Community Chat

[chrystaltree]

Well, today. Your office knows what you do, when you do it etc because we have things called computers. Everything we do is online or on the company's network. No one pushes paper anymore. I manage 50 people, 3 work from home full time; they come into the office for major staff meetings only. 5 others split their time between office and home. They are required to log on at their regular time and put in their 40 hours during business hours. I know when they are logged, logged out, what accounts they are working. I know how much down time they have and their production. I have more control of my at home employees than I have with my office employees. My at home people are more productive and I have had to speak with one or two about working too many hours. People who work from home often put in extra time and they don't put it on their time sheets. They aren't eligible for overtime at our company, so they shouldn't work more than 40 hours a week. I trust my people, I can monitor them but I only look at production and hours logged in. I just don't want anyone working at midnight or putting in 55 hours a week and being paid for 40. Managers and other professional level employees aren't hourly workers, we can work as many or as few hours a day as we want when we work from home. As long as our work and projects get done and as long as we are accessible to whoever needs us. I guess I'm old school, I rarely work from home. Home is my sanctuary. I give the company everthing when I am there and I work 50 hours a week. My home is for me, it's not an extension of my office.

[gidgetgh]

On 3/19/2014 Craftie said:

I was just wondering what you all think of companies who let their employees work from home? How does the company know they are putting in a full day for their pay? I imagine they have a certain amount of work to do but that doesn't mean it takes them a full working day. What do you think?

As a person who works 99.99% of the time from home, I think companies who allow this are great.

I work 4 hours a day from home. If I feel like I've had too much time where I've had to take a break and do something in the house, then I work longer to make up for it. In my case, I've found that I'm overly strict with myself with time. As I mentioned, if I feel like I've taken too much time doing other things, then I work longer to make up for it.

There certainly has to be a level of trust by the employer. And if my work weren't getting done, I'd certainly hear about it. But, when I worked in the office, no one works 100% of the time. Come in, sit down, log in and don't move for 8 hours. People always stop to chat a little, get something from the break room, call a doctor to schedule an appt., call a plumber to make an appt., etc. Same thing from home.

[Lila Belle]

When I was working I liked the flexibility of working from home and going into the office when needed. My job required a lot of phone time and outside appointments and then follow ups. I usually went into the office every day or so for an hour or two or for meetings and such.

[Suziepeach]

My husband works from home and puts in 8-15hrs each and everyday, including the week-ends.

[AngusandBuddhasMom]

I work from home and commute to my office as well. Believe me it is much easier to work at my office sometimes then home. I do not need a babysitter in either location. I am salaried.

[sgraham30]

We had daily quotas that we had to meet & their system was set up so they could see when we logged on/off.

[RedHeadedWench]

I worked from home for a few years, and they can tell if you aren't giving it your all. We had several people let go because they took advantage of the situation.

My oldest works from home at least once per week, but he is also logged on for most of that time, and he gets his work done.

[QueenDanceALot]

I think it doesn't make a difference what I think.

It's the company's decision and the company's business.

[Shorty2U]

I have 2 relatives who work in the computer field for major companies that work from home. Believe me, they don't goof off. They are monitored the entire time and are very professional. Also they must check in on site with the companies they work for from time to time for meetings and classes to update their knowledge as the computer world changes and upgrades constantly.

[straykatz]

There are advantages to working from home.....like no commuting, less wear/tear on your car, save on gas, save on clothing and dry cleaning for those in office with business attire dress codes, and the big thing is less distraction so you can get more done....in fact I think most who work from home are more efficient because they don't have all the daily office distractions of office chatter, meetings, office socializings, etc.