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Subject:telecommuting as viewed by employer From:LaVonna Funkhouser <lffunkhouser -at- HALNET -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 25 Sep 1995 09:45:10 -0500
In the recent telecommuting thread, someone said that we should
be hearing from more employers. I forwarded that message to my
vp, David Parnell, and his reply is below.
LaVonna
----------------forwarded message from D. Parnell------------------
As a decision maker in a large technical writing firm, I
focus each day on developing or evolving the most productive
environment for my staff. I work with all of my employees to
identify obstacles that hinder efficiencies. We then work to devise
a staffing or organizational solution that minimize the impact on
day-to-day operations, carefully avoiding any 'blind' loyalties
to existing paradigms or past approaches to business. Our
experiences to date have illustrated that telecommuting can be a
very successful means of improving efficiencies and removing
distractions for projects that can be properly orchestrated using
traditional engineering project management techniques. For projects
that require constant interaction with subject matter experts or other
technical communicators, telecommuting has serious limitations. In our
company of 40+ employees, 12 telecommute from their respective homes.
If you will allow me to editorialize, I maintain that technical writing
firms must be flexible if they are to be profitable. Profit margins are
shrinking, and standards of quality are on the rise. Thus producing an
effective product in the shortest time possible while incurring the
least amount of overhead is paramount for technical communication firms
that intend to remain profitable.
Feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Regards,
David Parnell
(David_Parnell -at- msn -dot- com)
--------------------end of forwarded message---------------------
LaVonna F. Funkhouser Immediate Past President, OK Chapter
lffunkhouser -at- halnet -dot- com Program Manager, 1995 Region 5 Conf.
COREStaff Communication Svcs. Society for Technical Communication http://stc.org/region5/okc/conferences/region5conf.html
To register for the conference, call 918-588-4317.
My opinions do not officially represent anyone other than little ol' me.
