Beware: NET-A-PORTER

[Richard Foley]

I couldn't agree with you more, Uri.  When anyone mentions Telecommuting,
hackles seem to rise, it's like the religious wars between vi and emacs, perl
and java, mac + windoze, linux + the rest of the world, etc.  I've worked in
many places both onsite and offsite, and both situations have pros and cons.
Telecommuting is absolutely a solution only when it works for *both* the client
and for the contractor, and communication is clearly essential.  Thank goodness
we work in a world with such amazing network connectivity, and openssh, eh ?-)

-- 
Ciao

Richard Foley

http://www.rfi.net/books.html

ps. I'd add that telecommuting might sometimes work for a permie, but this
variant is much less common because permies usually want a career path, and for
a career path you need to be *seen* by the boss carrying your clipboard around
the office, or play golf, or take an apple in, or whatever it takes, to get
that promotion over your competition who ARE IN THE OFFICE.

On Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 10:14:45AM -0500, Uri Guttman wrote:
> On 12/09/2011 09:32 AM, Avleen Vig wrote:
> 
> >Not entirely true. Telecommuting doesnt erect barriers, it results in
> >different barriers which need ti be handled differently.
> >
> >I worked for a distributed company for almost to years. Since then I've
> >worked from home for almost 18 months. It's not more barriers, it's
> >different ones.
> >
> >Eg in the office I sometimes hated having to find people, figure out where
> >they are, maybe having to deal with them face to face when they're having a
> >bad day. These things get better with telecommuting ime :)
> 
> i totally agree. i tell my clients that all the time when they are
> not into allowing telecommuting. it is a management style issue, not
> a technical one. i placed many in a pure virtual company in the US.
> they are fully set up for telecommute and have the management
> experience to do so. another client is 100% onsite. no exceptions.
> BUT someone i know left there and was allowed to telecommute since
> he had knowledge and experience they needed. and this was a very
> large powerhouse place paying top salaries.
> 
> it is all over the map with rules on allowing telecommuting. some
> love it as it opens up to more qualified employees. others hate it
> since they don't have the management set up for it. some do both,
> onsite if you can move or already live near their offices,
> telecommute if you have the experience to do so. it is also on the
> employee's head to be able to telecommute. some just don't have the
> discipline to deal with kids, spouse and other household
> distractions.
> 
> one placement i made recently explicitly wanted to work onsite
> because he was telecommuting for a while and wanted a solid reason
> to get out of the house!! there are no fixed rules for this on
> either side. i have seen all sorts of variations.
> 
> uri