Let’s redefine “work at home”

My hat’s off to the folks who have figured out how to “work from home” and to their companies that respect their employees and encourage such flexibility in the workplace.

I think most folks should be fighting to the bitter end if “work from home” means working your regular shift in the office and then checking the company email at 11 p.m. or responding to a text from the boss at 5 a.m.

The Gallup Poll reported recently that 37% of American workers say they “telecommute” an average of two days per month. Gallup asked “Have you ever telecommuted, that is, worked from your home using a computer to communicate for your job?”

Now, that’s a significantly limited definition of “working from home.” I think most folks would describe “working from home” as spending the day at home, doing the kind of work one would do at the office. Of course that involves communicating, but most jobs involve a whole lot more than that.

I suspect that many of those 37% really aren’t “working from home.” Instead, they’re checking email and swapping text messages and taking calls that may or may not be vitally important to their companies, and maybe they’re doing it voluntarily, and maybe they’re not.

I think too many folks are trapped in involuntary servitude by managers and companies who wrongly insist that being “on call” and “checking in” after regular work hours are part of the job.

I think too many folks are “working from home” and not getting paid for it.

I think “working from home” is supposed to be a benefit for both the company and the employee.

If you’re “working from home,” how does it feel to you?

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015 All rights reserved.