The Home Working Debate

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR.

Our panellists fight it out

You will have all received your polling card by now for the forthcoming referendum on alternative voting. Unfortunately, the powers at be produced the card incorrectly as they failed to include the key issue... working from home! So, today we have our own David Cameron and Ed Balls in the shape of Dorothy Nesbit and Sheena McLullich who argue the value of home working. (Ed Scrivener)

On the joys of working from home (by Dorothy Nesbit)

From the beginning of my career I have worked in open plan offices. As a young graduate in my first job I shared an office with my peers. We got to know each other well and enjoyed great camaraderie even though, given our separate responsibilities, we mainly worked independently. Later, working for a training organisation and subsequently for a consultancy, it made sense to have open plan offices for people whose work was largely out with clients. In the 1990s, I was working for the Hay Group when the ultimate reorganisation took place: almost without exception, people who had previously had their own offices lost them. Junior consultants found themselves working alongside their most senior colleagues in an open plan, hot-desking system: turn up, grab an available desk and off you go.

Homeworkers are always this happy

As well as making optimum use of limited space in a growing organisation, open-plan working and hot desking presented challenges. Firstly, there was an ongoing litany of low-level inconveniences. Some challenges were purely logistical, such as the time you took to set yourself up and to pack your things away at the beginning and end of each working day. Some seemed more personal: I still remember being asked by my manager at the time to contain my laugh in the office (was it me or were there undertones of “laughing is not professional”?) because of the disturbance to my colleagues. (I know Hay’s current MD is not so po faced and encourages laughing). It wasn’t until I left Hay that my laugh was rehabilitated as something that lifts the spirits and brings people joy.

Some challenges were more fundamental. How was it possible, for example, to do the intensive work of reading and analysing an interview transcript surrounded by the everyday noises of a busy office? The Hay Group provided a Quiet Room for such work. At the same time, on days when my work for clients required quiet concentration, it made sense to work from home. This made it easier to complete my work efficiently and to a high standard. It also provided balance in a life in which many days included getting up early to travel to client sites and many nights were spent away from home. From the beginning, I loved those days at home. Yes, I had to handle e-mails and phone calls at some point – there was no escaping from these and other ongoing aspects of doing my job. At the same time, I got to choose when to spend time on my client work and when to spend time on other things. What’s more, I didn’t have to handle the ongoing background noise associated with working in a busy office.

Whilst I didn’t know it at the time, these early experiences of working from home prepared me for the experience of setting up my own business in 2002. During this time I have been on a steep learning curve, taking on every aspect of running a company, and facing and embracing my own fears: could I really set up my own company and succeed? There have been highs and lows along the way. At the same time, I have never regretted replacing life in a busy office with a life in which I work from home.

Made up fact of the day:
50% of Jeremy Kyle's viewers are home workers.
The other 50% are students!

Many people have questioned my decision. Amongst the questions I am asked about working from home there are two that recur. Don’t you feel lonely? And, don’t you get distracted from your work? The first question is as much about running your own business as it is about working from home. When I first left the Hay Group, it was invaluable to have a network of friends and colleagues with whom to share experiences. Sometimes I have worked for them. Sometimes they have worked for me. At the same time, over time, my network has re-shaped itself to support me in my work. To my previous network I have added fellow coaches, professional support (my accountant, computer support etc.), and a growing group of loyal fans, including my clients. I have found it helpful to establish a strong support network, too: as well as coaching others I work with a coach, for example, and I also have a strong network of peer support.

And do I get distracted from my work? The answer is, yes and no. Some distractions afflict us all, in an era in which we are so accessible. How do you handle the ongoing dripping tap of e-mails, for example, and establish your own personal policy for containing the time you spend responding to others’ needs? I have learnt to handle telephone salespeople courteously and efficiently (and to spot a scam with great ease). Some distractions reflect the fact that there is no receptionist between me and my front door. I have two lovely ladies who pop by every now and then to say hello - Jehovah’s witnesses. We have a quick chat on the doorstep and they read me a verse from the Bible before moving on. And homeless Anthony, whom I met a few months back when I was walking and to whom I gave a cup of tea and toast, also rings the bell occasionally.

At the same time, I have never had any difficulty focusing on my work and I have been able to establish a pattern of work that is effective whilst also building well-being (on Mondays, for example, when I coach by telephone all day, I am able to arrange my day to include walking, reading and meditation). At the same time, working from home on an ongoing basis offers the opportunity to respond to the flow of my energies in ways which are not readily accepted in many corporate offices. At times my work involves deadlines and long hours. At times, I work long hours because I am in the flow – excited by my latest project. At other times, when I notice I am exhausted, I can check my diary and adjust – getting up a little later, taking a day off. In this way, I can manage the ebb and flow of my energies as well as the ebb and flow of my work.

I recognise that I am temperamentally well-suited to work from home. I love my work and I am able to focus. I am borderline introvert/extrovert so that I love to balance time with others with time alone. I also face few distractions from family members – I have no young children to interrupt me for example, as I know some do. At the same time, if I am sounding the gong for working at home it is also because I recognise that working from home opens up opportunities for people who might otherwise be excluded from the workplace, because of disability, for example, or because of their responsibilities as carers.

It may not be for you and still, that doesn’t mean it’s not for anybody.

The perils of working from home (by Sheena McLullich)

Looking back over my career, I have quite a lot of experience of home-working. I could even describe myself as a pioneer in the vanguard of home-based workers making use of the new Internet and e-mail phenomena – in the days when it was a really ‘cutting-edge’ thing to do. Back in the nineties I ran my own HR and training consultancy based in a small village near Aberdeen in Scotland. My children were much younger then and there were certainly some lighter moments. I vividly remember my youngest son answering the phone and loudly announcing the call with “Mummy, there’s a strange man on the phone!” and the time when, during a long call with a client, I heard the deafening crash of a football coming through the kitchen window and another son rushing through the house screaming at the top of his voice, “I’m sorry. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to break it!”

A real benefit of home working

In many ways, I saw home-working as an unavoidable response to extreme events. In north-east Scotland there were always a few days each year when heavy snowfalls made travelling out of a small village impossible and there was simply no alternative. Explaining this situation to your manager, who was based in the more benign south of England, was quite a different matter (“it’s not snowing here” was the usual response) but everyone knew it was a short-term issue and that things would soon get back to normal.

‘Normal’ for me is working in an office surrounded by people with whom I can interact regularly. As an HR Director, I find that level of interaction vital in allowing me to do my job. I thrive on talking to people face-to-face and from the buzz that comes with working in a vibrant, busy office. I’m not a huge fan of e-mail or phone contact with employees, preferring to actually spend time with them, and being on the spot to deal with issues before they become problems.

If I’m at home, I can’t always react instantly to work events because I can’t see what’s happening. I remember one occasion when an employee returned from lunch reeking of alcohol and became violent when his manager attempted to remonstrate with him. Luckily I was in the office at the time and was able to defuse the situation before anyone got hurt – or dismissed – in the heat of the moment.

I’m not against home-working per-se and I recognise that it works well for many people in a variety of roles. In fact, I’ve introduced flexible working policies, including home-working arrangements, in a variety of situations and positively encouraged people to work from home – if it suits them and the company concerned.

It was a hectic board meeting!

In one company I worked for, a new Director joined the team and started a trend for working from home almost every Friday. His lead was soon followed by others, including the CEO, and it soon became apparent that this had nothing to do with flexible working and, as many people suspected, nothing to do with working at all. It soon became a standing joke that very few members of the senior management team were available on a Friday and that calls to their mobiles were invariably accompanied by the sound of golf clubs striking golf balls and the like. Not surprisingly, working from home quickly became a euphemism for taking a day off and absence rates on sunny days and Fridays rocketed!

I’ve also seen situations where home-working hasn’t been successful because individual managers haven’t understood the implications of dealing with remote workers and the importance of making them feel that they are still an integral part of the team irrespective of their physical location. One of my friends is a Management Consultant. Shortly after she joined her current organisation in a home-based role, she got married and took a couple of weeks holiday. On the Friday before the wedding she simply logged off her computer – and that was it. No send-off, no good wishes or presents from her colleagues. Although people knew she was getting married and some of her co-workers were invited to the wedding, it simply hadn’t registered with any of them that it was her last working day before the event. Remote working indeed!

Now I find myself based again at home. It’s a different house now – with wonderful views across the Chiltern Hills but less than an hour from the centre of London. The kids have gone and all is peaceful and quiet – perhaps too quiet.

I chose this particular house for its location and the fact that it contrasts with the hustle and bustle of London and my usual working environment. That, I think, is the hub of the problem for me. I’ve always tried to keep my work and home life as two separate, distinct entities. Now the boundaries are blurred and I really don’t like it.

When I worked in the City, most of my work was done in the office with the occasional out-of-hours phone call from an overseas location if there was a problem which required immediate attention. It was simple: the office was for work – and home was for everything else I wanted to do. Like all commuters, I had a fairly rigid routine and I knew exactly when I had to leave the house in order to catch the 07:21 to London and be at my desk for 8:30. Yes, I worked long hours and didn’t usually return home until after 8:00pm, but I had the satisfaction of knowing that I’d done a full days work, I’d touched peoples’ lives (in a positive way I hope!) and that I still had a couple of hours to relax and unwind in the evenings and, anyway, there was always the weekend to come …

Perversely for a free-spirited extrovert, I enjoyed the structure that this routine gave me and I think I worked better for knowing that I had deadlines to achieve if work wasn’t to encroach on my home life. The encroachments have now been reversed and I find it difficult to ignore that nagging internal voice that reminds me that I haven’t done the ironing, watered the plants or fed the cats (although the cats are pretty good at reminding me of that omission for themselves!). It doesn’t help that my husband (who’s a chef) doesn’t see sitting at a computer as ‘real’ work and has therefore deduced that it’s OK to interrupt me because ‘you don’t look busy to me…’

Aside from those frequent interruptions, it can be lonely and I can go all day without seeing another person, let alone speaking to them. I find this difficult and, for me, the answer is clear. I need to get myself back onto the 07:21 to London and leave home-working to those who truly gain benefit and pleasure from it.

It isn’t for me -- but that doesn’t mean it’s not for anyone else.

*****

And the winner is?  Let's hear your thoughts on who won the argument and what your views are on home working. (Ed)


About the authors:

Dorothy Nesbit, Leadership Coach, unleashes innate leadership potential through powerful, compassionate and authentic relationships.
Blog | Website

Sheena has worked at a senior level in HR for the past 14 years, including 6 years as an HR Director, following a successful career transition from training & development. Working mainly for small/medium organisations in a variety of sectors, she has acquired a strong reputation for effecting change and for "getting things done". She is now working as a freelance HR Consultant.
Email

*****

Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK. Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 28th April and will be something completely different...