When Should You Ask About Telecommuting During Interview Process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm learning a lot too, and I wonder what field folks are in that asking about telecommuting is such a no-no. I conduct a lot of interviews (I'm not in HR), and when we open up the interview for questions, I would not bat an eye if someone asked what our policy was on telecommuting. I would be put off if someone insisted that they must telecommute, but just asking about the policy seems like a smart question. Everyone knows traffic in this area sucks, public transportation is terrible, and telecommuting can be not just a benefit for the employee but also the employer.

Government contractor. No one telecommutes.

Not PP but this varies. I was a Government contractor for many years in a company that was 50% home office/telecommute employees. It was an IT company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe some can, but very few would actually be productive. This is ripping off the company and ultimately your co-workers.

Start another thread on this topic if you feel the need (or search the archives because this has been discussed before). My company would disagree with you. Over the last 10 years, they've ENCOURAGED my group of about 300 to telecommute more. They get a lot more out of us, and we were a high performing group of professionals to start with. We're much more efficient and the company is thrilled with the benefits to them.

[Anonymous]

To respond from the perspective of management, it takes a good six months or even a year to come to have a degree of trust in an employee's work, work habits, integrity, and client interactions. You really cannot expect to immediately show up on a new job and telecommute. You have to prove yourself. Once you do, fine, but to ask at an interview to me says the person is arrogant, rushes institutional processes, and doesn't feel he/she has to pay her dues, show her worth, and show me he/she has the goods. Most organizations that are set up where everyone telecommutes as a matter of course will make that clear to YOU. You won't have to ask. If not, don't ask right away. Really bad form. Ask a colleague. If it's so important to you it would be a deal breaker, don't leave your current job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm learning a lot too, and I wonder what field folks are in that asking about telecommuting is such a no-no. I conduct a lot of interviews (I'm not in HR), and when we open up the interview for questions, I would not bat an eye if someone asked what our policy was on telecommuting. I would be put off if someone insisted that they must telecommute, but just asking about the policy seems like a smart question. Everyone knows traffic in this area sucks, public transportation is terrible, and telecommuting can be not just a benefit for the employee but also the employer.

Government contractor. No one telecommutes.

Not PP but this varies. I was a Government contractor for many years in a company that was 50% home office/telecommute employees. It was an IT company.

Not doing classified work though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To respond from the perspective of management, it takes a good six months or even a year to come to have a degree of trust in an employee's work, work habits, integrity, and client interactions. You really cannot expect to immediately show up on a new job and telecommute. You have to prove yourself. Once you do, fine, but to ask at an interview to me says the person is arrogant, rushes institutional processes, and doesn't feel he/she has to pay her dues, show her worth, and show me he/she has the goods. Most organizations that are set up where everyone telecommutes as a matter of course will make that clear to YOU. You won't have to ask. If not, don't ask right away. Really bad form. Ask a colleague. If it's so important to you it would be a deal breaker, don't leave your current job.

I disagree. There are ways to show you are productive. I have some friends who have worked entirely from home as they are the "Washington DC office" of companies based elsewhere. The company specifically hired them because they can physically cover meetings on the hill, etc. It is pretty easy to tell when someone is not doing their job in those instances. It really depends on the job.

I don't work from home, but part of my job entails responding within an hour or two to certain requests (I work with the press for example) and if I did work from home, and I was off at the gym or shopping, it would be obvious if I wasn't responding in a timely manner. Same with turning in things on deadline, if I miss the deadline, I'm not a good employee, if I make it and the work is good, I am. It is the same with flexibility - my boss doesn't really care if I'm not in my office right at 9 or I leave at 5 or 5:30 as long as I get my work done. If someone was really distrustful, they could always check how long you are logged into your company's network if you are working remotely etc. There are ways of checking up on people.

[Anonymous]

PP, even if you're in the office, might you not be in the gym or at lunch and thus unable to respond within an hour?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To respond from the perspective of management, it takes a good six months or even a year to come to have a degree of trust in an employee's work, work habits, integrity, and client interactions. You really cannot expect to immediately show up on a new job and telecommute. You have to prove yourself. Once you do, fine, but to ask at an interview to me says the person is arrogant, rushes institutional processes, and doesn't feel he/she has to pay her dues, show her worth, and show me he/she has the goods. Most organizations that are set up where everyone telecommutes as a matter of course will make that clear to YOU. You won't have to ask. If not, don't ask right away. Really bad form. Ask a colleague. If it's so important to you it would be a deal breaker, don't leave your current job.

I disagree. There are ways to show you are productive. I have some friends who have worked entirely from home as they are the "Washington DC office" of companies based elsewhere. The company specifically hired them because they can physically cover meetings on the hill, etc. It is pretty easy to tell when someone is not doing their job in those instances. It really depends on the job.

I don't work from home, but part of my job entails responding within an hour or two to certain requests (I work with the press for example) and if I did work from home, and I was off at the gym or shopping, it would be obvious if I wasn't responding in a timely manner. Same with turning in things on deadline, if I miss the deadline, I'm not a good employee, if I make it and the work is good, I am. It is the same with flexibility - my boss doesn't really care if I'm not in my office right at 9 or I leave at 5 or 5:30 as long as I get my work done. If someone was really distrustful, they could always check how long you are logged into your company's network if you are working remotely etc. There are ways of checking up on people.

Everything you are saying is true, however, what you are saying is that -- during the interview process -- Check up on me! Do extra work! Make me a project that you have to devote extra time to! -- is that the image you want to project at an interview?

And for the case of an investigative journalist, sure, they are going to be working away from the office. I was talking about the average office, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To respond from the perspective of management, it takes a good six months or even a year to come to have a degree of trust in an employee's work, work habits, integrity, and client interactions. You really cannot expect to immediately show up on a new job and telecommute. You have to prove yourself. Once you do, fine, but to ask at an interview to me says the person is arrogant, rushes institutional processes, and doesn't feel he/she has to pay her dues, show her worth, and show me he/she has the goods. Most organizations that are set up where everyone telecommutes as a matter of course will make that clear to YOU. You won't have to ask. If not, don't ask right away. Really bad form. Ask a colleague. If it's so important to you it would be a deal breaker, don't leave your current job.

I agree with this, in general. There are going to be exceptions but I think this is not just reasonable but probably represents the majority of approaches by employers who do offer telecommuting options.