Getting Clueful: Seven Things the CIO Should Know About Telecommuting
IT workers who telecommute share advice for their bosses about the process, technology, and attitudes necessary for staff to be productive when they work from home.
Finally, a telecommuting bill in Congress, introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), promises tax incentives for employers who support remote workers. The Parents' Tax Relief Act of 2007 suggests a vastly simplified home office deduction ($2,500 or the profit from the home-based business, whichever is less) and a telecommuting tax credit for employers of up to $2,400 per telecommuter. In addition, employers that provide telecommuters with computers and broadband access equipment can write off the expense. If it passes, this bill may make telecommuting more attractive to employers.
2. Telecommuters Really Can Be More Productive
One of the biggest barriers to telecommuting is convincing the boss that working remotely is not the same thing as slacking off. Unfortunately, many managers are sure that someone who isn't visible isn't working, which creates a taboo around telecommuting.
Katie Albers, a user experience consultant and project manager, wishes IT managers would get over their conviction that "face time = productivity." That just isn't so, she says. "I've telecommuted and worked in an office and in a cubicle farm. I know that I got my best work done fastest when I telecommuted. I could take breaks when my brain stopped being productive. If the plumber came, it took 15 minutes to deal with him, not 45 minutes to get home, an hour and a half to stand around while I waited for the work to be done, and another 45 minutes to get back to work."
Like Albers, most telecommuters believe they are far more productive at home than in the office. Why? It's quieter, with fewer interruptions. The dozens of remote workers queried for this story repeatedly underscored this point.
Gloria Willadsen, a freelance UNIX application and embedded systems developer, says her productivity at home is double to triple what it is in the office because of the calm her home affords. "I do heavy algorithm programming, and I need silence while this is happening. We don't have silence in our office, but in my home, I have places of perfect peace."
Working from the comfort and quiet of home doesn't mean telecommuters have to completely detach themselves from the rest of the team. In fact, for telecommuting to work for the company—and for telecommuters to squash the idea that they're goofing off watching Oprah during work hours—they have to be, and importantly appear to be accessible. For that matter, it takes a particular kind of worker to be a successful telecommuter.
