I think we would all agree that of all the hurdles that we face when trying to implement a workshifting culture our technical problems are nothing compared to our people problems. The technical challenges are likely the easiest to overcome because they are purely black and white, either it works or it doesn't. Its easy to get discouraged but I am here to tell you that a little planning up front will make the task of convincing your boss that much easier.

The biggest challenge we will face is changing the pervasive work environment that can be found in the majority of businesses across America that still sees workshifting as a pipe dream, something that will never work. Lets work through these five and in another post we will give you five reasons why we can make workshifting happen.

1. When you are working from home I can't tell when you are really working. Look, I already have enough to do without having to worry about what you are doing while working out of the office. When 8:00 AM rolls around and I can see you sitting at your desk, I know that you are in the office and stuff is getting done.
2. No one can get real work done at home. I know my place has way to many distractions to be productive. Your kids are running around the house, screaming, all while you are trying to talk to a customer? Forget about it, no way am I going to take a chance that we will look unprofessional, not even in the slightest.
3. How about filing your TPS reports? We have filing cabinets full of those reports that you have to refer to daily. How can you do that while working out of the office. Think we are going to send them to you? Don't be selfish, our jobs are hard enough already without having to cater to your whims and wishes.
4. You know how it is, out of sight, out of mind. You really want that promotion? I'm telling you, if you work out of the office you miss all of the offline chatter that builds relationships and relationships are what builds careers.
5. I know that you have valid reasons but as soon as I let you start working away from the office I will have to let everyone do it. No favorites are played at this company. My job is hard enough managing the people that I have. As soon as I open this up for you I will have ten people breathing down my neck to do the same.

Honestly its pretty easy to explain away why someone cannot make workshifting happen in their organization. Go ahead and Google "telecommute problems" and see what comes up at the top of the list. Its not the technical chops that you need to make it work, its the management and people problems that are hard to solve.

That is one of the reasons that we are here, to help solve some of these problems. The Workshifting.com community is here to help answer some of these questions and be a great reference on why you can make this happen.

These are five that I came up with. Any you have heard that you would like to share?


Photo Credit: Editor B