Is teleworking an important factor in deciding on taking a job?

So I went to interview for a new position that would offer a slight pay raise of around 10K and would grant me a new position working more on the Risk and Compliance side of information security. I currently have the option of working at home two days a week at my current job which to me offers the benefits of not having to deal with the DC traffic (1 hour commute) and saving on costs. The new position though, currently does not offer teleworking unless it's an emergency so it would be back to 5 days a week in the office in DC. The manager at the new position states that he has issues trusting that employees are actually working at home and would prefer they are in the office so they can be reached.

I was curious to gather some opinions from you guys as to whether teleworking is an important part of your job decision? Would you turn down a job due to the lack of a teleworking option? Are you currently teleworking at your job?

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Comments

NotHackingYou

Personally I would not take this job based not on the lack of telework but on the manager's attitude about it. My concerns would be that the manager is overbearing and/or your colleagues are incompetent. Ain't nobody got time for that.

DatabaseHead

UnixGuy wrote: »

I do my socialization after work thro hobbies/sports/friends/ etc

Precisely. If I am up prancing around chatting it up with every tom dick and harry you would look like a fool and politely asked to sit down. I ride bikes after work and do other things with people, that's when the socialization begins. Besides buddying up with people at work is a bad idea. I ALWAYS end up being the sounding board for some disgruntled ass hat.

MitM

10k for 1 hour commute....ask them to bump it up to 15k

I must be doing something wrong, I've never found a position that allows any kind of WFH

jibtech

I don't care so much that I can work from home.

But, I do prefer a job that is more deliverable based, rather than transactional. The deliverable types of jobs have a tendency to be the same ones that are WFH friendly.

As for the manager who doesn't trust his people. Hell no. If there is good cause to not trust his people, I don't want to work with toxic people. If he is too lazy, incompetent or ineffective as a manager to support WFH, then I don't want to work for him.

Gorby

Thanks for the opinions, it's interesting hearing both sides of the argument for teleworking especially from managers. For me personally, teleworking and having a manager that trusts that I can get the work done is important for me. My job currently is more on the GRC side of IT Security so often times it's more paper reading, e-mails and data calls than anything else in which all of it can be done at home which is why I work 2-3 days a week at home. Our office building is rather isolated so I could walk into the office and not speak to anyone in person all day since we typically e-mail each other or use communicator.

If I'm offered the position, I'm going to have to think hard about whether I want to go back to a full schedule in the office due to the CISO's trust issue or like someone pointed out co-workers who may have slacked off.

ITSpectre

Gorby wrote: »

Thanks for the opinions, it's interesting hearing both sides of the argument for teleworking especially from managers. For me personally, teleworking and having a manager that trusts that I can get the work done is important for me. My job currently is more on the GRC side of IT Security so often times it's more paper reading, e-mails and data calls than anything else in which all of it can be done at home which is why I work 2-3 days a week at home. Our office building is rather isolated so I could walk into the office and not speak to anyone in person all day since we typically e-mail each other or use communicator.

If I'm offered the position, I'm going to have to think hard about whether I want to go back to a full schedule in the office due to the CISO's trust issue or like someone pointed out co-workers who may have slacked off.

Honestly...
Its not worth it. I would keep the job you have till something better comes along. Trust me on this. a untrusting boss is NOT something you want to deal with... People don't leave jobs, they leave bosses.

TechGromit

Gorby wrote: »

The manager at the new position states that he has issues trusting that employees are actually working at home and would prefer they are in the office so they can be reached.

Sounds like the manager has control issues. If the required work is getting done, why should he care his employees are goofing off all day at home. If the employees are failing to meet deliverables, THEN it's issue. My bother-in-law is a programming manger and he and his whole group work from home. He only goes into the office once every few months, so few employees come into the office they downsized the office space.

As for me, I have the option to telecommute on occasion. It really helps when waiting around all day for a contractor to show up, I don't have to burn a vacation day. I lot of my work is hands on, so I don't telecommute very often and I find I'm less productive at home than at work, but it's nice to have the option on occasion.

ITSpectre

TechGromit wrote: »

Sounds like the manager has control issues. If the required work is getting done, why should he care his employees are goofing off all day at home.

Exactly

IronmanX

I wish WFH was more common here in Canada.
I live in a smallish Canadian city as a software/system developer/ jack of all trades.
I would like to focus on security but the only way that will happen for me is to move to a bigger city that has these opportunities.
The bigger cities are not that far away from my current location. Having a family with small kids its hard to pick up and move everyone, especially when I'm already gainfully employed and like where i live.

Chevel

I would love to work from home especially for an introvert who likes quiet, but those jobs are so rare to come by. I would be interested in other factors besides just the teleworking, although teleworking would be a huge plus in my book. Especially when you live over an hour away.

Gorby

ITSpectre wrote: »

So can Help Desk jobs be remote? even though they are the grunt workers in IT I believe they can still work remotely.

I worked remotely 3 days a week when I was on the help desk for a federal contractor so it's possible. They can track your tickets and calls anyway so I'd think many places can do help desk remotely. Desktop Support though may require you to come to an office since that involves interactions.

veritas_libertas

networker050184 wrote: »

That would be a HUGE red flag for me. If it's corp policy that's one thing, but I wouldn't work for a manager that wouldn't trust me to do the right thing. Thanks but no thanks for me.

Agreed. If it's a company option but the manager doesn't trust his people, no thanks.

It's an important option to me. I work from home two days a week which provides some flexibility for my wife.

Gorby

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Agreed. If it's a company option but the manager doesn't trust his people, no thanks.

It's an important option to me. I work from home two days a week which provides some flexibility for my wife.

Yes it's a company option, he told me that other managers allow their employees to WFH he's just not on board with it yet.

veritas_libertas

Gorby wrote: »

Yes it's a company option, he told me that other managers allow their employees to WFH he's just not on board with it yet.

Makes me wonder what it's like work for him. Would he question every decision and heavily monitor you? That just raises red flags for me.

ITSpectre

Gorby wrote: »

Yes it's a company option, he told me that other managers allow their employees to WFH he's just not on board with it yet.

I still would not work for him. I would keep my job and continue to apply. its not that he is not "on board with it yet" He does not trust his staff enough to do it.

LeBroke

UnixGuy wrote: »

I do my socialization after work thro hobbies/sports/friends/ etc

1. People aren't down to hang out every day of the week
2. That's still a good 8-10 hours when I'm completely alone with nothing but slack.
3. Unless you live close to all your friends, it's not usually practical either.

IronmanX

Gorby wrote: »

Yes it's a company option, he told me that other managers allow their employees to WFH he's just not on board with it yet.

I think this makes the guy sound worse. The company is pro WFH. This particular manager is against it and is going against the origination.
Plus this guy is the CISO??? You would think the more tech savey a manager is the more likely they would let their people work from home.

JoJoCal19

IronmanX wrote: »

I think this makes the guy sound worse. The company is pro WFH. This particular manager is against it and is going against the origination.
Plus this guy is the CISO??? You would think the more tech savey a manager is the more likely they would let their people work from home.

There's one at every company man. Same thing with the company I just left. The whole of the security dept under the CISO was cool with it and guys could work from home when they wanted as long as it wasn't every day of every week, except the "lead" for my team. He wasn't even my manager but was our local lead. Thing is, he was an absolute ass about it, and he was the one who recruited me to come to the company to work on his team, and he knew how I felt about working remote and that I did at the company we both worked at previously.

UnixGuy

LeBroke wrote: »

1. People aren't down to hang out every day of the week
2. That's still a good 8-10 hours when I'm completely alone with nothing but slack.
3. Unless you live close to all your friends, it's not usually practical either.

I don't disagree with you, but I found that my IT jobs aren't really social, so while yes I'm surrounded by people during work, it isn't exactly a social experience but I see your point!

Depends on what you like to do, if you have a hobby or a sport that you like to do, you'll find opportunities to do it few times a week (depends on where you live)..but it also depends on what you like to do, your energy levels, the weather, etc etc! I do see your point though, wish IT was a more sociable experience.

LeBroke

UnixGuy wrote: »

I don't disagree with you, but I found that my IT jobs aren't really social, so while yes I'm surrounded by people during work, it isn't exactly a social experience but I see your point!

Depends on what you like to do, if you have a hobby or a sport that you like to do, you'll find opportunities to do it few times a week (depends on where you live)..but it also depends on what you like to do, your energy levels, the weather, etc etc! I do see your point though, wish IT was a more sociable experience.

Sadly my hobbies tend to be more on the solitary side. I mean reading, landscape photography, and hiking with a set friend group aren't the best way to meet people when compared to DJing or ultimate frisbee.

Yeah IT can be very hit and miss. I tend to have a very social job, but that's mainly because as the only DevOps guy, most of my job is running around and playing Kissinger between a half-dozen different teams to get them to do their **** (I wish I got paid what a PM does... at this point I swear I do more PM work than our actual PMs). But on the downside, it leaves me so ragged at the end of the day, that all I want to do is go home and drink a few beers on my balcony.

I'm sure if I wasn't so exhausted I'd probably be more social with my actual friends instead of just 1-2 times a week, but for the moment I kind of need to be in the office to get my share of talking to people.

UnixGuy

LeBroke wrote: »

Sadly my hobbies tend to be more on the solitary side. I mean reading, landscape photography, and hiking with a set friend group aren't the best way to meet people when compared to DJing or ultimate frisbee.

Yeah IT can be very hit and miss. I tend to have a very social job, but that's mainly because as the only DevOps guy, most of my job is running around and playing Kissinger between a half-dozen different teams to get them to do their **** (I wish I got paid what a PM does... at this point I swear I do more PM work than our actual PMs). But on the downside, it leaves me so ragged at the end of the day, that all I want to do is go home and drink a few beers on my balcony.

I'm sure if I wasn't so exhausted I'd probably be more social with my actual friends instead of just 1-2 times a week, but for the moment I kind of need to be in the office to get my share of talking to people.

yeah I hear you, not trying to go way off topic here since it's an IT forum, but most of your hobbies can be sociable via meetups etc, but good points there.

jcundiff

At this point, it is a very significant factor... I am 100% remote with travel to our HQ as warranted ( maybe 1 trip a quarter) for vendor/customer/all hands meetings and other travel as required (less than 15%) Not a lot of big companies where I am... I have found that I get too socially distracted with office setting and get a lot more done in my home office... phone, email, webex, instant messaging, etc keeps our team engaged with each other. We have a daily checkpoint call and use IM throughout the day