Some Large Companies Pull Back On Telecommuting
Monday March 10, 2008
As if the threat of $4 per gallon for gasoline isn't enough, some of the nation's largest employers are pulling back on their arrangements to allow employees to work from home.
Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal indicates that some major employers, who were once champions of work at home arrangements for their employees, including AT&T, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and parts of the federal government, are starting to call some home-based workers back to the office. The reasons for doing so vary, but with the direction in which the economy is headed it makes you wonder if the practice, which seems to have begun in 2006 will become more and more popular now that employers are becoming increasingly concerned over their bottom line in the face of an uncertain economy.
Shellenbarger points out that the push to consolidate operations, and the notion that teamwork improves when people work face-to-face could spread to other telecommuting-friendly employers. She goes on to say that the federal government posted a 7.3% drop in telecommuters from 2005 to 2006, partly because of a callback by the Interior Department. Paul Hoffman, a deputy assistant secretary for the department, said that a primary reason for cutting back on telecommuting was a growing concern among managers worried about the potential theft of laptops with sensitive data, or hackers intruding on remote users' wireless networks. Those problems and concerns are certainly not limited to the government.
Not all of the news is bad, though. U.S. corporate employees working full time from home are still rising, gaining 30% since 2005 to 2.44 million in 2007, according to Ray Boggs, a research vice president with IDC, a Framingham, Mass., market-research firm.
Perhaps most disturbing, when the employment situation is getting a bit shaky, is that Shellenbarger also points out that telecommuters are easy to fire or relocate, most likely because they're "not visible". She gives an example of one telecommuter, Andrea Meyers, who had been working successfully from home for three years when her small employer laid off all of its 30 telecommuters with no explanation.
In my mind, all of this makes the idea of starting a home business all the more appealing. You may not think that having a home business provides as much security, but you won't get laid off and you won't be called back into the office. Plus, it allows you to be as "visible" or "invisible" as you need to be.
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Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal indicates that some major employers, who were once champions of work at home arrangements for their employees, including AT&T, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and parts of the federal government, are starting to call some home-based workers back to the office. The reasons for doing so vary, but with the direction in which the economy is headed it makes you wonder if the practice, which seems to have begun in 2006 will become more and more popular now that employers are becoming increasingly concerned over their bottom line in the face of an uncertain economy.
Shellenbarger points out that the push to consolidate operations, and the notion that teamwork improves when people work face-to-face could spread to other telecommuting-friendly employers. She goes on to say that the federal government posted a 7.3% drop in telecommuters from 2005 to 2006, partly because of a callback by the Interior Department. Paul Hoffman, a deputy assistant secretary for the department, said that a primary reason for cutting back on telecommuting was a growing concern among managers worried about the potential theft of laptops with sensitive data, or hackers intruding on remote users' wireless networks. Those problems and concerns are certainly not limited to the government.
Not all of the news is bad, though. U.S. corporate employees working full time from home are still rising, gaining 30% since 2005 to 2.44 million in 2007, according to Ray Boggs, a research vice president with IDC, a Framingham, Mass., market-research firm.
Perhaps most disturbing, when the employment situation is getting a bit shaky, is that Shellenbarger also points out that telecommuters are easy to fire or relocate, most likely because they're "not visible". She gives an example of one telecommuter, Andrea Meyers, who had been working successfully from home for three years when her small employer laid off all of its 30 telecommuters with no explanation.
In my mind, all of this makes the idea of starting a home business all the more appealing. You may not think that having a home business provides as much security, but you won't get laid off and you won't be called back into the office. Plus, it allows you to be as "visible" or "invisible" as you need to be.
Related topics:
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