Do people that work from home really work? - Avaya

March 24, 2008 | Author: Vickie McGovernDo people that work from home really work?

In a world where global warming, carbon emissions and the dreaded "R" word are uttered almost daily, one trend businesses are noticing now more than ever is working from home. An estimated 150 million people around the world either work from home on a part-time basis or call home their primary office. But if your business hasn't taken that leap yet, you're not alone. I mean, people that work from home don't really work, right? Wrong. Yes, it takes the right kind of person, but there are many of us out there. I should know — I'm one of them.

If I'm not away traveling, my day at home typically starts at 6:30 or 7:00am. Instead of spending two hours getting ready and commuting, I use that time to catch up on e-mail and take care of general work before I start my full day of conference calls. I don't spend time "chatting" in the hallways and rarely take a real lunch. I do break for dinner, but usually I'm back online working for another hour or two before I log off. All in all, I work about four more hours every day than I would if I commuted to and from the office.

Needless to say, my tools are essential to my success and productivity. Mobility applications are clearly a must, my VPN phone has a 908 area code even though I'm outside Dallas, Instant Messaging is my version of walking down the hall and asking questions, and web collaboration tools enable me to share and create documents with the team. I don't have video yet, but that's merely a matter of shopping around for a camera. Interestingly enough, most people don't realize that I'm not really located at headquarters in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. In fact, my team is scattered all over the world, so most of us work from home. Frankly, it's the only way we can work effectively.

So, if you envision people working from home as Dr. Phil-watching, slipper-wearing, internet-surfing, not really "there" sort of folks, think again (well, maybe with the exception of the slippers).

So tell me what you think. Do people that work from home really work?

Posted by Vickie McGovern at 12:16 on Mar 24, 2008

Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson said...
Posted at 21:31 on Mar 24, 2008

People that work from home BETTER be working if they intend to keep getting a paycheck! It always strikes us as odd that companies worry that people won't work if they're at home - if they don't, they're out of a job (or should be). But because companies are so focused on face time and hours, that's the only measurement they have for 'good work'. If companies were focused on the right thing, they would have no problem trusting their employees to work from anywhere, anytime.

Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson
Creators of the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE)
Authors of the forthcoming book "Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It"

vickie mcgovern said...
Posted at 13:01 on Mar 25, 2008

Completely agree and it's refreshing to see that others think so as well. There are still many corporate leaders, of major companies I might add, that believe they have to see your happy face on a daily basis. The technology has evolved such that that is no longer necessary and folks can in fact be as productive, if not more, working remotely. I agree it's about focusing on the right things. I look forward to seeing your book :)

Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson said...
Posted at 18:55 on Mar 25, 2008

Oh, Vickie - you are so right. There are many, many leaders of major companies that have the face time = productivity mindset. It's time for employees to SHOW that they can achieve stellar results even by bucking the status quo of how work normally operates. Anyone up for a revolution of that sort?!

Cali and Jody

Joshua Feinberg said...
Posted at 16:16 on Mar 30, 2008

Vickie,

I don't think this debate would even exist if more companies and more managers knew how to better design SYSTEMS to make ALL workers more trackable and more accountable for where their time was spent.

Time management, at all levels, is often one of the biggest missing pieces in most telecommuting programs.

And you're right on the money about all the saved largely-nonsense-time of sitting in traffic, long lunches, non-work related water cooler chat, etc.

Good for the environment. Bad for business-suit manufacturers.

Avaya because of the nature of its business is culturally pre-disposed to be telecommuter friendly.

Most other businesses, large and small, simply aren't there yet. Will they "ever" be? Who knows.

Prem Rao said...
Posted at 12:43 on Apr 01, 2008

Oh, yes. People that work from home do work. They need clearly defined
outputs and the flexibility to deliver performance within given time frames.
They have no one to interrupt them all the time as does often happen at the office. They need the competence to work unsupervised. If they all of this, oh yeah- they do work.

vickie mcgovern said...
Posted at 16:17 on Apr 28, 2008

Great comments. To Cali - I'm always ready for a revolution if it's for a good cause :), Joshua - sounds like an opportunity for us, Avaya, to share some best practices and cases of those who have successfully implemented teleworking programs, Prem Rao - totally agree that you need the right folks too. In fact my blog partner Zack Taylor did a blog on that subject as it pertains to "home agents", check it out and thanks to all for the comments

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