Toby Reiter wrote on 09/26/08 9:20 AM

I think there are real and substantial advantages to working in an office environment.

I do not think that email and phone conversations alone are enough to really connect with people. And as a developer, I know that communication is the important tool in my toolbox. If I can't communicate effectively with the people I'm coding for, I'm not going to be able to fully meet their needs.

Now, you are right about one thing -- it's ridiculous to waste gas commuting. I live in a city. I live a 45 minute walk from my work (although I almost always bike or take public transportation). I do not believe it is unrealistic for most other people to eventually make the same choice if they care about the environment. The more people who move away from car-dominated society, the easier it will be for everyone to make this decision.

Sami Hoda wrote on 09/26/08 11:19 AM

Mike,

I think you're also assuming a few things.

1. That we can all afford broadband cards.
2. Our work revolves around a computer mostly.

As a manager, I need to be in the office to work with other managers on other priorities.

And living in LA, driving 1 hr, each way, every day, I know exactly what you are talking about. Those days I'm working solely on code or server maintenace, or when I have no meeting (those rare days), I'd love to work remotely.

Its a balance, its necessary, but yeah, can we get more people thinking about it, and offering to pay for alternatives, I'm with you.

Nick Kwiatkowski wrote on 09/27/08 12:07 PM

I would agree with you that Telecommuting would be an awesome idea to reduce traffic. However:

(a) We don't have a national broadband policy. Neither candidate currently has been talking about it. Outside of major cities (and California in general, I assume), broadband is NOT available. Sure it covers 70% of the people, but to the government, ISDN almost qualifies as broadband.
(b) Those who would benefit most from telecommuting are those who drive the furthest. Many people who live in the country don't have broadband because it is either too expensive, or unavailable. Since we would be piping telecommunications and data over these pipes, it needs to be big. What if a worker can't afford the large pipe that is required, should the business be required to pick it up? How about working computer? Phone?
(c) Many companies have a general distrust that workers will be effective if they work from home. A lot of this stems from where managers aren't able to peek into your office or cube and see that you are not playing solitaire. Without that ability, managers feel they will loose control of their workforce.
(d) Many of the worker's laws are grey areas when the person doesn't work from a traditional office. Does workman compensation apply? How about many of the ADA, or available resource laws? Should I be entitled to smoke from home, if my company bans it at the office?

I am on a committee at my office that is trying to form the polices that would allow us to telecommute. The above issues are ones that we were told to address in our pilot. The only reason why we were told that we could even go down this road was that our power plant found that if our office did telecommuting 1 day a week, we could save 10-12% in utilities costs. That's a huge amount, considering it doesn't count my costs of getting to the office.

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