wrumsby
Business Week's (BW) article Telecommuting: Once a Perk, Now Necessity highlights the benefits of working remotely. In fact, some companies are mandating that employees work from home vs spending hours in the car each way for the daily commute. "The flexibility will cut costs and at the same time accommodate both loud talkers and hermits." writes BW author Michelle Conlin. Yet, HRRecruitingAlert.com reported that execs are resistant to the idea even though people are often more productive when working from home. A telecommuter, BW highlights in their article, Eve Gleb, said she inititally didn't know what to do with her extra time but now she goes for a walk and is more productive then when she is at the office. Another BW telecommuter, Grace Renteria, said "I only go into the office when I don't have a lot going on." (How that for a shift in perceptions about web commuting!) According, HRRecruitingAlert.com 21% of employees would take a pay cut to telecommute. Yet, Eve Gleb's company actually gave her more money to telecommute and Grace Renteria saves $70 on gas a week, $15 a day on lunch + wear and tear on her car. (hum....there just might be something to this.)
Some other findings from their report:
- 75% of employees want the freedom to work remotely.
- 56% have never been able to telecommute.
- Managers' most common arguments against telecommuting include: Job duties demand office attendance (cited by 38% of managers), remote work hurts relationship-building (19%) and productivity will decline if employees work from home (15%).
Are you seeing your remote workers on the rise in your companies?? Tell us your story.
Photo by: wrumsby
I work for Worcestershire County Council as an I.T. Support Worker and all employees are able to make use of F.A.M.E. (Flexible And Mobile Environment). We provide XDA's, laptops, VPN, and other solutions such as web portals to 100's (probably now 1000's) of users. This ranges from permanently mobile workers (such as social workers) to occasional home workers (such as admin assistants).
We provide support via tools such as LANDesk as well as simply guiding users over the phone - and even we do this from other sites or from home! So even our I.T. staff have cut travel by up to a 5th - by working from home just 1 day per week.
All a step in the right direction!