Telecommuting, Jealousy and You
December 10th, 2007 by Cali & Jody
We were catching up on our work-life balance editorials the other day when the following jumped out at us:
“In a survey of 46 studies looking at 12,883 employees, the authors found that telecommuting improved job satisfaction, performance, turnover and stress, and did not harm career prospects. Telecommuting, more than half of the time, did harm relationships with coworkers, but not with supervisors.”
What struck us as interesting was the difference between how managers and coworkers view non-traditional work. Perhaps managers are coming around to the fact that people with more control over their work (i.e. working from home, working “odd” hours, etc.) can still produce results. The fact that managers don’t see their people doing the work doesn’t prevent them from recognizing that the work is getting done.
But what about an employee’s peers? Here, it seems the stigma of non-traditional work still holds true. When you’re working in a non-traditional way, your coworkers end up being more fixated on how you get work done as opposed to what you’re getting done. They don’t see the reduced stress, the increased productivity, or other benefits. They just see you getting away with not having to come in while they suffer through a long, confining, forty-plus-hour week crammed into a cube.
We’d be interested in hearing from both managers and employees about this disconnect. For those of you considering flextime or telecommuting, what are you more worried about? Being supported by your boss? Or being supported by your coworkers?
And for the managers out there reading this, what do you think holds you back from encouraging your employees to work differently? Is it fear of decreased business results? Or fear of the social backlash in appearing to give an employee “special treatment”?
My number one concern, flexible schedule or not, is that I produce. In terms of co-worker vs. boss - boss everytime. I am in an office environment now where my boss has basically (and literally > I am in a loft) put me on an island. My coworkers rarely if ever communicate with me - in any form. The real problem there is, they should be. And once they do decide to collaboarte with me, they can do so over that fantastic new technology called the internet.
I completely buy into the concept of ROWE. My question is: does this work for all types of personalities? Does the employee who is young and needs more direction still show results? Are there main personal traits that must be present in order for this to work such as self-directed, engaged and passionate about your work? Are those the main ingredients to make this successful for enveryone? Also, how does a receptionist feel who must be present at work…do you make some type of arangement for this role as well?
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