Re: Semi-OT: telecommuting & web development

Telecommuting has some concerns for companies that we commonly don't 
think of but which I ran across when trying to convince a former 
employer that telecommuting was a good thing. From the companies point 
of view:

1.  insurance - if the telecommuting employee gets hurt at home, is the 
company liable for workers comp, etc?

2.  security - goes far beyond setting up a secure connection, it also 
involves the security on the telecommuters home machine, especially if 
any sensitive company info is to be stored on that machine even for 
short periods of time (especially a problem if the machine is shared 
with children at home).

3.  time accounting - some companies have a need, real or perceived 
doesn't matter, to account for the time employees spend working on 
specific tasks. How do you reliably do so.

4.  are you are working on something that requires providing direct 
support to clients?

5.  when all of the factors are rolled together, is telecommuting cost 
effective for the company?

Personally, I like telecommuting but at the same time I can see where 
some companies have problems with the issue. There is more involved then 
trusting the troops and providing a secure connection.

Rich
Dogsoldier.com, LLC
Brandon Carlson wrote:
> I agree, although playing devil's advocate, I've found that many
> employers simply either don't have the IT staff on hand to set up the
> proper security for a telecommuter, or the management is too skittish
> about IP issues to allow it to happen. Another reason I think is that
> employers sometimes have an inherent mis-trust of their employees. I
> know when I worked at the US Postal Service, that was the case. Seeing
> you browse the web doing nothing in a cube can be more assuring to them
> than responding to emails and phone calls and being productive from your
> home office. There's a mis-conception that because a person is on site,
> they're working and because they're telecommuting, they're slacking off.
>
> Personal experience: I just went out on my own about 2 weeks ago. Yep -
> full time independent now! (Woohoo!) Most of my clients are from all
> over the country, PA, FL, IN, etc. Working on site would be a nightmare.
> Anyway, I've got to say that I'm working harder and more productively
> now than I ever have in my life.
>
> Brandon 
>
> On Tue, 2005-06-21 at 07:25, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>
> > Greg Jorgensen wrote:
> >
> > > Applicants must be located in the Twin Cities area.
> >
> > Why? Do companies down there (the cities) actually think they will get 
> > better results if they hire someone less than X miles from their shop? 
> > How many of you telecommute in your job (especially if you do web 
> > development)? Even up here in the woods (~4 north of you), we do a lot 
> > through email, phone (and occasionally) web cam. I can't be lead to 
> > believe that our small communities are more technologically advanced 
> > than web development companies down there.
> >
> > I've always thought that web development was the perfect business to do 
> > from afar. Sure, you may need to meet sometimes in person, but most 
> > things can be done through other means.
> >
> > Is this "need to be local" thing specific to the cities area, or do you 
> > find this to be true across the US/World?
> >
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