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Subject:Re: Do as I say, not as I do From:Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> To:William Sherman <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>, peter -at- knowhowpro -dot- com, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:53:39 -0800 (PST)
I work for a huge Chinese company similar to Caterpillar. The home office in
Shanghai owns and runs everything we do. Period.
No, you can't commute. Because we don't trust you. There. THAT'S why.
(Black-domed security cameras -- like in department stores -- in all of our
ceilings, the CD and USB drives were removed from nearly all computers, and our
online visits are watched by a third-party. Gotta love this place, eh? At least
it puts food on the table at home.)
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From: William Sherman <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>
To: peter -at- knowhowpro -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Sent: Thu, February 21, 2013 12:25:04 PM
Subject: Re: Do as I say, not as I do
The amount of money wasted stuck in traffic is staggering. A recent study shows
$121 billion is wasted.
As to company costs, they save a lot really, but ONLY if it is full time
telecommuting, not the one day every two weeks sort of thing.
1. Reduced office space. Instead of office space for 1000 employees, they may
need it for 50. Of course, then their headquarter building doesn't look so
grand.
2. Less energy costs. Lights, heating , air conditioning, water, and so on for
50 people is much less than 1000.
3. Less building costs. A 1000 space parking lot is an environmental nightmare
in some locations, so they need nearly the same amount of green space (grass,
trees, plants) so instead of 10 acres of asphalt and 10 acres of grass, they
could have 1 acre total. Now multiply by the price of prime real estate.
4. Insurance. Insuring against the issues of employees sick or hurt on company
property is not cheap. But if they are at home, you don't have to.
5. You get more work out of them, if they are truly working. Unfortunately, many
part-time telecommuters view it as an extra vacation day. But those fulltime
ones frequently put in 45 and 50 hours, all while being paid only 40 hours.
6. Absenteeism is much less. Many don't go to work because a kid is sick or they
are waiting for a delivery or a friend to show up or whatever. But if you work
from home, you are with that sick kid AND still working. The 15 minutes away
from the desk when that delivery guy shows up is much less than the 8 to 12 pm
you are gone for the typical service delivery.
If the company does the one day telecommuting, they have eliminate none of the
expenses and only added some. That is why it doesn't work. You'd think those
guys with MBAs would understand that, but they don't.
Internet access in most homes are to the point that business can easily be
handled. I've worked from home in lots of teleconferences with video since 2000.
Back then, I was the first on the block with DSL and one of the few individuals
who had high speed Internet access in town. There were lots of T1 lines, but for
companies. I had full access to the documentation control servers and to any
other server I needed. The only thing that didn't work was an IP phone. As I
passed from Sprint into AT&T on the way to work, AT&T put a massive slowdown on
the access times. As such, IP phone was more like CB radio - talk, wait, listen,
wait, talk, wait, etc. It was hardly duplex. If I routed through Europe and
around the world, I was just as fast or faster.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Erika Yanovich" <ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com>
To: "William Sherman" <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>; <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2013 1:58 AM
Subject: RE: Do as I say, not as I do
Elementary, Watson.
Don't print, turn off lights - be green to save expenses for the company.
Don't telecommute - don't be green, the company doesn't save on expenses and
doesn't care about yours.
Erika
----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Gold" <peter -at- knowhowpro -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2013 8:41 AM
Subject: Re: Do as I say, not as I do
> Telecommuting probably would become more acceptable to employers when/if
> the supporting infrastructure is in place, especially if they don't have to
> pay for it themselves. Public or industry-based funding of access points
> with enough bandwidth, could make teleconferencing, Face-Timing, Skyping,
> etc., all be part of the deal, a "given," so every participant could have
> the same access to coworkers from remote locations that exists in a central
> office.
>
> The example of how much pollution and energy cost that electronic travel
> saves over physical commuting, could support arguments for public funding.
> Savings on road and bridge wear-and-tear for current infrastructure, and
> the lessened need to build new infrastructure for ever-expanding traffic,
> are only one potential source.
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