Monday, April 08, 2013

Commuting the Sentence

Walter Russell Mead on commuting:
Some jobs need to be done face to face, and many jobs require at least some direct interaction among people who are physically together. But the average American commutes 25.4 minutes each way to work. The information revolution is reducing the need for commuting; fewer and fewer jobs now require that everyone drive to the same room, and as a society we are getting better at working cooperatively over distances. Whether you are a feminist, an environmentalist, an economist, a pro-family activist or just a person who wants to live a little better than you do, telework is a cause that you need to embrace.

One of these days one or both parties is going to realize that killing the commute is the kind of social change that Americans want their leaders to push. Until that happy day, we recommend deep breathing (but not near commuting thoroughfares) and music or podcasts that put you at ease. Stress kills, and death by commuting is a terrible way to go.
Emphasis is original. In this instance, I'm above average, since my commute typically is 40-45 minutes on a good day and can be much worse if I encounter weather or a wreck on the highway. I write for a living and most of my colleagues could do their jobs just fine from home, instead of heading to the cube farm that is our suburban office.

In our office, the corporate culture tends to work against telecommuting, because we tend to have a "drop in unannounced" style. People come into my office all day long to visit, ask a question or dump work on my desk, but only rarely do I get a phone call; there are days when my phone never rings. Some folks would call such an approach "collaborative," while others would call it rude. My team features a bunch of introverts, which makes the culture problematic at times, but there's a logic behind it; you can let a phone go to voice mail, but it's tough to ignore a person standing in your doorway.

So let's throw the question out for discussion. First, can you telecommute? Or if you don't, do you think your job could be done remotely?

8 comments:

Gerry said...

I have been working remotely, from home, for the better part of 10 years. I say the "better part" because for most of the last 10 years I had an office, with a door and everything, but I was not expected to be there daily. I work as a pre-sales engineer selling large computers, storage arrays and storage networks.

Today, ironically, I am waiting for a train to commute to the office in Chicago, to work in the office.

If I'm doing my job right, I am at customers offices daily, selling my wares. If I didn't have a sales call and needed some human interaction, I could always go to my office seven miles away.

One month ago I took a new job, still a pre-sales engineer, but the closest office is over 100 miles away. I have a home office, which is where I toil. When I have "home" days I almost always find myself yearning for some sort of human interaction. There is a coffee shop nearby and I end up there for an hour each day, just to break it up.

I can write a sales proposal just about anywhere, and judging from the laptops around me at the coffee shop, I am not alone. I have not quite figured out how the coffee shop can afford to sell me a $3 cup of joe while I occupy a spot in their shop for a couple of hours -- regardless -- I am glad that allow it.



First Ringer said...

Most of my job could be done from home, and for the majority of the previous two years, that's exactly what I did.

Commuting can be a pain, but if we're talking about productivity, "telecommuting" or otherwise working remotely, can be equally frustrating. There are a myriad of distractions at home too.

I finally broken down and went into an office again just for the day-to-day structure.

Bike Bubba said...

I do from time to time, and it's amazing how much I get done, even with six homeschooled kids to interrupt. It's wonderful.

Brian said...

I can work from home when I manage to consolidate all my reading/writing/data analysis into a day where I am not at the bench and have no meetings. It happens, but not often.

The downside of being able to work effectively from home is that the workday/work week never really "ends". That may or my not be a problem depending on your employer. But it has been with mine.

W.B. Picklesworth said...

My commute is only about 30 yards, so it's not really an issue. I really like that. My working hours and locations can be extremely flexible and I like that. Except for when they're not: evening meetings or wakes take away time with my wife that I can't steal back from some other part of the day. I don't like that so much. All in all, it works very well.

Anonymous said...

I think face to face work is more effective to build networks and relationships. I commute by bike. It's fun and it helps me not to be too lazy to go to the office every morning!

Anonymous said...

I think face to face work is more effective to build networks and relationships. I commute by bike. It's fun and it helps me not to be too lazy to go to the office every morning!

3john2 said...

Commuting to the worksite is a relatively new development. In our agrarian days dad and mom "worked at home". In the early industrial age workers often lived near the factory. Even as jobs grew more decentralized in the information age we still lived the worksite model and work ethic. Now technology in the "imagination" age is making it more realistic for mom and dad to work at home just like their great-grandparents. Presently, my boss doesn't even live or work in the same country I do, and one of my staff works from home 2 days a week but we're all plugged in and can meet on a phone conference call or even share images and videos through our computer screens or particpate in a video conference. "Facetime" apps even make it possible to call on your customers without leaving your living room. The "9 to 5" punch-in, punch-out model is more of a mindset than a functional requirement these days and people are slowing changing their thinking. This will impact standards of productivity as well as education and even daycare. I can't say whether it's ultimately "good" or "bad" - no more than we could say punching the factory clock was "good" or "bad" - but it is inevitable.