Sunday, March 18, 2007

Should You Stop Showing Up For Work?

You don't hear a lot about telecommuting these days - I can't decide if it went mainstream it's a forgotten fad. There's no doubt it saves oodles of resources. As a fellow who has tried it for long periods of time, I can respond to two of the biggest questions surrounding the practice (a) I do wonder where all the people went, and (b) I do get more done.

Mind you, that's a survey of one, and from a business perspective those prominent issues might not be enough to sell a corporate TC program. Other issues, such as the fact that it is perceived as a career killer comes into play. And some countries, such as Ireland, have not yet built out their IT infrastructure to support it. Israel did, but then discovered that doing so encouraged workers to telecommute to higher paying countries such as the US.

Some new drivers are in the works, particularly along the lines of disaster preparation. These include avoiding issues related to Summer heat, and preparing for a (the?) bird flu epidemic. Add in the rising cost of gasoline, and it seems almost a surety that people will start looking for employ strongly based on commute time. Why wait for a crisis - address the management issues and start a program today.



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