Why do companies not really like remote work

Recently, I read the post " Why employers do not like remote work " and I can not answer the author.

The fact is that I understand the fears of managers who are not ready to let their employees work from home. But besides that, I myself am a manager, so you can consider this article to be the voice on the other side of the barricades.
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The author has painted a beautiful picture of the ideal working conditions. You can sleep in the morning, do not hustle in a crowded subway car, do not sit in a noisy and crowded office. You can adjust the working schedule by yourself - almost like in “Forrest Gampa” (“When I wanted to eat, I ate, when I wanted to drink, when I wanted to sleep, I slept ...”).

That is, the employee is alert and efficient. What are these employers missing?
Let's see. Does this inexplicable paranoia cause them to drive staff into offices?

Any business is a risk

But only for the owner and manager

The work of the company depends on many different factors, both external (dollar rate), uncontrollable control, and internal (quality of work of the team), which can be partially influenced.
At the same time, an ordinary employee knows that in any case he will get his salary, but the manager has to spin in order to have money in hand. And the cost of the error for managers and staff is different. In the first case - the loss of business or reputation, and in the second only a change of place of work.

The presence of an employee in the office (and even more so under the control of the monitoring and time tracking system) allows the manager to reduce their risks:

• firstly, he can be sure that during working hours the staff is busy;
• Secondly, he knows for sure that failure to fulfill plans (sales, release of a new version of a product, etc.) is caused by external factors, and not by idleness of the performers.

Instead, the boss gets a performance boost from some employees. But only in some parts. Why?

How to work well from home

After all, the house so much interesting

In his article, the author describes a well-motivated person to work. " When I was working remotely, I did not divide time into work and personal ones. As soon as I had an interesting idea, I went to the computer and implemented it immediately. "
Sometime I also worked sometime, but I had an important goal for me (a project that was supposed to start making a profit) and metrics (time and amounts).

How much do you know motivated to work sales managers, logisticians, programmers, personnel officers, and so on? What will they lose if, by the results of several months, their work will be recognized (if it is) unsatisfactory? Changing jobs.
But in most cases, the same sales managers manage to convince the authorities that the decline in revenue is due to the crisis, and not from their inaction.

And what happens when such an unmotivated employee wakes up on a working day at home and realizes that he is no longer under control? The author himself honestly writes about this " First of all, the ability to manage your time within very wide limits. You do not need to ask permission every time to go to the doctor, meet the mother at the airport or pick up the children from school. "
For the first time, having spent two hours on a trip for children, the employee compensates for this time in the evening hours. The second time - also will work in the evening, but already much less. And in the third - just spit and will not bother.

As a result, the volume of the actual working time will be constantly reduced. Results will worsen. The loser will be the employer.

I myself had to face a similar approach when my SEO manager, working remotely, initially began to delay work on the site, and then stopped responding promptly to calls. Then he found himself in a bank, where he was urgently called, then he visited someone in the hospital, then ... You can continue for a long time. Every time I had to "with the battle" to force him to return to work. It is clear that we quickly refused his services.

Is a compromise possible?

Is it possible to work from home?

And nevertheless, there are two mechanisms allowing to give a person the opportunity to work by habitat.

The first is the installation of a monitoring system on his computer. Then the boss in real time will be able to make sure that his subordinates are currently engaged in business.
In this case, the employee works in a comfortable environment for him with homemade food and does not spend time on the road, and the boss reduces the risks of non-performance.

The second is the introduction of freelancing mechanisms. How is freelancing convenient for an employer? You pay only if the work is done. So why not turn employees into freelancers with guaranteed orders ?
The programmer gets the task, in the task the system architect has set the amount of time to complete it. Nobody cares how and where the work will be done. If at the end of the period the performer provides the result, then he is paid the money. And if not…
In this case, the issuance of the next task (subject to the performance of the previous one) is guaranteed. That is, an efficient employee will not remain on a food ration (and this is the main difference from the classic freelancing).

This is freedom to the full. Risks are divided equally between the manager and the employee. The only problem is that very few employees will want such freedom. It is much more comfortable for them to come to the office in the morning for a guaranteed income.

What do you think? Waiting for your opinions!

Andrey Ignatov