Mobile Workers Work Longer Hours 117
Qedward writes "Last month it was reported on slashdot that a third of workers at a British telecoms company were 'more productive' working from home during a telecommuting experiment to prepare for the London 2012 Olympics. A more recent study reveals almost two-thirds of mobile employees say they are working 50+ and 60+ hour weeks, with most also working weekends. It also has security implications, with most mobile workers saying they will do anything to get an internet connection, including hijacking unsecure networks. The problem of needing a connection has also led to an increase in workers waking up through the night due to stress."
What? (Score:5, Insightful)
"The problem of needing a connection has also led to an increase in workers waking up through the night due to stress."
Seriously?
What in the world is this shit? How can someone even attempt to work from home without a solid Internet connection and with no secure method of connecting to the company network? And waking up in the middle of the night because you need a connection to the fucking internet? Man, what a mess we're living in. And I thought I was messed up.
Just get a fucking solid Internet connection. Surely one could afford it, I mean come on...
Re:Remote working is the future (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also a feature that you're on call 24/7, right?
A third of them should be fired. (Score:5, Insightful)
a third of workers [...] were 'more productive'
two-thirds of mobile employees say they are working 50+ and 60+ hour weeks
Which means a third is working more hours while not doing a damn thing more.
Either that or a lot of people are lying about how much they work.
"Employees say..." (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, and I have Bigfoot doing all the server backups. You expect them to say they are doing less work? Or even the same amount of work? No confirmation from their companies on whether the company saw an increase in productivity?
Now before everyone gets flippy, I have known some people who did the mobile thing and were more productive, mostly because they didn't have people interrupting them every 5 minutes, and actually liked working more (as in hours) that way because it was more enjoyable. I also have known people that did their work in 3 hours and played games the rest of the day (also maybe because they could do 8 hours in 3 because of less distractions.
Main point- employees are never going to say anything bad about work out of the office.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even ignoring the connection thing, stress while working from home is a problem. The work is with you all day long and you feel pressured to keep whittling away at it, making relaxation difficult.
They may work more hours, and more productively, (Score:5, Insightful)
But having commuted for five hours a day in the past, and worked from home on other occasions, I would much rather work nine hours at home than work for eight in the office with even one hour of commuting.
Fuel, tires, collisions, stress, bus fair, everything associated with commuting sucks. I would much rather talk on the phone and fill out my work logs in my underwear than that.
Doubt they work longer... (Score:5, Insightful)
Worked from home for the past 10 years...
I have no doubt they say they work longer... but it's more likely they just feel like they are working longer.
With no separation between work and home, it can feel like you are always working, even when you're not. And that is what keeps them up at night.. the stress from never being able to wind-down.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously, your mileage will vary. Working from home isn't for everyone - some people concentrate better at work, some people can't stop working if they work from home, so on, but for some, it's quite advantageous.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Bullshit.
I've been working from home for a while and it's very relaxing. You can dress very, VERY casually, for example. I attended many a meetings while sitting butt-naked in a cozy chair. You can have a beer or whatever (I don't drink alcohol, though), you can pet the cat (I do) and so on and so forth. Lack of noisy-nosy-annoying colleagues is a plus. And as far as work being with you all day long, in a world where a laptop is ubiquitous and you can take it home, not to mention company provided VPN and webmail or mobile device connectivity, well, work's there already.
I honestly think that whoever worries more while working from home either doesn't understand what "working from home" means or has deeper problems (including but not limited to a pathological fear of being fired).
Re:A third of them should be fired. (Score:4, Insightful)
a third of workers [...] were 'more productive'
two-thirds of mobile employees say they are working 50+ and 60+ hour weeks
Which means a third is working more hours while not doing a damn thing more. Either that or a lot of people are lying about how much they work.
No, it doesn't - more productive means doing more per hour, not doing more by spending more time working. In fact, you'd expect lower productivity from people working 50+ hours, not higher, ceteris parabis. What I suspect does happen, though, is that chopping two hours of commuting out of the day makes it possible to work longer before getting the same level of productivity fall....but that really is just my guess.
Re:Remote working is the future (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also a feature that you're on call 24/7, right?
There's no reason you have to answer work calls outside of your scheduled work hours. If they want you on call 24/7 then ask for compensation.
Re:Remote working is the future (Score:5, Insightful)
Get used to it people. It's a green initiative.
No necessarily. If you don't work at home, you also don't have to keep your home warm (or cool) enough to be comfortable during the day. The office, on the other hand, will be kept at a reasonable temperature whether you're there or not.
My wife's work is about 30 miles away, but she works from home most days. We calculated that, on the coldest winter days, the carbon cost of driving to work was about the same as the extra heating that would be needed if she stayed at home. If you have a shorter commute, or have a greener method of transport than driving a car, it's quite likely that it's greener to work in the office than to work at home.
Re:Remote working is the future (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps some numbers would be helpful here.
We have a small semi-detached house with cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, and double glazing. We still need over 10kW to heat in the cold months. If we're out of the house for 10 hours, we save roughly 100 kW hours (*). How far will your car go on that amount of energy?
(*) Of course, it's not that simple because we have to use extra heat to bring the house back to normal temperature when we get home. A more accurate analysis would compare the temperature-time graphs for the two scenarios and use Newton's law of cooling. Nevertheless, the above figures are roughly correct.