In Back the 40-hour Workweek–and Let Us Take a Long Vacation,a recent article in the LA Times, Joe Robinson rants that the average American worker is facing “soaring workweeks, declining wages and health, pension and vacation benefits vanishing faster than you can say job security.”He’s for enforcing a 40-hour work week and legalizing paid vacation. Here’s what he says about telecommuting:
Give face time the pink slip. In the knowledge/digital ages, it doesn’t matter where your body is; what counts is inside your head. More telecommuting and flex schedules could save millions of dollars in office costs and hours reclaimed from gridlock, while providing workers much-needed flexibility, especially for time-crunched mothers.
I think he’s got at least that part of it right. Work is what you do – not where you go!
The flexibility my job affords is the ONLY reason I can do what I do. I’m thankful for the digital age that so easily allows me to balance having a productive and personally satisfying work-life and personal life.
My grandmother stayed at home with her children, and never entered the working world. My mother stayed at home with us until we began school when, by necessity, she joined the traditional 9 to 5 work force. I think I’ve managed to have the best of both worlds.