By Owen Wiese
There are different reasons that people choose to work from home. Some have worked from home for many years. Others have started to work from home more recently because of the advent of the Coronavirus and the desire of businesses to have their employees work in a safe environment - their home.
There is much discussion as to what will happen after the danger from the virus has subsided. Will the practice of working from home be judged as more efficient and profitable, or will it be decided to have everyone go back to the office where everyone is working together? Many supervisors had the idea that they needed to watch the workers working, so they would continue to work. That has been proven to be a fallacy. There are already so many people working from home and they have proven that the work will get done without the supervisor watching them.
There are many work-collaboration tools available, such as daily video conferences and daily check-ins with the supervisor.
Working from home provides the companies the opportunity to decrease the space used for offices resulting in monetary savings. It also assures that the workers are working in a healthy environment.
There are several people in Garretson who work from home. I asked several of them to complete a series of questions about ‘working from home.’ They expressed their opinions about ‘working from home.’ Does it work, what are the advantages, and what are the drawbacks?
Questions that were asked:
Who do you work for?
How long have you worked for them?
Do you meet periodically with your supervisor in his or her office?
Do you work a specified number of hours per day?
Does the company verify that you are working the specified hours?
Are you satisfied (happy) to be working at home?
What don’t you like?
What would you suggest to someone who is considering working at home?
Given the present economic situation in the country, do you think that the concept of working at home will last? Will it grow?
Finally, if there are any other remarks, questions or suggestions you have based on your experience, please include them.
Each of the persons who answered the questions told us what they do on their job.
The first one is Brad Stensland.
“I have worked for Berry Global based out Evansville, IN for over 35 years, with the last 15 years from home off and on.
“I used to travel extensively, but with the Covid 19 that has come to a complete halt. I must admit that I have enjoyed the time home with my family.
“I generally meet my Supervisor 2 to 3 times a year in person, but I do talk with him on the phone at least once a day. I am an early riser, so start running reports anytime between 5 and 6 a.m., and generally work until 4 or 5 p.m. in the afternoon depending on the day. I have the freedom to leave during the day if I have errands to run. My company tracks how often I am on my computer and how many keystrokes I make in a day so that they would know fairly quickly if I was not keeping up with my work. I do enjoy working from home most of the time, however I do miss the social aspect of not seeing my coworkers on a daily basis.
“If anyone out there is considering working from home or has been forced to with the situation itself, I would suggest you find a private space in your home to set up your office. Begin your day just as if you were sitting at a physical desk at your place of business and try to keep your routine the same. It is very easy to get distracted by day to day chores and you might find yourself staring at home chores.
“With the economic situation we find ourselves in, I feel that more and more companies are going to offer ‘work at home’ choices, especially if it has been working for them the last few months when a lot of people were forced to ’work at home’. It is a cost saving plan for the employers to not have to supply an office, so I think that working from home could become a lot more common than it used to be.”
The next person to give their view point on working from home is Lisa Willems.
“I have worked for Central Valley Dairy Supply for nine and a half years, with all of my employment time being at home.
“I meet with my supervisor on a regular basis. I do have a work schedule. I like working from a schedule, because many times I work outside of normal business hours, and it is not easy to stop for the day because there is still work to be done.
“If there is someone who is considering working from home, I would tell them they need to be disciplined, able to avoid distractions and to be able to remain focused on the work at hand.
“I believe that in the future more companies will allow their employees to work from home. The employer receives the benefits of higher productivity, less sick time taken by the employee, higher employee retention, and higher employee morale.”
Lisa finished her remarks by stating the she is truly grateful to have the opportunity to work from home.
The next person who gave his view point on working at home is Chris Engebretson.
“I work for the United States Geological Survey at the EROS Center outside of Garretson as a systems engineer and development manager for the Landsat program's data processing systems. I started at EROS in 1994 and moved into my present role in 2009. I have been working from home since March 12th, 2020. The experience that we've had thus far is that my team has been very effective in the work-from-home environment. The team specializes in software development, integration, and testing, and these are activities that are well-suited for a remote work configuration. I can't say that there is no overhead at all resulting from an all-telecommuting scenario, but it does appear to be a fairly manageable amount and we have adapted to the "new normal" with surprising rapidity. Through the use of email, instant messaging, and the Microsoft Teams software which provides audio and video conference capabilities, we have been able to remain in touch almost as well as we were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows us to access secure resources on-site at EROS.
“I am in regular electronic contact with my supervisor, and I have met with him in person at EROS, but in general the technology has rendered face-to-face discussions optional.
“Whether working at the office or working from home, we generally work a standard schedule. Procedures for recording and submitting time cards really have not changed. There is no overt monitoring of day-to-day and minute-to-minute work habits; everybody has job duties that they need to perform, meetings that need to be attended, and deliverables that need to be met -- and either the work gets done or it doesn't. Most of the members of our team were putting in more than 40 hours a week prior to the onset of COVID-19 and that really hasn't changed in recent months. If anything, most people are putting in more time than they were before.
“I'm generally satisfied with working from home, but it has gotten a bit stagnant. I miss the personal interactions with my coworkers, and while we still communicate regularly through teleconferences, that isn't a true replacement for working face-to-face. I have been back on site at EROS a few times since the pandemic began, and that has been a welcome change of scenery, even if the experience is somewhat surreal, given that the building is mostly empty.
“In the age of the Internet, telecommuting was already fairly commonplace even before the pandemic arrived. A lot of employers, including those who were previously reluctant to embrace telecommuting and work-from-home scenarios, will be reexamining their positions as a result of this situation. Many businesses have been pleasantly surprised to discover how productive their employees can be remotely. I do think that even when the pandemic fades, working from home will be more common for jobs where it is an option. The future will almost certainly involve much more flexibility in work arrangements. Having said that, I also believe that the majority of people who were working in an office environment prior to COVID-19 will return to the office when it is safe to do so. (I know that I will!)”
The next person who gave her viewpoint on working at home is Cindy Shanker.
“I have worked for Citibank 35 1/2 years. I have been working at home since 2011. My immediate Supervisor is in San Antonio, TX and I have met him only one time.
“I am scheduled to work 8 hours a day, but work a lot of days up to 12 hours per day. When I log in on my computer it tracks how long I am signed in each day.
“I absolutely love working from home, but I miss seeing some of my co-workers.
“For someone who is thinking of working at home, stay focused as if you were at the office.
“Given the present-day economic condition, I feel that working at home will last and grow as companies have found that their productivity has increased.”
There has been one other person from Garretson who has experience working from home. Linda Biever worked in the Alliance Communication office for several years. When her husband was transferred to the Twin Cities, Linda went with him and took her job at Alliance with her. For the rest of her career with Alliance, she did her work at her home.
One other example of a person who has benefited from a ‘working at home’ job is our daughter Kaie, who lives in Renton, WA . Kaie works for a large company, Darigold. She was working in the large office with several other people. When the Coronavirus hit, most of the people in that office were sent home to do their work from home.
Kaie likes doing her work from home very much. She is in daily contact with her office when she logs in on her computer and there are frequent conferences by computer. In addition, she benefits greatly by avoiding a commute to work of 45 minutes to an hour and a half both ways.
She also told about REI, the very large sporting goods company, building a new headquarters and store in the Seattle area. REI is now trying to sell the building because they have a ‘work at home’ method for many of their employees.
Epilogue. Taking the information from the people who participated in the discussions, they all were satisfied working at home. They all gave advice about the necessity to set up an office to work in, establish regular working hours and avoid distractions. They did say that sometimes they missed the contact with their co-workers.
