Family Tech: Snow shows advantages of telecommuting

Bosses who have been resistant, even hostile, to the idea of telecommuting are probably rethinking their stance as they ponder all the lost productivity so far in February.

Many organizations have embraced telecommuting when they can. It helps reduce the number of commuters, it saves on office space, and it lets employees work when they cannot make it into the office due to weather or other causes.

Many managers fear a loss of control if their people telecommute. How do they know the employee is actually working if they can’t see them? And employees too can be resistant to teleworking. Many fear “out of sight, out of mind” when it comes time for promotions.

Those are valid fears. Not all managers, not all jobs, and not all employees are right for full-time telecommuting. If we have learned anything from the weather this winter, it is perhaps we should all explore the possibilities of at least part-time telecommuting.

I have worked from home on occasion and even full-time for periods over the last 10 years.

Most of what you need to telecommute you probably already have. A little organization, maybe re-arranging your home work environment and educating your family and work place is all you need to turn those future snowed in days into productive days.

Of course you need a computer and broadband Internet access. Find a place in your home where you can setup a workspace that can be closed off from the rest of the family. It needs to be warm, well lit and otherwise comfortable.

Your family shouldn’t expect to barge into your office. They need to understand you’ve turned the guest bedroom you’ve into your home office. The best advice I found was to teach my son the fire and blood rule. I told him he was free to intrude into my work space, as long as it involved fire or blood. Otherwise, he needed to work it out himself, or wait for me to take a break and emerge. Perhaps you could relax that a bit, and let your kids know they can e-mail if you they have a question. That lets you deal with them without them interrupting a phone call or Web meeting.

Employers need to permit employees access to common folders on their servers. Secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections allow files to be encrypted as they pass between the office and home. If that isn’t possible, as bad weather threatens, employers need to allow employees to take home (or e-mail home) non-sensitive files they might need if forced to work from home during bad weather.
Agree with your co-workers to all install Skype. Skype is a free computer phone system that lets you talk for free among other Skype users. If you have a webcam you can even have video calls. Skype offers instant messaging, so it is easy let co-workers know you are at your home office working, and ready to interact with them if they need you.

If your employer truly wants to support telecommuting, they can set you up with an office phone that works via the internet. I was able to take calls to my employers 800 number from my home office.
Obviously, telecommuting isn’t going to work for all situations. I don’t see Intelligence Analysts allowed to work from home, but for many of us we can keep on top of our jobs even when unable to get to work for a week.

Now, if we could just find a way for kids to teleschool.

Links for items mentioned in this column can be found at: http://bit.ly/FamilyTech Mark’s blog is at http://markstout.blogspot.com and his e-mail address is markstout@gmail.com.