Do Engineers Efficiently Work From Home?

It's been said here TEAM work Team work Team work. We don't know it all, and it is always good to bounce an idea off of some one else. When I stopped working for a large manufacture and started my business I took a small business course. The instructor asked me "can you take working by yourself" my answer was YEA No problem. I was wrong!! Just the camaraderie of working in a team helps keep you focused. I would say some can but most can't work from home for one reason or other.

Hopes this helps

When I brought work home it was for programming to automate the projects on how we developed it......... automate redundant processes so you could spend more time designing and engineering....... that worked out great.

But when I was a engineering manager. And brought work brought was difficult it had to be selective. The engineering office was an open concept with anywhere from 3-8 engineers and designers.

Everyone that was in the office had an idea of what was going on.

There was plenty of benefits in this.....

And being OEM, The result since the risk was high, and everyone new who was working on what.... if the group didn't catch it when someone got into trouble it was no problem for others to step in for an immediate mediation impact.

But your statement of: "I would say some can but most can't work from home for one reason or other."

That is so true, and the ones that would usually make the mistakes are the engineers just within a few years out of college.

I no longer take work home. I like to think I work smarter now....... I just have to work on not working harder.

@lyn I appologise for my english mistakes I'am French...

Maybe I should have said the survey is more about the outcomes perceived by telecommuting.

Such as do you think you will be more satisfy with your job by telecommuting? and more productive/efficient by working from home ?

By the way thanks everyone for your comments and feedback it helps me to carry out my work.

Ga.

Thanks for your reply and I absolutely agree that lot of factor can influence telecommuting.

Actually I should have express myself more clearly by asking what are the main outcomes perceive by engineers when working at home. Do they feel more productive ? efficient? or satisfy toward their job ?

This is what I try to understand in my survey, I tend to compare the actual perception of outcomes from telecommuters versus the expected (non-telecommuters).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RX8jqDOctotJx5v2qY9AXu5L-QHZbr-W-3CX_D3zDz0/viewform

So If you can, feel free to take a look of my survey. This will help me to do my dissertation as well.

No, got to agree with Fredski.... There is no way I could do my job from my home!

Several companies have tried it, Schlumberger for one (former employer) never got off the drawing board!

I too did not even think about completing your survey.

I have had assignments which required all of my time spent at a plant or office. Likewise I have had assignments that required no time at the office as long as I had my own designated cubby-hole at home. All it needed was a light, desk, maybe a table (to handle the junk items), a good computer line and a telephone with an answering machine. This avoided long commutes, home prep time and having to shave each morning, etc.. Got to go to work with the dog(s) and have lunch while working if I wanted to. Several other benefits also. This time is much the same as the consulting I now do from my home but leave the house for consultations and training.

Where I had difficulty was when both types were integrated together! When I was working at the plants and at home it always seemed that other people would take advantage of my time at the plant for their answers and to resolve problems, thus I would have to take more work home. This resulted in more time working at home and at work than I personally felt I should be doing, 60-80 hours/week on average. It made me a zombie and was detrimental to my family and recreation life.

To me, the time spent either at home or at work is not the problem. The problem is when you have to mix the two together!

Sorry, I can only give you problems and not any solutions, but that is how it was. Obviously, I am now retired and loving it!

Good Luck, Old Salt

I've been doing it about half time (a week on site, a week or so at home) for about 15 years now. The company moved, but I couldn't, so we worked it out, and it has been pretty successful. I do have a small shop at home, so many of the things I design, I also build. I especially appreciate being able to switch between theoretical/design and practical/physical work whenever I feel like it!

This would not work for most people, since few have the physics, the engineering, the machining, and the electronic skills, as well as the tools I've acquired over the last 60 years of work. ...and of course they fly me to and from work...

If I can get the 110 kV, 400 kV substations and the 250 MVA transformers at home maybe I could do it. Until then I don't think so.

We have a team member who works from home. She is very disciplined and has set hours she works. She gets dressed for work like she would if she was going to the office. She keeps a schedule. There are also times when she goes to the office and also does some travelling. Being able to communicate and also see team members occasionally is crucial for a job well done.

Certainly not everyone is disciplined enough or trustworthy enough to work with that kind of flexibility. Most people are too lazy and unmotivated to work from home where there isn't the accountability of a Time Keeping System or a formal work environment.

This is becoming more of a trend as technology makes it possible for businesses to reduce some overhead by not having to provide space, building, etc. for each person contributing to the production of a product. It also gives great oppurtunity for someone who can work independently to be flexible with their hours.

And that's why I go to work every day.

Except for no dogs and cats, we had 11, yes, 11 kids here yesterday afternoon. 3 of them are ours, and my daughter and her 4 didn't come over yesterday, or we'd have had 15.

I go in to work on weekends, "to check on things" for the same reason.

OH my, 11, that is alot of sun shine and happy hearts with the occasional rain cloud, or at least that is how I see it with my kids.

But 11............WOW just WOW......it must be cold where you live.

Cold??????? It's supposed to get up to 111°F today. That's why we have a pool.

We only have 3 kids here all the time, but Grandma stocks ice cream and pop for them to pilfer while they swim, so, we're the most popular house on the block.

Grandma sounds very cool.

Along with the Lat and Lon the "stocks ice cream and POP" give away the midwestern in you. POP put a smile on my face, just dont hear that enough out here.

We dont get as hot as ya'll but we did hit 115 for three days this year, normaly its the 90's.

Ok, sorry back to work now.

I call her the Disneyland Grandma. Here, kids are King.

I live in the Sonoran Desert of Central Arizona.

Sonoran Desert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The lat/lon and avatar are of our place in Arkansas (my family farm), which we can only visit once a year, due to work.

My first wife was from the midwest, thus the pop.

I'm off today.

Cheers.

Thanks for the Wiki read, I had no idea that, the Sonoran desert is the only place "naturally" that the Saguaro Cactus grows (palm OS) and I love the look of the Mexican Goldpoppies.

A lot more species of life there, amphibian at that, than I would have expected.

Talk about extreemes. The family farm and the family house. The kids must love to be able to be at both.

Love it.....the Disneyland Grandma........We only have one grand daughter, but all it takes is one smile and well im done, what ever she wants, Nana and I will go out and make it happen. My wife still is fighiting it at 52.....". am not grandma! I am Nana, not old enough to be G-ma!

Me......popa, Grandpa, all work. Funny though yesterday after she (grand daughter 9) got home from school (her mom and her live with us still, mom had substance issues) she said "whats up G-daddy", I feel a cool breeze comming......

There is another factor that I think is important. Are you a salaried employee or an hourly employee. Any employer would want positive proof that the employee actually put in the hours claimed. That would be very difficult. Some government contracts require accountability for every manhour spent. Unless you are self employed, working at home would not be permitted.

Usually the company looks at the employee profile and history.

The first job I had, I was salary-nonexempt, (hourly) and if I wanted to do the work at home I could.

Another company, I was salaried, and the company gave each employee a cell phone.......... I quit there because of this.

#9

Don't forget to complete the online survey

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RX8jqDOctotJx5v2qY9AXu5L-QHZbr-W-3CX_D3zDz0/viewform

It will be great to have your perception of telecommuting in my survey.

Thank youuuu

I find a limited work from home very useful maybe once a week, max. I find it useful when you have an inspiration while mowing the lawn on a weekend. You stop mowing and work on your project for a while 'striking the iron while it is hot'. I also find it useful if you have an important appointment midday. You can make the appointment and still work your 8 hrs. It is great for weekend work where what you must do can be done remotely but must be accomplished off hrs. You need the weekend in case things do not go your way.

Limited remote work is a great benefit but if done often it may reduce teamwork and rapport between team members. One exception is if you need a specialist with rare talents for a few hundred hours. You can attract better tallent for much less money ($5-$10/hr).

It is well worth the money to invest in a secure remote access like Citrix.

No.

CR4 and porn are only a couple of clicks away, and there's nobody around to stop you.

Before you know it, it's time for lunch.