Why Telecommuting Is a Pipe Dream

For years now we have been told about the joys of telecommuting —the promise that any day we’ll be able to go to work by just going into our home office. We all know the benefits of telecommuting. Will it ever happen for the majority of people who could do their jobs at home? No.

Why? The answer can be summed up in one word:

Control

An employer pays the employee not only to do the job, but also for a certain period of time during their day. For most of us, that is forty hours. During that time they want to be able to supervise what you do, what you say, who you talk to, when you take a break, when you take a cigarette break, when you go to the bathroom, and when you go to lunch. They want to be able to know what you are doing on “their” time, whether that be on the Internet, or any of a host of other things. It all boils down to power.

For the U.S. business person, they less care about if the job gets done than that they can control you while you are doing it. One of the “perks” of being a manager is being able to tell people what to do. If that perk were gone, why would anyone want the hassle and the added responsibility that management brings?

Look at Bill Gates and Microsoft. Every businessperson wants to be Bill Gates. Many think it is because of all of the money that he has and is at his disposal. But money is just a side benefit. The real thrill is the power! Think of it: Bill Gates is the most powerful man in the world. He is more powerful than even the heads of governments, the U.S. government included.

He can, if he wanted to, shutdown and shut people out of their computers worldwide. On any given Tuesday, the Windows “patch” could include a time bomb to disable the computer. Most computers have this “feature” installed on them with the Windows Genuine Advantage. If you have a computer running Vista, just see what happens when the computer “thinks” you are running a pirated copy of Windows. You are locked out of the computer and all of your applications and possibly files—only getting to use Internet Explorer for one hour before the computer automatically logs you out.

Imagine the chaos (economic and otherwise) that would occur if Microsoft were to shut down all of their software—everywhere. I am not saying, or even insinuating that they will. But they do have the power.

It is that same lust for power, albeit on a smaller scale, that precludes the vast majority of businesses from allowing their workers to telecommute to do their jobs.

“But,” you say, “My company has given me a laptop to use and I can VPN into work at any time of the day or night. I can access e-mail, files on the network shares, business applications just as easily in the comfort from my own home as I can from work.” This is all true. But the question is: whose time are you doing those business-related tasks? If you are doing it on your own time, at your convenience, then that is just an added bonus for the company. They’ve got you, as it were. Some may say, “But I was sick last Tuesday and they let me work from home because I had such a bad cold.” Again, this is very true. But, ask your self the question of what benefit was that to the company? Are you salaried? If so, then they have paid for that time whether you are home sick or in the office. Keeping you at home on that day made sound business sense. You were a seething cauldron of contagion and you would be bringing that in with you to the office. This way, with letting you VPN into the company, they can get the work out of you without the extra “bonus” of you quite possibly making the entire office (including the managers) sick.

It has been said that power is the greatest aphrodisiac. A statement couldn’t be more true. What do successful business people with lots of money want? — more money? No. Power. For them, it is the only thing that makes the game worth playing. It is the thing that gives them the thrill on the inside and makes the whole rat race worth running.