Caterwauling

According to the fine folks at the Society for Human Resource Management:

“More than 60 percent of executives around the world believe workers who telecommute have a lesser chance of advancing in their career. But one-third of the executives said telecommuters are more productive than workers in traditional office settings.”

I’ve seen it in action and have always gotten the hint that telecommuting is perfectly acceptable, just as long as it’s done before or after business hours. It was never said to me directly, but I do get the impression that having a visible presence scores tremendous brownie points … even if you’re losing commuting time and/or closed-door time that would be better funneled into projects that require creativity and concentration.

At my last job, people blatantly napped at their desks and played Solitaire half the day, and that was perceived along the lines of, “Well, they are here if we need them.” Because you really need THAT bringing down the rest of your good workers’ morale. I personally think that if someone’s sitting around twiddling their thumbs but there’s a huge project coming up, they should be allowed to hang out at home and rest up for the late nights, and conversely, if they need to concentrate and just cannot do so with 40 irrelevant and not-time-sensitive interruptions, they can prioritize better and actually finish the projects they start.

I always suspected what SHRM wrote today, but it’s a good reminder that a day may feel like a waste of scandalous underwear, but in the long run, it’s really not!

My goodness, where has this week gone? Busy, busy lil bee over here. That’s a good thing, I guess. That means it’s executive summary time!

1. I am voting for Hillary Clinton in 21 months, because she will get the Democratic nomination and damn it, she should. She should run with John Edwards. I don’t know if this country is ready for a woman president or an African-American one (as I do adore Barack Obama, too), but as I heard today, Hillary’s the man for the job. And besides, she can appoint all the other great candidates to her Cabinet, and in that, I have hope for America.

2. “Pursuit of Happyness.” Loved it. You’ve got to see it. My heart was so broken by the time the ending came around, I sat and cried through the credits. Unfortunately, I went back to the theater I abhor so much and the idiots turned on all the lights during the credits and waited for us to leave. I hate that shit. I sat there with them glowering at me, and I snarled at them on my way out. In any event, the only thing missing from the movie for me was more about his career development, although I think they may have kept that hidden so that you wouldn’t expect the ending. But as some of us knew how his life turned out, it would’ve been neat to see more. One can only hope for a director’s cut someday!

3. Is it a sign when you keep missing somebody’s calls? I really want to be available for them, yet we keep leaving messages for each other. Weird. Is it that you need to work hard to get what you want, or that you shouldn’t sweat it if it doesn’t come easily because there’s something else waiting in the wings? The mind boggles.

4. One of my buddies said she’s never seen me so happy as I’ve been lately. Apparently sunshine becomes me. 😉