RE: Working from home

From: Kevin Lange <kgel_at_ppoone.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 14:20:34 -0700
Message-ID: <F001.00328947.20010613143243@fatcity.com>

At a previous company:

How did you handle accountability?

I hate to say it ... but we are professionals on a salaried basis .. not hourly. We are expected to work 'x' hours. If we say we did ... then they took us at our word. Those who abused it got found out sooner or later.

2. How did you handle communication between work and home?

We turned our home phone number in as a open number. i.e. It was always available to anyone at work and your clients. This means that if you have an unlisted number it will probably not do you any good.

3. What were some of the unforeseen problems that you encountered?

The biggest is the ability to get in touch with your employees when you specifically need them. Some would do some work ... then get something done of their own ... then go back to working ...etc. They were not always up and avilable at all hours of the day like they are at the office.
The second was the accountability issue. There was a time when we had our "connect time" and CPU usage monitored so that they could tell if we were doing anything on-line or not. Our connect software also kept logs of when we logged in and out. This got to be a pain in the rear and they finally started seeing that most of us were indeed logged in and working. Those that were not got chastised and taken off the program.
Were there any specific company benefits?
Space. They could downsize their office.
Less phone service. They could lease smaller lines and lesser service.
Less office supplies. People tended to use what they had at home. Although many of us brought a set of supplies home with us when we started.
Happier workers. You could do a lot more when you were harder to get ahold of. Plus, you could do things at home or even go up town in between sessions. I would normally be 'logged on' from 10 to 12 hours of a day and get my 8 hours in just fine ... not all those hours were spent staring at the screen. I could take breaks and rest or go up and do things in town that I could never get done before.

Those are just a few items Mark. Good luck in your efforts.

Kevin.

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 5:00 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L

Hi All,

I have a few off-topic questions for those of you who are allowed to work from home either occasionally or on a regular basis. My department is putting a proposal together to present to management and we're looking for any information you could provide. How did you handle accountability? How did you handle communication between work and home? What were some of the unforeseen problems that you encountered? Were there any specific company benefits? (This appears to be more a benefit to the employee than to the company.) Thanks to all who can reply.

Mark

Production:                     In Progress:
Oracle 7.3.4.4                          Oracle 8i
Oracle Apps (Fin/Mfg) 10.7SC    Oracle Apps (Fin/Mfg) 11.5.3
Sun Solaris 2.6                 Sun Solaris 8  (2.8)

Mark Willett
Corporate Database Administrator

   Sunnen Products Company
   7910 Manchester Ave
   Maplewood, Missouri 63143 USA

      Voice:  314.781.2100  x2429
      Fax:  314.951.2749
      E-mail:  mwillett_at_sunnen.com
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The statements and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Sunnen Products Company.

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Author: Willett, Mark
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Author: Kevin Lange
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