 
KeepOnRockin
Music Lover Forever
Premium
join:2002-11-08
Beaverton, OR
 ·Comcast
| Not For Me I'm no state employee; but I'd find it challenging to telecommute.
In the office is the only place, it seems I can get any actual work done. I would need a lot more disclipline to "work from home"  | |
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SRFireside
join:2001-01-19
Houston, TX
| Re: Not For Me Not everybody is cut out for telecommuting. Me? I would really like a day or two a week telecommuting, but not the entire week. You need that interaction with the company staff to be the most effective at my work. Plus there are some jobs that you just have to do in person. | |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY | Been working from home since 2003 and love it. Sometimes I need to go to Starbucks just to see other people for sanity but for the most part - It is great. | |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| Contradiction Lawmakers have also suggested that a state office be created to promote telework... So basically they want to create an office for people to come to work on having people stay home to work.
Yes, I'm sure that this new "office" will be staffed by telecommuters as well, but consider the underlying premise: they are going to PAY a group of people to oversee a form of saving money.
Yeah. Did you get the memo? Yeah, I'll fax you that memo again. And, yeah, we're gonna need you to come in on Saturday. Yeah, thanks.
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There comes a point in your life when you get tired of fixing everything and wiping everyone's ass. But it’s not giving up. It’s realizing that you don’t need certain people and the bullshit and drama they bring to your life. | |
| raye
Premium
join:2000-08-14
Orange, CA | and at&t recalling its telecommuters government becoming more productive, business becoming less productive? If the world ending???
remember, at&t/sbc/pacbell is the company that inspired te Dilbert cartoon  | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Telecommuting Not All Good... Personally, I find that I cannot do "work work" at home... there are just too many distractions.
But my main reason for not liking telecommuting is that if you can do your job from outside the office, then that means that someone else in a 3rd world country can also do your job from outside the office for 10 cents an hour.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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DreamWraith
Premium
join:2004-04-07
Mount Vernon, WA
·Comcast
| Re: Telecommuting Not All Good... said by KeepOnRockin  :I'm no state employee; but I'd find it challenging to telecommute. In the office is the only place, it seems I can get any actual work done. I would need a lot more disclipline to "work from home" said by pnh102 :Personally, I find that I cannot do "work work" at home... there are just too many distractions. But my main reason for not liking telecommuting is that if you can do your job from outside the office, then that means that someone else in a 3rd world country can also do your job from outside the office for 10 cents an hour. Perhaps that is your own fault. Anyone in their proper state of mind in this regard, and any company with a good telework policy knows that in order to be a productive teleworker one must actually have a secluded, seperate office in their home. In other words, you simply need a seperate room in your home, with a seperate, work computer, with a door, that can close, and lock, and if there is family in the home, they need to have it made clear to them that, when the door is locked, they need to sod off.
Teleworking isn't about being home to take care of the kids while you work. It is about being in a more comfortable environment (you can lunch in your living room), and, more importantly for the business, about saving. Savings on electricity, and, most importantly, floor space. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: Telecommuting Not All Good... said by DreamWraith :... and, more importantly for the business, about saving. Savings on electricity, and, most importantly, floor space. Especially when the business saves a ton of money by outsourcing the jobs telecommuters do to third world countries.
said by DreamWraith :In other words, you simply need a seperate room in your home ... I suppose at that point, a padded room would be quite handy.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Telecommuting Not All Good... My room is padded BECAUSE of work!
But seriously, there are a few jobs that make telecommuting feasible (A friend that is divorced, gets to stay home and pickup her children, time that she would never had or job for that matter, and gets her work done).
However, telecommuting for state workers? I think not. State taxes to pay for increased hardware needs and software subscriptions, firewall updates, networking, staff (they don't want to hire), security (VPN), training, support (you know someone will call in or use their "state" laptop for other things...)...
This is another rouse to get the taxpayer to pick up the already mismanaged state funds. Heck you, the worker, pay for the heat/cooling being at home, distractions, and moonlighters (doing ebay, filing emails, surfing...)... its win win for State.
Can't wait for home insurance companies to find reason to hike rates because you are home. Or states to tax you if you are in another and cross border to work (I know PA residents that work for NJ state). That ol' telecommuting tax applies...
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supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL
 ·Cox VOIP
·Skype
·Cox HSI
 ·AT&T Southeast
·magicjack.com
1 edit | said by pnh102 :Personally, I find that I cannot do "work work" at home... there are just too many distractions. But my main reason for not liking telecommuting is that if you can do your job from outside the office, then that means that someone else in a 3rd world country can also do your job from outside the office for 10 cents an hour. Working from home for me is great. I still go in the office 2 days a week but I get more work done without 5 million morons sending me worthless emails, calling me because they are too stupid to access a Excel spredsheet or find a report, or tell them, "Yes, you can do it that way (stupid you've been doing that way since you were 4)."
The only problem working from home for me are the idiots, most with advanced degrees, that need constant direction, constant "you're doing a great job" or "Yes, I am as stupid as a potted plant but if you're there, I'm fine."  
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl | |
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cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27 | Re: Telecommuting Not All Good... OMG! you sound...just like...me!
That's supergirl! You are doing fine! Good jorb! But..no cover sheet for that TPS Report? | |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| Good Idea, depending on circumstances When I did DirecTV installs, although of course the main function of the job was DRIVING to customer's homes to do the actual work, I was 200 miles from the office I worked out of. So they would ship me equipment once a week, and we handled everything else via email or phone.
Worked great for them, as it simply didn't make sense to have a physical office/warehouse in my area, as it wasn't busy enough. Worked great for me, too, as I never had to make extra trips to the office every day (just once a month), never had to see my bosses, and didn't have to worry about getting enough equipment every day (they issued equipment daily to local installers, but shipped me a pallet of stuff once a week to my home).
Really, it made my work life much simpler. And they gave me a stipend for my internet and phone service, since I was using it for work purposes.
Assuming many of the state jobs are in or near the state capitol, this will also allow people to live where they want to live (i.e. rural areas, or other side of the state, etc.), but still have the job they want, also. It can literally give people the best of both worlds in regards to location and career. Also, the less gas consumption, vehicle wear and tear, necessary office space, and traffic congestion will save the employer money, the employee money, and the environment.
--
There comes a point in your life when you get tired of fixing everything and wiping everyone's ass. But it’s not giving up. It’s realizing that you don’t need certain people and the bullshit and drama they bring to your life. | |
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stevek1949
We're not in Kansas anymore
join:2002-11-13
Virginia Beach, VA
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
2 edits | Re: Good Idea, depending on circumstances This is for HOUSE BILL NO. 1021, which states
B. The head of each agency shall set annual percentage targets for the number of positions eligible for alternative work schedules. By July 1, 2009, each state agency shall have a goal of not less than 25 percent of its eligible workforce participating in alternative work schedules. By January 1, 2010, each state agency shall have a goal of not less than 20 percent of its eligible workforce telecommuting.
I work for a local school system that gives me remote access, but does not allow telecommuting, except for rare circumstances. Basically, I find it too distracting at home and most always do not have the resources that I need locally.
I am betting that this bill will be killed in comittee. It sets a "goal" not a requirement. There's a big loophole. My goal is to be a millionaire by 2008. It's not realistic, but it's a goal. | |
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FrostyMelon
join:2006-02-06
Colorado Springs, CO
·Comcast
| Luv it! I am home office based, and love it. It's much easier for me to get things done, and how I go about planning things. The only downside is the whole social interaction you get from an office, but since I work for a large tech company with a large office locally...I can just slip in and bother folks every once in awhile. | |
| raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| State Employees Working from Home Oh, that will be great!
You have state office workers, probably the second laziest workers around (federal is first), allowed to work from home. Let's see how productive they become. Expect the work output to drop by 20% to account for the 20% working at home.
Sending government workers, city, state, or federal, home to work is like give the fox the keys to the chicken house. | |
| | jr92gp
join:2001-09-14
Richmond, VA
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: State Employees Working from Home Ever wonder why they are lazy? People with your mentality make the decisions on how much to pay. How could it ever be possible to keep a hard-working engineer employed at a state agency when they can make two times as much working in industry? Money talks and it says that state agencies will get what they pay for. | |
| | | Hellrazor
join:2002-02-02
Abyss
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by jr92gp :Ever wonder why they are lazy? People with your mentality make the decisions on how much to pay. How could it ever be possible to keep a hard-working engineer employed at a state agency when they can make two times as much working in industry? Money talks and it says that state agencies will get what they pay for. Nah... lets do this like a true worker:
Job 1 - Do as little as possible, receive decent pay and guarenteed benefits. You know the place will not close.
Job 2 - A real job, with a real work load, with real expectations, with the possibility of being fired and the place could close at any time. But you are making more money...
A lot of people will take #1. | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| Re: State Employees Working from Home You left one element out from Job 1.
Significantly higher probability of being sued and compelled to testify in your own defense but not allowed to place your own defense.
Some government jobs have nice security, but any decently playing government job has workplace pressures way out of line with similar pay private security jobs due to the public accountability aspects. And your salary gets published in the paper.
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Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher | |
| | | raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| said by jr92gp :Ever wonder why they are lazy? No. It is obvious from watching them work. There is no incentive to do any better. It is not like you can go somewhere else as there is no competition.said by jr92gp :People with your mentality make the decisions on how much to pay. Wrong. I had nothing to do with it. I voted to keep the idiots that established the last pay structure out of office. But somehow they kept themselves in office.said by jr92gp :How could it ever be possible to keep a hard-working engineer employed at a state agency when they can make two times as much working in industry? For doing half as much work, with a retirement that is second to none it is easy to keep the employees.said by jr92gp :Money talks and it says that state agencies will get what they pay for. So what you are saying is that the pay is so bad the state gets the worst employees. I would go further and say that many of the state employess are so incompetent that they cannot get jobs elsewhere. The state job is a form of welfare. And their attitude when dealing with the public certainly reflects their incompetence. | |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| Come sit in at my Agency. Due to the Gov. cutting back on the workforce, we are doing the work of 3 people in some units, and our unit is understaffed by 20 people. You are contantly busy, so there is no downtime to just be lazy.
Matter of fact, if our agency was full of lazy people, we would not be getting equipment and Call Center upgrades to make our jobs even more productive. | |
| | | raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by Greg_Z :Come sit in at my Agency. That will confirm what I already know and have experienced. Why duplicate the effort?said by Greg_Z :Due to the Gov. cutting back on the workforce, we are doing the work of 3 people in some units, and our unit is understaffed by 20 people. I would say that you have it backwards. You were so completely overstaffed that four people were doing the work of one. Ever watch a road crew from the state and count the number of non-productive shovels that are used simply as something to lean on?said by Greg_Z :You are contantly busy, so there is no downtime to just be lazy. Most attempt to look busy. Ever been in line for a drivers license, waited 30 minutes, then have the line you were in shut down because it was lunch time? Immediate cessation of activity. Not an uncommon occurrence.said by Greg_Z :Matter of fact, if our agency was full of lazy people, we would not be getting equipment and Call Center upgrades to make our jobs even more productive. They are so non-productive that they need upgrades to make up for what is lacking in effort and productivity from the people.
Extra effort by people in the public sector is never an issue as it really does not exist.
Typical in Oak Ridge is 200+ manhours to replace a pump seal that in the private sector takes 4 manhours. I have witnessed such efficencies in multiple efforts and the script was generally the same.
There is no incentive to do better as there is no private sector equivalent, no competition. If the service is bad, slow, and incompetent where else can you accomplish the tasks required by the civil servants? It does not matter if it takes 4 hours to renew a drivers license as there is simply no alternative. No incentive to work better. | |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| Re: State Employees Working from Home For the D.L. question, at our facilities it takes no more then 10 minutes, and for Plate tags, no more then 5. Sounds like TN needs to streamline their system to make for a more productive system.
For the comment of agencies being overstaffed, that is incorrect, due to the caseload is heavier now, then it was 10-20 years ago, and the work of 4 is being done by 2, and it is not getting done.
It sounds to me that you have a chip on your shoulder against Government employers, and need to re-think your thoughts. | |
| | | | | raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by Greg_Z :It sounds to me that you have a chip on your shoulder against Government employers, and need to re-think your thoughts. Not hardly. I have a passionate distaste for most government workers. I have worked on many federal and state contracts involving contracts people, compliance people, budget people, safety people, literally hundreds of people. With the exception of only a few most were more interested in protecting their job.
This was done by shuffling paper 5 times when 2 would have sufficed. Establishing road blocks to efficient processing so that office turf is protected. Multiple people trying to make themselves feel important when they were really just in the way.
This attituded trickles down to the lowest level of government at the local cities, just on a smaller scale.
It is all about protecting one's job, not getting the job done efficiently and correctly. Letting people work from home will add another layer of management incompetence to manage the incompetent workers. | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by raythompsontn :With the exception of only a few most were more interested in protecting their job. Go back to what I said about getting sued...
Government jobs may look incredibly secure, but at the management levels they turn into low security high financial risks jobs. As you noted, that does interfere significantly with efficiency; but this is a function of how the public sector is designed rather than the people who are in it. Turnover is extremely high as a result of the constant burnout.
But I ask you this... in what private industry are most of the workers not interested in protecting their jobs?
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Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher | |
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Heterman
Premium
join:2004-02-28
Fayetteville, AR
| said by raythompsontn :Extra effort by people in the public sector is never an issue as it really does not exist. That's quite an assumption you have there. | |
| | | | | raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by Heterman :said by raythompsontn :Extra effort by people in the public sector is never an issue as it really does not exist. That's quite an assumption you have there. Bzzzztttt, wrong. Not an assumption. | |
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danawhitaker
Space...The Final Frontier
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Urbandale, IA
·MSN
·Mediacom
| Riiight. How many state workers do you know personally? My aunt works for the state, and she hasn't been given a lunch break for the last...three weeks...because there's no one else in their department who will handle/can handle the switchboard so that she can leave. Yes, maybe the jackwads who refuse to take the switchboard so that she can, you know, eat lunch, are lazy (or maybe they're just overworked themselves, she's serving as a secretary to such a ridiculous amount of people it's not even funny).
It's just bad to make generalizations about that. All my friends in the private sector spend most of their days chain e-mailing each other crap. If I e-mail any of them at work, I can usually get a response from them within 5 minutes, providing I didn't attempt to e-mail over their lunch hour or during one of their scheduled breaks.
I would love to find a job where I could work from home, but I think distractions would be a serious problem because I have a two year old daughter and no one else in the house is willing to leave me alone to even take a shower or eat. I tried doing transcription from home for a while, and was treated like crap by everyone in the house, so I'm guessing I'd have to leave the house to get any work done. Otherwise, I'd have people banging on my door and screaming at me every five minutes whether I told them to "sod off" or not (which believe me, is a very tempting thing to say to everyone except my daughter, who simply doesn't know any better yet that mommy is busy soemtimes). | |
| | | raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by danawhitaker :Riiight. Thank you for confirming what I stated.said by danawhitaker :How many state workers do you know personally? Actually I have dealt with quite a few and it was very frustrating in almost all circumstances.said by danawhitaker :Yes, maybe the jackwads who refuse to take the switchboard so that she can, you know, eat lunch, are lazy So what is the problem? You admit that the other workers are lazy. This just confirms what I said.said by danawhitaker :she's serving as a secretary to such a ridiculous amount of people it's not even funny). Because these people are two lazy to do the work themselves. They find more gratitude in making themselves important in their own eyes rather than actually doing any real work.
What you have stated is typical of most government offices. One or two that work, the rest simply protecting their turf. The lazy ones will be the ones that work from home and will actually do less work from home. Yet they will be the ones that applaud the success of the program.
More government waste. Accomplishing less while consuming more.
You see the government has a formula to maximize their resources. They create maximum waste with maximum resources using the maximum amount of people consuming the maximum amount of time with maximum inconvenience to the public. With all those maximums in the process what could be wrong? | |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by raythompsontn :The lazy ones will be the ones that work from home and will actually do less work from home. Yet they will be the ones that applaud the success of the program. You have it backwards. The lazy ones never telecommute, never flex schedule. Never do anything that could result in them working hours outside of their required hours. | |
| | | | | raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| Re: State Employees Working from Home said by marigolds :said by raythompsontn :The lazy ones will be the ones that work from home and will actually do less work from home. Yet they will be the ones that applaud the success of the program. You have it backwards. The lazy ones never telecommute, never flex schedule. Never do anything that could result in them working hours outside of their required hours. Aye matey. I stand corrected. | |
| nutcr0cker
join:2003-04-02
Chandler, AZ
| Great news This indeed great news. I believe if the telecommuting works good the next evolutionary step to telecommuting shold be outsourcing those jobs to get cheaper labor. The tax payers would save a load of money. Americans should not be doing shuch menial jobs that require telecommuting | |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| Would work I have been hinting at this with our office, due to with a Virtual office, which most W @ home companies are doing now, it would not be hard. I have already got the connection, phoneset, and everything needed to take calls at home. Plus no co-worker distractions.
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I threw out the map a long time ago. Now I follow my own direction! | |
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Heterman
Premium
join:2004-02-28
Fayetteville, AR
| Re: Would work I've heard a bit of buzz about this for about 6-months now, albeit not about any bill passage. I think it will happen, bill or not. Many state employees could work from home just as well; some even travel tremendously, which puts them out of the office that much more. Instead of hightailin' back to the office, they could go on home and work on their case files. I think it's a wonderful idea for someone like that, someone who travels around visiting others in various places. Not too much need for them to have an office, especially with current technology. | |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| Re: Would work It would work with our Agency, due to most Family Support Specialists cover more then one county (thank you for cut-backs Gov. Blago), and also management when sick would be able to still tend to matters. We do have outside access to Novell by Web, but are limited to other items of access, such as our Intranet. | |
| garmst
join:2000-09-17
New York, NY
| Would I go to their house? What if they work for Motor Vehicles? Would I go to their house to drop off my application for a license? Would they process it while I was waiting outside in my car? Can they fingerprint and photograph me and give me a license while I wait?
What if the baby cries, do I get priority? | |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| Re: Would I go to their house? You would still have to go to the agency location to handle your affairs. What states are looking at, is moving production work that is normally handled in the office (ie phone CSR's, and management) out of the office.
We have been joking that our managers are going to be getting Blackberry's soon so that upper management can utilize them more, as in lower management. | |
| 
AnonProxy
Proxy of Anon
Premium
join:2001-05-12
ß | Buhahaha If you thought state productivity was at an all time low, just let them telecommute...those slackers will come up with new ways to slack off. | |
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grobinette
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-27
Springfield, VA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
Host:
Home Repair & Impr..
Millenicom
| Re: Buhahaha We had one new campus building that, due to budget cuts, we had to cut the fourth floor out of. That floor would have housed all the faculty offices, so they were forced to telecommute. They were given a laptop, a cell phone and $50/month towards their high speed internet cost. It has worked out very well for those that could adapt to the new style of working.
There are plenty of state positions that do not have to be in their offices full time to do the work they do and a 20% reduction is certainly doable.
Yeah, there are plenty of government employees who show up and take up an office, use a computer, suck up bandwidth, burn electricity and don't do much at all. But they are not the majority.
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Team Discovery | |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| Re: Buhahaha Our agency is not like that, due to I work in a Child Support Enforcement Unit for IL's Healthcare & Family Services agency. We have gotten to the point that it is a fight to get the Gov. to allow hiring for our Agency, due to the demand is so great for services for CS enforcement. | |
| | | | iowaboy
Premium
join:2004-02-28
Kalona, IA
| Re: Buhahaha I telework and find it great. I found that it was not that hard to buckle down and stay on task. Anyway a lot easier than I thought it would be. I think the one thing that helped was to have aplace set up to work from home. It took a weekend to get a room ready then had to furnish it (used desks and tables that I already had) and then get a second line hooked up just for work. If the employer is really into this then that makes the job easier to do. | |
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NOVA_Guy
Obama- Commander in Thief
Premium
join:2002-03-05
·VOIPo
1 edit |  Provides more political gain than increased productivity
From my experience, most lower and middle managers need to be in the office-- for client meetings, to communicate with upper management, to answer questions from those they manage, etc. I don't think telecommuting will lead to any productivity gains for this group of people.
The reality of what's going on is that it's probably more a push related to politics than anything else. Tim Kaine needs to try to show that he's done something beneficial for the Commonwealth of Virginia, after raising sales taxes, capping car tax relief, raising the automobile sales tax by 33%, and raiding our transportation budget.
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Some terrorists don't wear rags on their head, go without showers for weeks, and smell like camel crap. Instead they live in America and support Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for president. | |
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VA Bill Sends State Employees Home