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A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

theregister.co.uk

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Re: A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

#11

Post by kadabra9 »

Mentally, at least for me, it's too easy to fall into the trap of classifying "work" as something that directly produces results....writing code, changing a design etc.

When looked at it from that perspective, it's easy to feel that you/someone are not doing a lot of "work", but often a lot of my time is spent on "work about work".... answering emails, managing clients, or even just brainstorming on a whiteboard / notebook. All of these are just as important to the end result of a project but are easy to overlook in a day/week/month that is ruled by deadlines, expectations, metrics, etc.

If I've got a telecommuter on my staff that gets shit done, but only works an hour a day, more power to him.

Re: A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

#13

Post by nimbix »

chc wrote: post #3

This article seems to conflate "works less than eight hours a day" with "doesn't get the job done." I would expect somebody who doesn't have the distractions of an office or the pressure to appear busy for eight hours regardless of actual workload might get things done faster. Also, a lot of telecommuters are either intermittent workers (e.g. freelancers) or part-timers, so it's unsurprising that a significant number…

From my experience, a day of working from home is about as productive as working a week at the office.

Re: A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

#14

Post by corin_ »

"Stay-at-home workers also said getting dressed for the day was far too strenuous"

As someone who has spent a few years working from home (but doesn't now), that's a horrible assumption.

Sure, there were days when I'd be working in my boxers, but there were also days when I would be wearing trousers and a shirt ready to go out for a meeting. And when I wasn't properly dressed, it wasn't that it was "strenuous", or even that I was lazy, it was a case of not needing to.

If I wasn't going to see anyone for a few hours after waking up, and I didn't happen to feel like wearing much, why would I bother? Other times I did feel like it and I was fully dressed even if I wasn't going to see anyone. That has no relation to what work I did.

Re: A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

#15

Post by ssharp »

timjahn wrote: post #12

With telecommuting, amount of time worked != amount of work completed. Chances are, that hour they're actually working at home is getting the equivalent of 8 hours of traditional work-in-an-office work done.

While I wouldn't diminish the distractions found in an office, I'm not sure if I ever ran into a case where 7 hours of my day was wasted on nonsense that wouldn't have occurred had I been at my house.

I've been telecommuting two days a week for the past 2.5 years and have found that certain things get done significantly faster at home and other things get done significantly faster at the office. I have a job where I'm coding maybe 5-10% of the time, and most of the coding is done at home where I can assure that there will be few distractions outside of my control. The same goes for any activity, done solo, and requiring prolonged concentration.

Re: A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

#16

Post by jbail »

timjahn wrote: post #12

With telecommuting, amount of time worked != amount of work completed. Chances are, that hour they're actually working at home is getting the equivalent of 8 hours of traditional work-in-an-office work done.

Are there really work environments so distracting that 8 hours in the office equals 1 hour at home? That seems crazy. If so, there's is something seriously messed up at that office.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for telecommuting and did a 100% telecommuting gig for 3 years straight, but there's no way to get a days work done in 1 hour.

Re: A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

#17

Post by div »

nimbix wrote: post #13
chc wrote: post #3

This article seems to conflate "works less than eight hours a day" with "doesn't get the job done." I would expect somebody who doesn't have the distractions of an office or the pressure to appear busy for eight hours regardless of actual workload might get things done faster. Also, a lot of telecommuters are either intermittent workers (e.g. freelancers) or part-timers, so it's unsurprising that a significant number…

From my experience, a day of working from home is about as productive as working a week at the office.

It's not as black and white as that for me, but that definitely does happen.

I find working from home 2 out of 5 days to be great for my productivity, while still being very available to colleagues.

Re: A Fifth of Telecommuters Work Less Than An Hour Per Day

#20

Post by sudont »

div wrote: post #17
nimbix wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience, a day of working from home is about as productive as working a week at the office.

It's not as black and white as that for me, but that definitely does happen. I find working from home 2 out of 5 days to be great for my productivity, while still being very available to colleagues.

Weekend hours without anyone else in the office is generally 2-3x (as measured in a BPM database) as productive for me.
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