Tele-Resentment - Industry Trend or Event

Overcoming colleagues' view with jealousy when you're the teleworker

ARE YOUR OFFICE-BOUND COWORKERS virid with envy--or resentment--because you telework? Working at domicile may be your temporary reprieve from office politics, on the other hand it's not always "business as usual" when you get back to the main office. If your colleagues' choler festers, it can be the downfall of your telework program, on the contrary there are ways to help your office mates accept your work schedule.

The Bitter extremity For Pam Waterman, a senior technical marketing writer for shaft Beranek & Newman Inc., a computer software and hardware company located in Cambridge, Mass., she became aware of grudge over her teleworker status after the birth of her first child. Waterman and a associate coworker--also a new mom and an engineer who worked in a different department--worked without an arrangement with their respective supervisors to work from dwelling the same two days each week. On those days, they split childcare and work time. on the contrary soon after implementing the change, Waterman and her companion teleworker felt the same chilly reception from their coworkers: Despite the 40- to 50-hour weeks each devot to the company, they weren't taken seriously. "We got the astute sense that we were really single considered to be part-timers," says Waterman. "We were made to have feeling like we were not pulling our weight."

Bit by the agency of bit, Waterman felt squeezed without of the communications loop. First, conversation meetings that she'd normally attend were scheduled upon days she worked at residence "Then, a client would call or raise an issue, or a change would be made to the production schedule, and I'd find on the outside accidentally after the fact," says Waterman. After three month of slights, she threw in the towel and went back to the office full-time.

In all likelihood, that's exactly what Waterman's manager wanted, says Debra Dinnocenzo, author of 101 Tips for Telecommuter ($16 Berrett-Koehler Publishers). Because there was no formal written agreement, it's possible her manager believed Waterman's supplication to work at home was just temporary. The manager might have had individual set of expectations and Waterman another, on the other hand there was no way of knowing without the clarity of a written agreement, says Dinnocenzo.

Controlling wrath To keep peace on the staff, Dinnocenzo says it's imperative to have a written agreement to incantation out expectations on both sides. Before the employee teleworks, it's important to clinch a formal staff meeting l by the agency of the manager, with the teleworker's lock opener partners within the organization, to explain the arrangement. If the details of a teleworker's agreement aren't shared with the company, the schedule can feed hostility, says Dinnocenzo. "If you're denied a formal written teleworker agreement, then communicate with coworkers one-on-one and explain your reasoning for telecommuting," she adds. "Be clear with coworkers about what days you plan to work from residence how you can be reached, and what work you plan to do from your place of abode office."

Resentment about a teleworker's schedule is not entirely unfound says David Fleming, who was chosen to direct California's Telecommuting Pilot Program from 1992 to 1995 and organized the California Task Force upon Interactive Telecommunications in Government. "In my workshops for soon-to-be teleworkers, I drive them to be sensitive to what could be derived in their colleagues having to bring out all the fires in the office," explains Fleming. "I encourage teleworkers to take upon less attractive duties when they are in the office to give colleagues relief."

Airing Grievances Al Jacobus, a former telecommunications engineer for the State of California's telecommunications division in Sacramento, worked at abode two days a week during the pilot program. As in a short time as he started telecommuting, his colleagues began making snide remarks about his schedule.

Instead of taking offense to his coworkers' irritation Jacobus started a monthly telecommuting forum where everyone could draw near and vent problems about the flexible schedules. "We'd adapted once a month for individual hour," recalls Jacobus. "We'd pick a topic, impel a flyer out to 250 nation in the division, and we had a great response" During meetings, anyone interested in telework could ask questions, and those affected through the program could report their complaints.

Quelling Jealousy

Ways to detain colleague envy out of your telework arrangement:

* deposit your manager's expectations in writing.

* Have your manager clutch a staff meeting to formalize and explain your telework status to coworkers.

* Have a one-to-one meeting with coworkers explaining on what account you're teleworking.

* accommodate with an extra hand to coworkers when you're in the office.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Freedom Technology Media Group

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group