Working Away from Office–Tip of the Week
Do you have a policy on telecommuting or working away from the office? Do you allow your employees–or some of them, depending on their jobs–to telecommute? Have your employees asked you if they can? Most of the time, we tend to think of telecommuting as working from home, but have you heard of co-working? What’s the difference between working from home and co-working? An article in the New York Times provides insight into these questions and gives you food for thought as you consider answers.
The article is written by someone who has worked in an office, worked from home and experienced co-working (doing your work from some place like Starbucks doing it from place designed specifically for all sorts of people in all sorts of businesses to come together and “co-work” instead of going to an office or staying at home). The article talks honestly about the problems of working at home or co-working. I’m not offering it as a tip for ways you can argue against your employees’ requests to work away from the office (although it may provide you such arguments). It’s more of an article to use as the basis for having an honest discussion among management representatives and with your employees about the notion of being an official employee but working away from the office.
It’s unlikely that employee requests to work away from the office are going to decrease. In fact, as more and more Millennials enter the workforce, these requests will increase. Rather than rejecting them out of hand, it’s probably a good idea to decide whether you can or want to accommodate the requests based on a business-related reason and then develop a policy on the subject.
Working away from the office or plant won’t be possible for all jobs. If it is possible and you want to hire the best employees for your organization, the human resources department needs to drive what is often a lively discussion about this concept. Whether you end up doing it or not, it’s a mistake not to have the discussion.
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About Chris Parker
Chris Parker's practice focuses on the representation and counseling of companies in matters pertaining to the workplace and the protection of their intellectual property and trade secrets. In addition to serving as an advocate for clients, Mr. Parker is also trained as a mediator and frequently serves as a third-party neutral.
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Jimmy Daniel provides counseling to businesses of all sizes related to the employment relationship. He assists in the drafting of employment agreements, policies, and handbooks, as well as provides guidance related to compliance with federal, state, and local legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
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While serving in an Of Counsel relationship with the firm, Mr. Bridgesmith also serves as the Executive Director at the Institute for Conflict Resolution at Lipscomb University and as an officer and principal in Strategic Resolutions Group, LLC. In these roles, Mr. Bridgesmith brings over 30 years of legal experience in dispute resolution and innovative workplace strategies to clients, students and business entities alike.
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Some time back there an article in WSJ on telecommuting and they also coined an abbreviation – something like TWAFO – the worker away from office. I wonder if you by chance heard or know that.
thanks
Alexander,
I don’t remember the WSJ article you’re talking about. You could perhaps do a Google search and find it.
I’m familiar with the following terms being used to describe what the above post is about: telecommuting, e-commuting, e-work, telework, working from home (WFH),and working at home (WAH).
Hope this helps.
John