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RE: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
Subject:RE: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home From:"Tammy Van Boening" <tammyvb -at- spectrumwritingllc -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 10 Feb 2017 12:27:39 -0700
A gazillion years ago at one of my golden handcuff gigs, not only did the
company try to promote the "open space" layout - basically, desks facing
each other in rows of 8 w/out any type of privacy at all, but also, they
used the hoteling approach and played "Musical desks" w/ everyone. Every
Monday, you would walk into work and had to figure out where your manager
decided to seat you for the week. The "thought" was that it would promote
all that touchy-feely cr*p like interaction among employees who normally
wouldn't (cliques were something this company was hugely paranoid about),
employees not getting to comfortable in their digs and slacking off and
therefore focusing on work. . .
Yea. . .lasted like barely month or so and then the natives mutinied and
violently so . . .
Off all the dumb*ss ideas that came out of corporate America, this has to be
the topper. Of course, this was also the joint that called Technical Writers
and Trainers "Performance Development Specialists" because it gave them an
air of sophistication (gag!) and there were no such things as SMEs - they
were BUDes (as in Business Domain Experts).
Still makes my head spin just thinking about it.
Tammy Van Boening
Owner/Principal
Spectrum Writing, LLC
www.spectrumwritingllc.com
TammyVB *AT* spectrumwritingllc *DOT* com
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+tammyvb=spectrumwritingllc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+tammyvb=spectrumwritingllc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
On Behalf Of Wright, Lynne
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2017 10:24 AM
To: Julie Stickler; TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)
Subject: RE: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
Another problem with having some people working from home is that
effectively, those employees are being given flex time in addition to the
perk of not having to commute. If staff who come in to the office every day
aren't given the same latitude in terms of work/life balance, it can breed
suspicion and resentment between the office proles and the work-at-homes.
And some people DO abuse the freedom of being on their own recognizance.
Even if just one person gets caught out not putting in the time to earn
their pay, it looks bad all around.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Julie Stickler
Sent: February-10-17 12:04 PM
To: TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com) <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Subject: Re: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
About ten years ago I worked for a company that got bought by IBM. At that
point, they were trying to get people to work remotely because it saved them
huge money on real estate (i.e. renting or owning office space). They were
really big on people coming into the office maybe two days a week and using
shared hoteling space when they were there, or having two people timeshare a
cubicle.
There are easier ways to reduce costs or cut head count. I suspect that
this marketing manager has no idea how to manage remote creative teams.
On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 7:57 AM, Cardimon, Craig <ccardimon -at- m-s-g -dot- com>
wrote:
> Read this:
>
>https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/08/ibm_no_more_telecommuting/
>
> Now that technology has reached the point where many people don't need
> to drive into an office every day, more companies are demanding bodies
> in seats as a condition of employment.
>
> Thoughts as to why?
>
>
> Cordially,
> Craig Cardimon | Senior Technical Writer
>
>
>
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Julie Stickler
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