Work at Home - And we're not talking about housework!
The electronic cottage. Does it sound strange? Not to futurists. They say that in the future people will Avork at home, connected to their office by inexpensive computers. In fact, some experts say that, by the year 2000, as many as 10 million \Americans will be working from the home. No more rush-hour traffic problems. No more expensive office buildings. Office workers could work more productively and effectively in their homes, where they wouldn't be constantly interrupted by the phone and other colleagues. But is the home really the ideal place to work? In experimental projects across the US, several hundred secretaries and professional workers have agreed to try working at home on computers that are connected to their firm's office computers. This kind of work is called 'telecommuting', and employees work at 'flexiplaces' instead of in office buildings. Although the advantages of computer work at home have always been obvious, the disadvantages haven't been discussed too much. Employers are afraid of losing control over their employees. They don't trust the workers at home and think that if no one is watching the employee, he or she won't work as hard. On the other hand, employees feel out of touch with the office and fear they might be forgotten when it comes to pay raises and promotions (i.e., getting a better job with the same company). Companies are also discovering that working at home is expensive for them because of the high cost of computers. Unions are against computer work at home. They fear that the home computer workshop will bring back the poor working conditions of the late 19th century. They say it will be easier for employers to pay workers less and not give any health insurance or pension schemes. They are afraid that children will be working at an earlier age and they say employees may even be forced to buy office equipment usually paid for by the firm. At the moment the unions are against all home computer work except for the handicapped, who cannot live a normal life due to their physical or mental disability. Companies who have experimented with work at home have had some successes but also some failures. Fun Toy Co. says that the workers at home worked 48% more effectively than the workers in the office. But not all the home workers liked it. Three out of eight managers in the programme dropped out. One manager, Sally Evans, wanted to get back to the office after putting on 20 pounds in two months because she was always running to the refrigerator for snacks.
Another manager with marriage problems found that being in the house all day made his marriage even worse, and his wife finally moved out. The third manager to leave the programme missed the social contact with friends at the office and found it hard to discipline himself at
home.
