I think its ridiculous how much money and time is wasted on something called a "job." I think most people can and should be able to work from home. Why waste money on pretentious uncomfortable clothing, drive through hours of traffic so you can sit in a cubicle in a soulless corporate building plus deal with office politic bs when you can do it at home. Waste, waste, waste, mostly all show and hot air and less work. Their are staples and office depots everywhere. Its not cost-efficient for employer/employee. If you don't turn in your quota then you should get fired like any other job. Adults don't need to have someone breathing down their necks peptalking them to work like children in school.
Try putting that in a letter to the editor and sending it to any major publication. I've been doing that for years, I'm a guy with the knack to get several letters printed every year, and not one on that subject has ever been printed. Telecommuting started catching on in the early 1990s. Before we had broadband connections, webcams, and NetMeeting. It worked just fine. By the late 1990s many cities and counties had passed ordinances requiring employers to let most of their employees work at home one day a week--although they could get around it by letting them work a 4x10, which for many people was just as good. Then the Clown Prince of the Energy Industry got into the White House and within two years telecommuting was dead. In my company a one-line e-mail was sent to every workstation: As of [two weeks from now] the telecommuting program at [this company] will be permanently suspended. Full compliance is required. No explanation, no apology, no help for people to restructure their lives. Now probably 80 percent of the workforce spends their entire day talking on the telephone and huddling over a computer, two devices which everybody has in their house. And they have to schlep themselves across the landscape twice a day to do it. Wasting fuel, missing time with their families, creating stress, eating fast foods, wearing out their cars faster, creating congestion and smog, and bidding up the price of real estate close to the cities so people have to give up their privacy and take in lodgers to pay their mortgage. Don't mess with Big Oil.
I think you should think about the number and types of jobs in the world. It's a fair guess that only a small percentage of professions could actually work outside of the office. So all that waste that you're so intent on saving is just not there ...certainly not at the levels that you imply. Construction workers, manufacturing work, maintenance services, janitorial work, cooks, waiters/waitresses, street cleaners, cops, lawyers, teachers, quality controllers, ....geez, the list goes on and on, don't it? Think about it. Baron Max
Start thinkin' of 'em and figuring out how it'll all work. You're going to be very damned surprised! Part of the problem, of course, is that SOME of the work can be done at home, but then you have to make the presentation to the bosses ....so you still have to go in to the office. And that type of thing occurs so often in the workplace that working at home is a most difficult thing to do ....especially for a young, unestablished individual. Baron Max
I like to agree with you on those rare occasions when I can. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Not only are you correct here, but as no one else has, I will point out that any job that can 100% telecommute, is exportable (outsource prone). Some, which require time, for example, reading an X-ray and writing up a report for the record, etc are actually better done in India than in the US, because of the time difference. Many large hospitals send their routine X-rays (not the emergency room ones of course) to a well qualified Indian doctors who reads it and write the report while people in US are sleeping so it is the hospital's data bank by sunrise the next day. (Faster turn-around time.) They are saving a bundle as that doctor works for 1/3 the cost and the patient does not know who reads the X-ray. CNN had recent story about job that I thought would be impossible to outsource - namely having a baby. For couples who need to “rent a womb” - India is the place to go. It cost on 10 to 15% as much. The very well - screened, surrogate mother is always married with healthy kids and gets only about $200 /month for the job. Only what I call "local jobs" will employ Americans ten years from now. Look forward to a future of selling Big Macs, cutting someone's hair, fixing their car, etc. All the good, interesting jobs will be out sourced. When the dollar collapse, even most of the business and insurance related jobs will be gone. Barron listed some "local jobs", but one of his is only partially correct. Once you are literate and have some computer skill, teaching is very "out source able". You can be in Poland and get a MIT degree via distant learning already!
For once I agree with Max. Weird, anyway, let me put it like this, lots of the job Max lists require people to be certain places. The ones that don't, could be done anywhere, not just from home, like lower cost countries. If you are in a job where you can work from home, your job could be at risk from being offshored. As profit drives everything in business, maybe you don't want a job where you can work from home, so you can see it exported?
