Remote Workers vs. Office Workers | LinkedIn

To me, there is no debate for bright people who want more control over how and where they work. Remote workers win every time. And the statistics prove it.

Source: Remote Workers vs. Office Workers | LinkedIn

My STC-PMC friend, Ellen O’Brien found this on LinkedIn. This is a great article that I think not only speaks towards the benefits of why remote working CAN work and why more companies should be using remote options, but in my mind, it also supports why this is a very good option for technical communicators.

I keep hearing that “remote” is “in”, and that more remote jobs are becoming available. To be honest, I haven’t seen it at all. If anything, when I even suggest to some companies that I am available and ask if I can work remotely, the answer is usually a flat out NO. This makes it really difficult for people who are not in a position to relocate for a closer commute, yet the jobs are far away. (Yes, I put myself in that category.)

My argument has been the same as outlined in this article, in which the author, Brian de Haaff, says he’s been asked, (and I quote directly from the article,)

“How do you collaborate with the team?”

“What tools do you use to stay connected?”

“When will you really need an office?”

The answers he provides are pretty much the same answers I would give from my own experiences. I wish employers would get the hint. They could save SO much money allowing for more remote work, and get better productivity from their employees and contractors.

What do you think? Yes, I know some of you are diehard office workers who want to be close by to your co-workers. Some jobs do require that–I’m not denying that. But most technical communications jobs don’t require that necessarily. Read the article, and tell me what you think after reading it.

–TechCommGeekMom

Author: TechCommGeekMom

Danielle M. Villegas is a technical communicator who currently employed at Cox Automotive, Inc., and freelances as her own technical communications consultancy, Dair Communications. She has worked at the International Refugee Committee, MetLife, Novo Nordisk, BASF North America, Merck, and Deloitte, with a background in content strategy, web content management, social media, project management, e-learning, and client services. Danielle is best known in the technical communications world for her blog, TechCommGeekMom.com, which has continued to flourish since it was launched during her graduate studies at NJIT in 2012. She has presented webinars and seminars for Adobe, the Society for Technical Communication (STC), the IEEE ProComm, TCUK (ISTC) and at Drexel University’s eLearning Conference. She has written articles for the STC Intercom, STC Notebook, the Content Rules blog, and The Content Wrangler as well. She is very active in the STC, as a former chapter president for the STC-Philadelphia Metro Chapter, and is currently serving on three STC Board committees. You can learn more about Danielle on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemvillegas, on Twitter @techcommgeekmom, or through her blog. All content is the owner's opinions, and does not reflect those of her employers past or present. View All Posts

One thought on “Remote Workers vs. Office Workers | LinkedIn”

I’ve been a telecommuting tech writer for years, starting at HP when they still allowed it, and for the last almost 6 years in my current position. It’s great. I feel as if I am more embedded in the development teams I work with than many of my colleagues who work in corporate offices. I’ve even had a lot of success in getting development resources commit to make improvements in the application infrastructure that allow the documentation to work better.

I use mostly email, WebEx, Hangouts, and Slack to collaborate with my teams – development as well as documentation teams. I am fond of saying that I can do anything from home that I can from an office except to see if someone is at their desk, and if that’s really necessary, I can get someone to do that for me.

I am MUCH more productive from my quiet home office than I ever could be in the loud (and I do mean LOUD) open office the company provides. I go from rural Vermont to The Big Apple a few times a year as needed for training and occasional team meetings, and I can’t wait to get back home so I can get some actual work done.

John Garison says:

September 21, 2017 at 11:39 AM

I’ve been a telecommuting tech writer for years, starting at HP when they still allowed it, and for the last almost 6 years in my current position. It’s great. I feel as if I am more embedded in the development teams I work with than many of my colleagues who work in corporate offices. I’ve even had a lot of success in getting development resources commit to make improvements in the application infrastructure that allow the documentation to work better.

I use mostly email, WebEx, Hangouts, and Slack to collaborate with my teams – development as well as documentation teams. I am fond of saying that I can do anything from home that I can from an office except to see if someone is at their desk, and if that’s really necessary, I can get someone to do that for me.

I am MUCH more productive from my quiet home office than I ever could be in the loud (and I do mean LOUD) open office the company provides. I go from rural Vermont to The Big Apple a few times a year as needed for training and occasional team meetings, and I can’t wait to get back home so I can get some actual work done.