Adverse Weather Underscores the Importance of the Telecommuting Option
As Carol McAlice Currie points out, the hazards of the winter commute lend strength and poignancy to arguments for telecommuting.
During the recent spate of freezing weather and icy driving conditions, I’ve heard from dozens of readers disgusted with the yahoos (and I’m not talking search engines here) who refuse to slow down and exercise a little caution on slick and slippery roads.
They speed, they tailgate, they drive with their cell phones stuck to their ears in a manner reminiscent of a wet tongue to frozen metal. They don’t give a fig.
Those who care about themselves and others would just as well stay home during this weather, but many employers won’t let them.
I’m among the fortunate. My editor allowed me to reduce my company’s carbon footprint for the snow day because he knows that a virtual office is as effective as one with a water cooler and coat rack.
Unfortunately, he’s in the minority. Telecommuting still is feared by bosses and human-resource workers who cling to the antiquated notion that people working from home will cause the workplace to freeze up. They don’t encourage safety until an emergency is declared.
But snow days should be thought of as emergencies for non-essential workers.
Police, fire, health-care workers — those are employees we need on the job. But many others are not needed, and if a job can be done remotely for a couple of hours or a day, employers should make it so.
In this technologically savvy 21st century, stay-at-home orders are a snap to deliver. Rerouting of calls and remote retrieval of e-mail is a cinch. Appointments can be made, schedules can be updated, faxes can be exchanged.
Give a nod to an employee’s welfare by allowing him or her to boot up the home computer rather than putting on boots to shovel drives and risk fender-benders or worse trying to get into the office.
There are benefits beyond the safety aspect.
The commentary continues and points out — as we agree — that the technology exists that makes telecommuting possible for many. Attitudes are what need to change.
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