On Work at Home Programs

In his article, Work from home. Save the Planet, David Gewirtz lays out numerous benefits for embracing Work at Home programs throughout the country. I find some of the author's arguments questionable, but I haven't read his book, either.

I do know, living in New England, that the vast majority of road repairs are not due to traffic, but seasonal weather changes. So that argument goes flying out the window.

Also, it's quite evident that many jobs simply cannot be done from home. Let's be realistic. Security, plumbing, firefighting, surgery, shop keeping, termite control, landscaping, road repair, construction, and so on simply cannot be done from your home.

On the other hand, densely populated urban areas packed with office buildings and utilizing the latest technologies can reap the benefits of work-at-home programs. We are not bereft of the technologies that make this possible: instant messaging, email, online Web applications, video conferencing, VPN networks, and the ever growing "Cloud" enable us to get more done from geographically separate locations than ever before.

The trick is to ensure that the work is actually getting done with as much zeal as it would if people were in the office, where they are observed by their coworkers. Let's be honest: people tend to be more disciplined about getting the work done if their peers are able to walk in on a moment's notice and see whatever it is they're doing. That's not the case when you're working from home.

At home workers must possess a greater amount of self-discipline than workers in the office, by simple virtue of the fact that they must manage their own time and not be distracted by daily annoyances that might be present in the home.

And yet, if this program can be made to work, the benefits to the community (and the planet) can be numerous. Reductions in carbon emissions, fossil fuel consumption, traffic jams, traffic fatalities, and overall travel expenses are virtually (but not necessarily) a given.

In any event, it's not a simple case of black and white. No issue ever is.