A Follow-up to Yesterday's Events

(And some answers to questions, GC )

So, today my boss pulls me into his office just after I got an IM from the VP I talked to yesterday. She's telling me that she knows it's not distrust and that, in her opinion, the telecommuting option is my boss having "hang ups" about it. When I talked to him, he put my mind at ease about the documentation issue and confirmed what she said. The answers to these questions ought to paint the full picture:

Are their set rules for how telecommuting works? Yes and no. For our doctorate holders, they are basically told that's how they will work when they're hired. For administrators and other staff, like myself, it's a case-by-case basis. This is part of the issue: there are no set policies (my boss and I discussed this in-depth)

Is it possibly part of your position why you have to document? Yes. That was discovered today when I talked to him. I'm basically working in an environment where there are only a few, defined tasks I do daily. Everything else is sort of customer service driven by the emails I receive throughout the day (and they are in the hundreds). The others I spoke of to him that are telecommuting, all have very defined tasks so, I'm unique. It made sense and I'm glad he got that cleared up for me.

Are there other people working for your particular supervisor and don't have to document? No. That is the other part of the uniqueness. I'm the only one, currently (but there are only two others in my department and neither one of them has been here a year, as of yet). Not that the time matters, but I think it should if ever policies are to be put into place. Also, I believe one of my department coworkers needs to be able to get up and go to the office for the sake of her own mental well being. She's also a part-time employee. The other person in my department has been with us a little over a month.

Have you heard of other things--perks or responsibilities that you had/have that make you go, "hmmm"? Not really a perk but, my boss is one of the few that isn't overbearing and controlling. Many of the managers around here seem to be that way. We (my department) are very fortunate. We have very little to complain about, in terms of how much time we request off and his flexibility with schedules. Some managers make it an act of congress even to take a sick day (and if some of those employees weren't so scared, they could really get their managers into a lot of trouble with HR if they said something).

Beyond the questions posed, he went on to tell me how he feels about my telecommuting full-time (which I requested, again...this is like the fourth or fifth time). He stated that he feels this is an "in the office" type of position but that he is willing to "revisit that notion" now that he knows I really want to do this. He made little jokes like, "changing his way of thinking about telecommuting" which I took for somewhat serious somewhat joking, jokes. We discussed policies coming into place and what my idea of said policies should be. I even voiced my ideas of trial and probationary periods to see if it works for the employee. He said that this may be a possibility (but honestly, he didn't seem like he was going to turn a cart-wheel over it or anything).

Over and over he said several times, that he enjoyed working with me and had no qualms about my work and in the times I have telecommuted, he saw no problems. He said that he has this fear of "out of sight out of mind" and my friend said that to me, too. She said she told him how he doesn't need to worry about that with me and she doesn't with her folks. The resolution? (if you can call it that) in a month or so, we can talk about it again. Well, I have my review in January and I think I'll bring up trying the probationary period again. Even a couple of days a week again to start would make me so happy. (Oh, and I mentioned the cost of daycare and how I could potentially cut that in half by doing so).

For now, I still feel a bit in limbo...stable and secure about the reasons why I document, but still feeling like, "Hey, it's the 21st century and there's information to prove that people are more productive working from home. I wish my boss were a little more open-minded about the idea." It seems so odd that his mind seems so closed to it, since he's fairly liberal minded about other things. I guess I could gather information about proven cases of successful telecommuting but, I'm not sure if that will change his mind or not. I'll think about it.

Sad news...my mother's beloved doggie has died. This was her Rottie, who she adopted after her thirteen-year old English Springer Spaniel passed away about a year and a half ago. Her Rottie was diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg. The leg was amputated, then he was put on antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. The anti-inflammatory caused her doggie to get hepatitis, which moved some how to his lungs and he died. My hubby took it really hard because her dog did not like any men, accept my hubby. They were good buddies.