Author Topic: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!  (Read 6914 times)

oneday

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Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« on: July 18, 2017, 09:17:31 PM »
My office has recently instituted an official telecommute policy. 

Rules are:
No telecommuting on Mondays or Fridays
No more than two of us telecommuting on any day
Must establish a "regular" telecommute day

My co-worker has already claimed Thursdays.  This obviously leaves Tuesday and Wednesday for me.  I'm having a hard time deciding.  I asked my other co-worker which day she preferred even though she is not yet eligible because she is too new.  She didn't have a preference either.

Which would you choose and why?

startingsmall

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2017, 09:34:42 PM »
I'd go with Tuesday. I currently have Tuesday as my day off (although I realize that telecommuting isn't the same as having the day off) and I love it. It makes Mondays SO much easier. If I find myself sitting on the couch Sunday night thinking "ugh, back to work tomorrow...." that thought it always immediately followed with "....but just for a day!" The Wednesday/Thursday/Friday grind isn't bad once you've eased into the week a bit.

The Money Monk

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2017, 10:48:54 PM »
with no other info, I would take Wednesday. Get a nice 'hump day" reprieve in the middle of the week.

There are a bunch of other factors that might change my mind though, like who else is off on which days, what type o fwork-flow cycle your job has (maybe some days are better to be gone that others) any wife/GF/family scheduling issues that might make one day better than the other, any hobbies or gym schedule that might make one day better, etc.


oneday

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2017, 11:16:23 PM »
I'd go with Tuesday. I currently have Tuesday as my day off (although I realize that telecommuting isn't the same as having the day off) and I love it. It makes Mondays SO much easier. If I find myself sitting on the couch Sunday night thinking "ugh, back to work tomorrow...." that thought it always immediately followed with "....but just for a day!" The Wednesday/Thursday/Friday grind isn't bad once you've eased into the week a bit.

I can see that!

I would take Weds.

Monday you catch up with the leftover stuff from Friday. Tuesday you plan the rest of the week's workload. Weds. You Pound through 50~70 percent of what you planned out on Tues, Thurs you check in/keep plowing. Hopefully by Friday things are relatively light.

And you never have more than two days in a row in the office. Booyah!

Very appealing!

with no other info, I would take Wednesday. Get a nice 'hump day" reprieve in the middle of the week.

There are a bunch of other factors that might change my mind though, like who else is off on which days, what type of work-flow cycle your job has (maybe some days are better to be gone that others) any wife/GF/family scheduling issues that might make one day better than the other, any hobbies or gym schedule that might make one day better, etc.

Very good point; I shall have to consider this aspect.  Currently Boss Lady is also taking Thursdays for telecommute; my direct reports are not allowed to telecommute.  Unfortunately none of the other things you mention impact me on either Tues or Wed, but I will see what else I can think of.  OH...Tuesday is usually the worst morning traffic, so there's that.

Thanks all!

deborah

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2017, 11:46:32 PM »
There is also what you would do on the telecommute day. For instance, when I telecommuted, I could work any hours I wanted to, so I woke up, did some work, had breakfast and put a load of washing on, worked more, hung out the washing, worked, had lunch and went out and got the groceries (maybe these were separate), worked, put on dinner, worked, and then finished work when everyone else arrived home. This assumes that the day you choose is good for doing all the extra tasks - some shops aren't open on certain days, and washing may be better done on certain days.

oneday

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2017, 08:37:27 AM »
deborah, good point.  I do expect to be able to do the laundry or maybe some other chores, merely from the fact that I am home during normal commute & lunch hour times.  It's a benefit because our electricity is on a time-of-use plan, and being able to run the large appliances during working hours is cheaper.

I also plan to work earlier and end earlier, but not quite sure how that will go down.  Better check with Boss Lady.

In the past, I have taken telecommute days mostly on days with doctor's appointments in hometown, so that I don't lose out on commuting time during the day and end up working 2 hours late to make up for it.  So this is definitely one schedule adjustment they are open to.

stashgrower

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2017, 09:16:16 AM »
If you want to do non-work tasks and appointments during work hours, then schedule around those. Also you pointed out the commute difference.

If all else is equal my vote is the middle day, Weds.

davisgang90

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2017, 09:33:20 AM »
I'd go with Wednesday to break up the week.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2017, 10:31:12 AM »
If you took Tuesday as your telecommute day; could you take Monday off for a trip and then work Tuesday remotely from where your trip was? Or get back late on Monday because you don't have to commute on Tuesday? Would that appeal to you and would it be prohibited or frowned upon (the no Mondays or Fridays smells like they don't trust you to work)?

Rosy

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2017, 05:35:09 PM »
I would take Weds.

Monday you catch up with the leftover stuff from Friday. Tuesday you plan the rest of the week's workload. Weds. You Pound through 50~70 percent of what you planned out on Tues, Thurs you check in/keep plowing. Hopefully by Friday things are relatively light.

And you never have more than two days in a row in the office. Booyah!

+1

deborah

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2017, 06:29:08 PM »
I go for a Wednesday walk. A number of our walks are cancelled because of rain. Someone crunched the rain day numbers for 10 years, and it turns out that for us Wednesday is the most usual rain day where I live, followed by Saturday and Thursday (and for some reason, this is statistically significant). So, if I was still working, and had your quandary, I would go for Tuesday.

oneday

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2017, 07:28:34 PM »
If you want to do non-work tasks and appointments during work hours, then schedule around those. Also you pointed out the commute difference.

If all else is equal my vote is the middle day, Weds.

Well I would not be doing the cheesy-weasel "I'm really doing personal stuff, but since I'm logged into IM that counts as being at work".  I would toss my laundry in before 8, then switch it to the dryer at noon, for example.

The problem is that Boss Lady wants to me to pick one or the other day to be my regular telecommute day.  I guess which ever I pick, I will try to schedule things in hometown on that day.

I'd go with Wednesday to break up the week.

Another vote for Wednesday!  We are at 4 votes for Wed, 1 vote for Tues.

If you took Tuesday as your telecommute day; could you take Monday off for a trip and then work Tuesday remotely from where your trip was? Or get back late on Monday because you don't have to commute on Tuesday? Would that appeal to you and would it be prohibited or frowned upon (the no Mondays or Fridays smells like they don't trust you to work)?

Intriguing!  There is certainly precedent for me to work on vacation; I did that one time when the alternative meant I wouldn't be allowed the days off at all.  But that was when Grandboss was Boss, and before we had an official policy (a one-time exception). (Oh, you picked up on the low-trust vibes? :)

I would take Weds.

Monday you catch up with the leftover stuff from Friday. Tuesday you plan the rest of the week's workload. Weds. You Pound through 50~70 percent of what you planned out on Tues, Thurs you check in/keep plowing. Hopefully by Friday things are relatively light.

And you never have more than two days in a row in the office. Booyah!

+1


Five votes for Wednesday!

I go for a Wednesday walk. A number of our walks are cancelled because of rain. Someone crunched the rain day numbers for 10 years, and it turns out that for us Wednesday is the most usual rain day where I live, followed by Saturday and Thursday (and for some reason, this is statistically significant). So, if I was still working, and had your quandary, I would go for Tuesday.

Crazy!  Who would have thought that weather would be that different based on something random like day of the week?

I am starting to lean more towards Tuesday, against popular opinion...

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2017, 01:02:53 AM »
(Oh, you picked up on the low-trust vibes? :)

This stinks of low-trust. I'd be expecting calls at five minutes before you are due to finish and questions about what you did yesterday. I found that my boss chilled out after I was a bit over the top when informing them when I was going for lunch, the hours I was working, what I was working on etc.

I also wouldn't change my life based on this lasting forever, maybe hold off ordering a fancy desk and workstation equipment...

oneday

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2017, 12:45:59 PM »
(Oh, you picked up on the low-trust vibes? :)

This stinks of low-trust. I'd be expecting calls at five minutes before you are due to finish and questions about what you did yesterday. I found that my boss chilled out after I was a bit over the top when informing them when I was going for lunch, the hours I was working, what I was working on etc.


You know what stinks the most about it?  Boss Lady was my co-worker until last year when we had a reorganization.  She now reports to my old boss & I report to her (duh).  But I had a great level of trust built up with Old Boss and had been informally telecommuting without all these restrictions.  Bleh.

I will IM Boss Lady at lunch and at day's end; hopefully that will show good faith on my end & start building up the trust again.

Quote
I also wouldn't change my life based on this lasting forever, maybe hold off ordering a fancy desk and workstation equipment...

I've got my laptop on the dining table, my keyboard on a TV tray in front of that and the mouse is on another TV tray off to the side.  How's that for fancy equipment :)
« Last Edit: September 03, 2017, 01:00:27 AM by oneday »

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #14 on: July 22, 2017, 01:38:20 AM »
I've got my laptop on the dining table, my keyboard on a TV tray in front of that and the mouse is on another TV tray off to the side.  How's that for fancy equipment :)

Super fancy!

Mgmny

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #15 on: July 22, 2017, 04:56:58 PM »
Is there any day of the week that is most busy (TPS reports due every Thursday by EoD, etc.)? If there is, make that your work from home day. Then, on days when you're in the office make it really hard to find you (work in the cafeteria, break room, bench outside, etc) and socialize (i.e. distract your coworkers) as much as possible. Make sure to talk loudly as well. Eventually, your boss will realize you are 200x more productive at home and let you go there full time.

I know I'm not answering your question, but having a micro managing boss is the worst.

Zero Degrees

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #16 on: July 22, 2017, 08:18:39 PM »
I would take Weds.

Monday you catch up with the leftover stuff from Friday. Tuesday you plan the rest of the week's workload. Weds. You Pound through 50~70 percent of what you planned out on Tues, Thurs you check in/keep plowing. Hopefully by Friday things are relatively light.

And you never have more than two days in a row in the office. Booyah!

+1

Wed.  For these reasons also.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #17 on: July 23, 2017, 12:07:18 AM »
Is there any day of the week that is most busy (TPS reports due every Thursday by EoD, etc.)? If there is, make that your work from home day. Then, on days when you're in the office make it really hard to find you (work in the cafeteria, break room, bench outside, etc) and socialize (i.e. distract your coworkers) as much as possible. Make sure to talk loudly as well. Eventually, your boss will realize you are 200x more productive at home and let you go there full time.

I know I'm not answering your question, but having a micro managing boss is the worst.

Make yourself hard to find but then always answer your mobile. People will slowly get the idea that the way to contact you is to pick up the phone, and there will be fewer changes if you get to telecommute full time.

Working from home is the absolute greatest. I would never go back to an office-based role.

oneday

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #18 on: July 23, 2017, 11:51:59 AM »
Is there any day of the week that is most busy (TPS reports due every Thursday by EoD, etc.)? If there is, make that your work from home day. Then, on days when you're in the office make it really hard to find you (work in the cafeteria, break room, bench outside, etc) and socialize (i.e. distract your coworkers) as much as possible. Make sure to talk loudly as well. Eventually, your boss will realize you are 200x more productive at home and let you go there full time.

I know I'm not answering your question, but having a micro managing boss is the worst.

Mgmny, I like your deviousness!

I would take Weds.

Monday you catch up with the leftover stuff from Friday. Tuesday you plan the rest of the week's workload. Weds. You Pound through 50~70 percent of what you planned out on Tues, Thurs you check in/keep plowing. Hopefully by Friday things are relatively light.

And you never have more than two days in a row in the office. Booyah!

+1

Wed.  For these reasons also.

I know this is a popular option.  But I have this weird thing where the more days in a row I take off, the worse the "Sunday Dread" before going back is.  I hate that so much, I rarely take more than a 3-day weekend.  So I'm going with Tuesday!

Make yourself hard to find but then always answer your mobile. People will slowly get the idea that the way to contact you is to pick up the phone, and there will be fewer changes if you get to telecommute full time.

Working from home is the absolute greatest. I would never go back to an office-based role.

How do you deal with paper-based tasks?  Or do you not have any?

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: Telecommuting quandary - your opinions, please!
« Reply #19 on: July 23, 2017, 12:30:27 PM »
99% of my work is electronic. I have a day or two in the office every fortnight, for urgent things I use a scanner or post.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!