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| TELECOMMUTING: DREAM COME TRUE? November 14, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:What is the best way to convince employers to try telecommuting? What are the risks involved with telecommuting? Does the U.S. lead the way, or are other countries implementing successful telecommuting systems? Are there any tax deductions that encourage telecommuting? What is the accountability process for telecommutiers to show their work? Additional questions and comments.
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A year in the life of the Internet.
How encryption keeps your work private.
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OUTSIDE LINKS
Dr. Michelle Weil's bio and information about how to reduce technostress.
C. Mitzner of Perrysburg,OH asks: Just a month and a half ago, I moved to a small town outside of Toledo, OH, to be closer to my fiancee. My bosses in Washington, D.C., have given me a three-month trial of telecommuting. Other than initial technology glitches, I believe the situation is working very well. I am concerned, however, that much of my work, as a grassroots lobbyist, is not easily quantified. Do you have suggestions what I can do to create an accountability process so that, if asked, I can show my work without getting bogged down in bureaucratic reports?
Dr. Michelle Weil responds:
Very interesting question. This is one of the greatest sources of TechnoStress in telecommuting. How do you prove that you are not just staying home sitting around in your jammies, drinking tea and watching soaps? One suggestion is to make an arrangement with your management that you agree on a weekly or monthly basis what projects or portions of projects need to be completed and you meet periodically to discuss progress. This provides a double benefit of showing management that you are progressing on your work while at the same time encouraging you to meet together either at the office or, if at all possible, at your home office.Another suggestion to easily accounting for your work time is using your electronic hookup to your office as a sort of time card. Log in to signal the start of your work on a project and then log out to signal the end. This electronic log will then be a permanent record of your work activities for both you and management.
Watch out for the telecommuter nightmare of working round the clock. Make sure you maintain your personal and professional boundaries and have the same "down time" as you did before you began telecommuting!
One final note on your aside about "initial technology glitches": This is one area that makes telecommuters and people with home offices go crazy. I recommend that you create an Emergency Techno-Crash Plan to help anticipate and control these snafus.
Mr. Jack Nilles responds:
The key to this is in mutually (between you and your boss(es)) agreeing on what constitutes acceptable performance in as quantitative a way as is feasible. Specifically, you should concentrate on what results are to be produced, when, and how they are to be measured. And I mean results, not process steps. Not phone calls made or letters sent. The agreement should include recognition of the uncertainties as well, such as: "We'd like to get this bill to include paragraphs X, Y, Z but realize that Z might not be possible this session."Of course, the first question you should ask in such a negotiation is: "How would you grade me if I were still in D.C. all the time?" If the answer is: "By how much time you spend in the office (or the size of your phone bills, etc.)" You have some work to do. Presumably, your bosses have more objective measures than that, so try to make them explicit.
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