Telecommuting/Telework

[kentauros]

I've wondered if this topic ever comes up around here, so I started a thread just for it

One of my "future fantasies" is that telework becomes the primary way that office workers do their work. There's almost nothing in cubefarm and office work that requires in-person face-to-face existence. All can be done on the computer via video conferencing and other messaging systems.

However, part of this "fantasy" is that cities shrink a bit and people spread out more, to smaller cities and towns. This would be more feasible if we had a good passenger rail system to go with it. I don't know when that kind of thing will happen, what with how our "elected" officials think these days. Telework is growing now and being implemented now, so it's not like it will just disappear overnight due to someone buying up and pulling out the fiber optic network

I had a brief conversation with another DUer on this topic last year, and one thing we discovered that could be a major drawback has to do with the levying of fuel taxes. With fewer people driving their daily hour-long (and one-way) commutes to work, less fuel is sold, and so less taxes received. Less money for the roads means either the taxes go up, or more tollways are created (which is the same thing.) I figure that this factor may be one reason why we don't see telecommuting and/or teleworking being promoted, whether by local governments or the feds. The federal government has implemented telework for their agencies, but not beyond that.

I've never had the opportunity to telework, despite seeing how most of the IT guys did it for themselves pretty much all the time. I'd love to have that choice. I have the space for a home office, so I could do it easily.

So, what are y'all's opinions on this and how do you see it fitting in with smart growth?

[nxylas]

1. The tough part is going to be convincing employers

Many of them (particularly the Randroids) are already convinced that their employees are just mooching off them as it is. Such managers would never accept their employees working from home, where they can't watch over them.

[kentauros]

2. I think resistance goes beyond politics, though.

Those that micromanage are going to do it whether a person is in the office or not. I had the misfortune of personal experience with this at my last job.

Our fully competent and easy-going manager left for a better position. Someone that had no management experience was chosen to take his place from our group. She also had no experience with AutoCAD, only GIS. So, for every tiny mistake any of us made (she was our checker) out went an email, "politely" chastising us for our transgressions. One person in our group was in another state, telecommuting. He got the same emails, and was just as frustrated with her as the rest of us. And yet, in conversation with her, she's a liberal, or liberal-voting.

She's also within what I have read about who resists telecommuting the most: young and inexperienced managers. Experienced managers understand you don't have to see the person to get good work out of them. All too often, new managers don't seem to understand that concept.

The numbers are going up for those companies open to telework. I don't know the source of the polling information on the following site, but it's rather telling about savings if it's at all accurate:

Telework Friendly Companies and Cities

[nxylas]

3. I'm just speaking from personal experience

I've always found Randroids and people with that stupid Republican's Creed on their office wall to be the worst employers, because they see themselves as John Galt and their employees as parasites.

[kentauros]

4. Yeah, it's probably true those types will always want in-person offices.

While their competitors adapt to the technology, discovering how much money they can save by having a smaller office footprint. Plus, for positions like mine (drafting) that often require overtime or weekend work, no need to request an extension of a/c and heat when the rest of the building is empty or shutting down for the day.

We already know that conservatives don't like change. They'll just be left behind and lose business

[tinrobot]

5. I wouldn't worry about fuel taxes.

You may levy less fuel taxes, but you also have less driving. Less driving means lower maintenance costs on the roads. But even if the cost of driving goes up, is that a bad thing or will it simply accelerate the desire for more telecommuting?

I've telecommuted for years, it doesn't mean I've stopped driving. I rarely drive during rush hour, however, and that has made me a lot less stressed.

[kentauros]

6. Oh, I'm not thinking that it would stop people from driving.

Only that their daily work-commutes would disappear. I live in one of the biggest sprawl-happy cities in the country, Houston, and many people live at least an hour's drive outside of town. I've even known people that lived two hours away! And they "commuted" for two hours, one-way, every day.

I don't have any figures for this opinion, but it seems that most of the people living in what are now termed as "exurbs" (basically country-living in a subdivision) are pretty much mostly office workers. They really ought to work in a satellite or home office to live that far away from the downtown areas.

While I haven't yet been asked if I'd like to telecommute, I've been lucky in that most of my commutes are against rush hour traffic flow, other than in the afternoon. It seems like rush hour traffic is both ways in the afternoons, somehow