Some employers are very resistant to the idea of allowing their employees to telecommute. This quote comes from a white paper on teleworking called Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative, which is a fascinating study on the evolving trend to what they call the location independent workplace. It gave me a good chuckle.
When I led the Telework Task Force at the Greater Washington Board of Trade, I spoke with someone with the Washington Metropolitan Transportation Authority. And he says, “I don’t like that telework stuff.” And I said, “Do you ever work from home?” He said, “Almost every day.” I said, “And you don’t call that telework?” He says, “No, I call that working from home.” –Chuck Wilsker, CEO and President of Telework Coalition.
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Tags: telecommute, telecommuting
The comment “not everyone understands what telework means” remimded me of a similar dialog when I do vulnerability assessments. I would ask folks “Can you telework” and the immediate response with a north-south nod was “Why of course, I can read my email.” When I followed that up with “Can you put in a productive 8-hr day at home or anywhere else like you can at the office?” there would be a pregnant pause, and then a sheepish east-west nod with a soft-spoken reply of “no I can’t.” I rest my case.