There is no telecommuting forum on AAROADS ... but might be relevant anyway

[cpzilliacus]

Joel Kotkin's NewGeography.com:  Marissa Mayer's Misstep and The Unstoppable Rise Of Telecommuting

Marissa Mayer's pronunciamento banning home-based work at Yahoo reflects a great dilemma facing companies and our country over the coming decade. Forget for a minute the amazing hubris of a rich, glamorous CEO, with a nursery specially built next to her office, ordering less well-compensated parents to trudge back to the office, leaving their less important offspring in daycare or in the hands of nannies.

The real issue is how we deal with three concerns: the promotion of families; humane methods to reduce greenhouse gases; and, finally, how to expand the geography of work and opportunity.

For parents, particularly women, telecommuting provides a golden opportunity to balance the challenges of child-raising with those of work. Working at home, full or part-time, shrinks the number of hours wasted commuting and allows greater flexibility that is often critical to maintaining a family. In a country with a deteriorating fertility rate, and ever greater strains on those trying to raise children, telecommuting offers, at least for some, a way to remain in the labor force without cheating the next generation.

Equally important, as the online universe expands, telecommuting allows us to reduce carbon emissions and energy use without forcing people to live in dense communities that most Americans, particularly in their adult years, clearly do not prefer. Greens, planners and many pundits seem anxious to force people to live in crowded housing close to buses and trains, yet rarely mention that it's infinitely more eco-friendly to not commute at all.

[agentsteel53]

or just, ya know, commuting sucks.

[NE2]

Why would there be a telecommuting forum on "AAROADS"[sic]?

[formulanone]

Or Yahoo has been in trouble for a while now...someone needs to preserve Flickr, though.

And no supercommuting forum, either.

[kphoger]

The real issue is how we deal with three concerns: the promotion of families; humane methods to reduce greenhouse gases; and, finally, how to expand the geography of work and opportunity.

Is there a way to turn greenhouse gases into babies?  Cuz you could knock out all three issues at once.

[Grzrd]

the amazing hubris of a rich, glamorous CEO, with a nursery specially built next to her office, ordering less well-compensated parents to trudge back to the office

Now, a teleporting forum could help find a middle ground and resolve some of these issues.

[hbelkins]

I wish I could teleport to a Delaware River crossing next time I go to the Northeast. I'm getting to the point where I would drive twice as far on another road to avoid the monotony of I-79687081 to Pennsylvania.

[Rick Powell]

I make up for the sins of a 2 hour one-way commute by utilizing rail transit for half the trip (when I possibly can) and by telecommuting approximately 40 to 60% of my work hours.  It requires a different skill set to manage projects and people who you are not around 8 hours of the day, and a higher degree of trust and accountability that what must be done, will be done without a set of eyes on you.  Still put on 30k miles a year on the vehicle - too many meetings at project sites where that sort of thing is required.  Also, the world hasn't quite caught up with the technology...if you're going to have a meeting in a remote location not in your corporate network, you had better bring your own wireless conference phone and table mics, and all the AV stuff you need, and hope you have good 4G coverage. 

50 years from now, people are going to sit back and wonder how we telecommuted and had remote meetings with all this junk that didn't work like it was supposed to half the time.

[agentsteel53]

I wish I could teleport to a Delaware River crossing next time I go to the Northeast. I'm getting to the point where I would drive twice as far on another road to avoid the monotony of I-79687081 to Pennsylvania.

same for me - I wish there were a wormhole on I-5: one end at exit 32, the other at exit 445.

[Road Hog]

Telecommuting will lead to more drunkenness.

[kj3400]

Telecommuting will lead to more drunkenness.

But less crashes.

[kphoger]

Telecommuting will lead to more drunkenness.

But less crashes.

But it's an interesting thought.....  Imagine calling a company's customer service line, and the rep is working from home–smashed.

[agentsteel53]

But it's an interesting thought.....  Imagine calling a company's customer service line, and the rep is working from home–smashed.

that's just unprofessional behavior, and nothing new.  if someone is that much of a lush, he will get smashed at work too.