Stay at Home Workers Still Stay Connected to Office

Leslie Monzon had enough of the nearly hour and a half commute between her Santa Clarita home and her workplace in the Burbank offices of accounting firm King, King, Alleman & Jensen. A headhunter offered to set Monzon up with another firm just 15 minutes away from where she lived but first she let King, King match the offer. Her employer was willing to let the CSUN graduate work three days a week from a home office. That simple offer made a world of difference to Monzon, so much so that co-workers noted she seemed less beaten down and tired. “I feel I am more efficient and tackle my job in a way that I should,” said Monzon, a senior accountant with King, King. “I am so happy it worked out this way.” Telecommuting has proven to be a popular perk offered by employers to cut down on commute times, allow workers flexibility to attend to their children and doctors appointments and keep employees that they might otherwise lose to a competitor. A 2008 study by staffing firm Robert Half International found that 13 percent of chief financial officers named telecommuting and flexible work schedules as important to landing job candidates. Working from home is also credited with increasing productivity and saving money that would otherwise pay for office space and supplies. Minnesota and Virginia emphasized the environmental benefits of telecommuting in recent campaigns encouraging businesses to expand opportunities to work from home and take drivers off roads. Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine declared Aug. 3 as Telework Day in his state in hopes that a work at home option would be adopted by more employers. Some doubts Even with telecommuting being routine these days and advances in computers, PDAs, and cell phones make it easier than ever to stay connected, management could still have doubts about the effectiveness of having employees out of the office for days at a time. That was the case at Sherman Oaks law firm Nemecek & Cole where a group of working mothers was behind bringing a telecommuting option to the office. There was some resistance at first but the firm’s partners were willing to put in the effort and money to make it work best for everyone, said Susan Baker, an attorney who works from home at least twice a week. Now even name partner Jonathan Cole has a home office set up to get some work done before heading to the main office. An attorney living in Lancaster also takes advantage of working from home. “We just sort of did it and they (the partners) saw it wasn’t a bad idea,” said Baker, who has been with the firm for six years. One danger for the stay-at-home worker is the distractions and temptations that the home brings; of watching television or surfing the Internet rather than doing work. It takes a certain amount of discipline to resist goofing off when away from the boss. That Monzon wouldn’t get her work done was never an issue as she had already proven herself as a hard worker. Baker finds it helpful to have a deadline on filing a brief or other legal document to keep the mind focused. Need for supervision There are some people who work better in a team environment and need that supervision, while others like Eric Gooch, a lighting artist for video game developer Insomniac Games, can work independently. “I was so thrilled at the opportunity (to telecommute) there was nothing I would do to screw that up and I don’t want to lose that,” Gooch said. Gooch had worked for two years at Burbank-based Insomniac after moving from a small town in northeastern Nevada. Unable to convince his wife to move to Southern California and having his fill of an urban environment, Gooch was ready to leave Insomniac after finishing the first game in the “Resistance” franchise. He was surprised then when his supervisor asked if he wanted to stay on while working from home in Nevada. Telecommuting allows Gooch to continue working on projects that he enjoys without a commute or the dry spells in assignments he would face as a freelancer. Gooch still visits the Burbank office every two months for meetings and to meet up with the other lighting artists who he otherwise stays in contact with through instant messages and emails. While Monzon enjoys working at her home, the face-to-face contact of going to the King, King office twice a week is important. She typically will go in on a Monday for the weekly professional development training and again at the end of the week to wrap up whatever project she and her staff is working on. “When they don’t see you they tend to think you are gone all the time,” Monzon said. “Coming in cements the deal that you are working.”