I was recently asked by an HR manager if I had a sample of a policy about working from home. My answer was: Do you want something more than “Get your
Source: Scrap Your Work From Home Policy | Pam Ross | Pulse | LinkedIn
I love, love, LOVE this article. This has been my position on working from home and doing remote work all along. I know there will be arguments about “team building” and “It’s easier when I can ask the person right next to me a question, and that can start an instant conversation.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. But you know what? As the author said, we should be more about results oriented work, not the amount of hours my rear end was sitting in a chair at an office.
I have two arguments that further support those made in this article. First, as technical communicators, most of us–not all, but most–can do our work from home. We might need to be in the office now and then, but writing is a solitary job. Content management is a solitary job. Creating instructional design is a solitary job. Sure, you may have others who provide you with the information or content that drives what you do, but ultimately, it’s all on you. Second, we live in a globalized world, which means in the 21st century, we have conference calls, conferencing software like Skype, WebEx, Adobe Connect, etc. that allows us to share our work with others in real time around the world. We have instant messaging for those quick questions. We can share and work on content together in the cloud or through a CMS. But there’s very little to hold us tethered to the office every day.
So, this article just backs what I keep saying. Companies need to update their work from home policies, and get with the times. They’ll find that more people will be happier workers, which usually means they’ll be more productive workers if they can work from home more often–or all the time.
What do you think of what this article’s author has to say? Include your comments below.
–TechCommGeekMom
TechCommGeekMom 