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Andrea Coombes of the WSJ (sub req'd) wrote a piece last week highlighting a recent survey that found, "workers who telecommute from home or elsewhere, while still a very small portion of the work force, report the highest levels of satisfaction with their jobs and loyalty to their employers." The article has some great insights and mini-cases. Longer snippet below.
posted by David
From the WSJ.....
"In the poll of about 10,000 U.S. workers, 73% of remote and home-based workers said they were satisfied with their company as a place to work, compared with 64% of office workers.
In addition, 70% of the telecommuters said they were "proud to tell people I work for my company," while only 64% of office workers agreed with that statement. The survey was conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute, a unit of Kenexa Corp., a recruitment and retention consulting firm.
"When companies allow employees to work remotely or from home, they are explicitly communicating to them that 'I trust you to be dedicated to the accomplishment of the work, even if I'm not able to observe you doing it,' " says Jack Wiley, executive director of the institute, which is in Minneapolis. "It boils down to respect," he says. "I respect you and I have confidence in your commitment to the work -- to do this under the conditions and at the time you feel will be most productive for you."
That rings true to Scott Berry, a senior mutual-fund analyst at Morningstar Inc., in Chicago. Mr. Berry has worked for the firm for eight years. For the past six, he has telecommuted from his home in Rochester, Mich., going into the office just two or three days a month.
"I always had a good perception of the firm, but obviously it enhances my perception in that they're willing to trust their employees to get their job done without any direct supervision, that they're willing to allow somebody like me to move for family reasons and not business reasons," says Mr. Berry, who started telecommuting when he and his wife started their family and wanted to be closer to relatives in Michigan.
I think it comes down to flexibility and trust that creates loyal employees -- if you are trusted to work in the best place to get the job done, and in ways that make you especially productive, people like that.
Not everyone wants to work at home. You lose the creative synergies from collaboration. However, many people appreciate working from home occasionally when its appropriate.
Some large companies (including the big 4 accounting firms as well as banks) have been introducing a more mobile approach to work, allowing employees to work from anywhere in the corporate campus, as well as from home or a branch office.
They've been able to track job satisfaction and loyalty and report some impressive statistics: for example:
http://money.cnn.tv/galleries/2006/fortune/0612/gallery.bestcos.askannie/index.html
Since Capital One rolled out the Future of Work last October to 40 percent of its workforce, in-house surveys say employee satisfaction has risen 41 percent. "I like being able to work from home at 6 a.m. before the baby wakes up, drop her off at day care, then stop at the gym," says Sue Sonday, a project manager in corporate technology. Adds Schuyler: "The world isn't a cube farm anymore."
Posted by: Wendy Waters | September 18, 2007 at 11:31 AM
We no longer live in the industrial age. The notion of going to work daily and following the " live to work " philosophy is dated.
People who Work From Home obviously have a higher quality of life, and as such will be happier.
No commute, No drama filled workplace .... the list goes on and on.
Working From Home is the new "office job" and I believe in the near future we are going to see a huge workforce shift.
Ian Bakewell
http://www.workfromhometipster.com
Posted by: Ian Bakewell the work from home tipster | December 01, 2007 at 02:27 PM
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