Working Out the Energy Crisis

Exactly...

Waaaay back they told us the BIG problem in the 21st century would be too much leisure time...you remember that?

I'm lucky that I do a 3 day week...
So many companies/HR depts are ingrained in the old '9-5' 'us and them' 'blue collar, white collar' intransigent mentalities, they should all be made to work in their underwear for a day and given a damn good spanking.

Del

Must be toiling away in the Castle Anthrax where we have but one punishment for setting alight the grail shaped beacon . . .

First off Dell, do you need any help, and are there any open positions, working three days a week.

I think you hit the nail on the head, ingrained tradition. And now that you have the hammer out I believe it will be necessary to hit a lot of people on the head before the traditions can be changed.

At first glance a four-day workweek could potentially result in a maximum 20% savings. With a little effort and flexibility industries and suppliers can synchronize their schedules i.e. blue-collar workers work Tuesday through Friday, white-collar workers work Monday through Thursday. In metropolitan areas staggering the four-day workweek would result in reduced commute time and significantly reduce fuel consumption, to add to our maximum 20% potential reduction in fuel usage.

With the available technologies including virtual office, there's no reason that some engineering work could not be done from home.

Again I fear the tradition will get in the way of reason. A shining example of lack of reason could be found in the office of the company I work for. They have taken the saying of,if it works don't fix it to new heights. I.e. it took me six years to get them off of a dial up connection, and even though they've updated their equipment my home office has several times their capability.

Needless to say when I needed to do Internet research work or download manuals or brochures, I work from home.

Logical arguments are sometimes an oxymoron where human resources ,controllers or owners are concerned. Should you think of a way to convince these people, you're welcome to start with my boss.
I feel it necessary to warn you however, Flathead Ford is his e-mail address, and I am quite sure he regularly blogs on the flat Earth Society's website.

YWroadrunner wrote:

With the available technologies including virtual office, there's no reason that some engineering work could not be done from home.

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Absolutely! People who work mainly withe data and information businesses can be just as effective - sometimes more so; if working from home. On several occasions I have worked for companies that were merged and our offices were scattered all over. That is what teleconferences ar all about. Now that we have VOIP and Skype, conference calls are even easier and less expensive to arrange. In a previous career I had my wife doing electronic assembly of a product I designed. That lasedt almost 8 years and she made twice as much per hour at home as factory workers did. Management and owner attitude is the biggest stumbling block. They haven't a clue how to manage by results.

In today's global market place, the only pitfall is time zone co-ordination. When dealing with Asian clients dinner time is usually the best. They are just starting as I am just finishing my day. I just have to remember when they are one day ahead of me.

We could probably pull 50% of the commuters off the roads right now if working from a home office was allowed. Biggest improvement would be ensuring that every home, rural or otherwise was connected by fiber optics.

I have been working from home for so many decades I doubt I could fit back into an office cubicle.

You said:Management and owner attitude is the biggest stumbling block. They haven't a clue how to manage by results.

Again absolutely. Unfortunately the easiest way to lobotomize or turn someone to the dark side is to give them some sort of management title.

It never ceases to amaze me that governments like here in the United States can stick their fingers into literally everything from seatbelt laws to regional emission standards, pass laws like emission standards and fuel economy standards that add thousands to the price of a vehicle, and completely ignore a viable immediately implementable solution that would reduce emissions , conserve natural resources, and save everybody money.

I'm not endorsing involuntary legislative action, however certainly a little push like tax incentives, and some ad campaigns would go a long way in raising awareness to a viable solutions, like four day work weeks and work from home. Working from home would certainly not be suitable for all white-collar workers however there are many accountants, company controllers, and others that do nothing more than sit in a cubicle and work.

Unfortunately when you give someone a political title you lobotomize them and turn them to the dark side.

It's called the Peter principle. People rise to the level of their incompetence. Once there, they cannot rise any further. Unfortunately, it has become an entrenched business practice to promote with a title instead of a pay raise which actually cost the busines owner something.Titles are free. and if th enewly promoted peson is gullible enough to believe a title has any real meaning they are so pleased with themsleves they forget to ask for real money in the paycheck.

When a business owner realizes a middle level management person has reached the level of their incompetence, they canno tfire them because that would highlight the business owners own lack of planning or knowledge in selecting employees for specific job positions.

Its all about CYA!

"Unfortunately the easiest way to lobotomize or turn someone to the dark side is to give them some sort of management title."

Truer words were never spoken/written.

Elnav, perhaps you will enjoy my earlier little diatribe about cubicles and offices. There has been nothing more detrimental to the human spirit of creativeness and efficiency than the damnable cubicle and the office environment. I guess as a long time field engineer who has worked from home for years, I will never understand how somebody can go sit on their backside for 8-10 hours burning their retinas out staring into a monitor. If you would like to see my post, I reiterated that the telecommunications infrastructure has been in place for some time now to support a remote work force. In my estimate, I would say that perhaps 75% of the people who commute to a job could come off the road tomorrow and work V/O (virtual office) going forward.

Yes I saw that, but you are preaching to the choir. My first public article on working from home with a cottage industry and telecommuting by computer was published in 1982. That was before we got PC by IBM. Back then Apple was the only such game in town.

The Canadian coast guard closed their regional office and saved a bundle. Each CCG officer or inspector now has a laptop and cell phone etc. They drive directly to the ships they inspect and send their written report to their boss via modem.

The only guys I know who cannot work from home ar the guys running big or heavy equipment or production lines. I even know some machinists working from home in the garage.

Ah maybe you should develop some remote persecution software for the bosses...then maybe they'd let people work from home.

What am I talking about??? It MUST already be out there.

Del (from home...tee hee...of to make tea and toast _{<exit monitor left cackling wildly>})

"Always give 100% at work

• 16% on Monday
• 23% on Tuesday
• 34% on Wednesday....."

Because "that's the way we've always done it".

What a crappy answer!

I just started recently working from home (probably in the last 6 months) and I find that I am more relaxed and actually get alot more work done. I can drop my kids to school, pick them and meet my wife or friends for lunch. I would not say that I work the normal 8-5 routine, it is probably more like 07:00 - 18:30 with long breaks in between, to read up on what is happenning on CR4. My work is scheduled around my life (well actually my kids life) and not the other way around.

I am lucky that I work for a very progressive company and a very progressive boss.

I also don't have the costs of travelling "into" work each day. I have a good internet connection which makes this possible - this is the one main reason that I am able to do this.

It does take a bit of discipline (and not the kind Del was suggesting - spanking : not that I am against this in an way, but that is surely off topic !!) but after a while you get so used to it. I sometimes have to travel into the office for some reason or other and you see the stress on those who have long distances to commute.

There are certain activites that can be performed equally well from home or from the office but there will always be those tasks that require persons to travel into the office/ factory.

Kind Regards

Mr. W.A. Snow

Yeh, and I'll bet as much work will be done in four days as was done in five...

At least until we get into dressdown Thursday... TGIT and 'I'm leaving early to make up for for arriving late '

Del

TRUST......

It's not even in my managements dictionary.

On the contrary, some organizations already do this. I live 200 k from my home residence, I work 4x10's, am home on Friday's each week. I have been doing this for five years now, later I plan to work entirely from my home office..

Howard

Some jobs do not lend themselves to doing in an office or remotely. On the other hand, some job functions can actually be done remotely even though at first glance it seems not feasible. Example: I often do technical trouble shooting by phone or email. the client describes the symptoms and sometimes send me photos. I then ask them to take measurements or visually verify something on site which I cannot do.

In a very real sense I am a systems analyst. This is a software term but can be applied to mechanical systems as well.

In my case I rely on t eclient to be able to physically change out the part or component. Failing that, he gets a less skilled worker to do the physical work that I can't because I am thousands of miles away.

Unfortunately we as a society have tried to dummy down the jobs by encouraging parts substitution instead of actually doing diagnostics based on a thorough understanding of the system behaviour. Bosses do not like to pay salaries and wages,because it eats into the profit margin.. So they hire the cheapest person going who has just enough knowledge to get by on. That is not conducive to getting the best and most knowledgable peson on the job.

It will take a major mind set change to convince business people that working from home is a better solution.

Well, this seems to be the dominant conversation on several boards. I witnessed what turned into an online slugfest about giving up SUV's and trucks and trading for hybrids...the argument being that gas-guzzlers will be extinct in the next year or two.

IMHO the only thing that will be extinct are micromanagers and cubicles...here is my reasoning:

#1.I am a field operations and engineering professional in telecom and wireless infrastructure. If a potential client wants me to commute to an office, I automatically add 20% to my rate to cover the cost of the commute...period. Why? Because to pay out of my pocket would be the equivalent of a 20% pay cut given todays fuel prices.

#2. I have successfully worked from my home office now for several years and the telecommunications infrastructure is already in place to support perhaps 90-95% of all engineering, customer service, and other white collar industries. It works, I am living proof.

#3.The concept of the remote workplace is going to improve because of new femtocell technology which will allow true wireless broadband connections to the home. Many people have already cut the "twisted pair" leash for wireless. Now you will be able to cut the cable for DOCSIS connectivity.

#4.Lets face it, commuting to an office is on its death bed. The road infrastructure is already aged and in need of major overhauls and current EPA pollution level requirements prevent many cities/states from adding new roadways. If global warming is really connected to current technology byproducts (and I have serious doubts), then it makes sense to get vehicles off the road ASAP.

#5.Which brings me back to my original point. The only items on the soon to be extinct list are micromanagers who don't use common sense and let their employees work at least 50% V/O (virtual office or remote) and the manufacturers of the most blatant and offensive invention known to man...the cubicle.

There you have it...