Safe Speed Forums

http://motoring.aol.co.uk/the-zero-cost-traffic-congestion-solution/article/20061122061909990001

http://motoring.aol.co.uk/sudden-slump-in-sales-of-4x4s/article/20061206031409990009

Mike Rutherford is correct about working from home - it would only take a relatively small proportion of people doing it some of the time to make a huge difference to the level of traffic on the road.

There should be a claimable allowance for power and heating for each day worked from home, a simple fixed amount per day irrespective of salary level or size of house.

Yes, we should tax those fat cat farmers 'till they go out of business and the trade in price of their Land Rovers is ziltch.

We should also get agricultural workers toiling at home to cut out those unnecessary journeys.

The usual city-centric/office centric stuff.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

It just happens that they are the ones in the main areas that suffer from congestion. The average farm labourer isn't normally stuck in a traffic jam is he? No, it is the city/large town roads and motorway junctions near them that are the problem, as all those office workers try to get to their new out of town office complexes, and it only takes a relatively small reduction in traffic volume to get things moving again - hence the reference to holiday period traffic levels.

Basically it is the Carrot and Stick options: Gordon "heavyweight" Brown only understands big sticks and hitting things with tax, tax and more tax, hence his support of vehicle tracking and pay by the mile additional charges to "beat" congestion. This Carrot idea has a relatively low cost (especially when compared to the development, implementation and running costs of the Stick), and if the arguments behind the Stick are correct will pay for itself. If nobody chooses to do it, then nobody gets paid the home working allowance, so no cost; if enough do it, then the reduced cost to business will pay for it through increased profit and subsequent higher tax take. Those that cannot, for whatever reason, work from home are completely unaffected, except through the potential reduction in congestion. What is there to complain about?

I have a 2 minute roar to work on my low performance motorcyle. Even though I work as I do on a farm providing machinery operation to an excellent standard for very resonable rates, I'd rather have my eyes poked out with a stick than own a 4x4.

Up untill July last year my dad had a herd of cows and it took me a decade to convince him to buy a four wheel drive tractor which he needed. The farm vehicle was a 1.3litre, petrol Skoda Felica pickup. So it makes me laugh when they say "i need a 4x4 because I have a dog/horse/ once drove past a field.

In this months Viz in the Profanisaurus section there is this:

Wilmslow Panzer (n)

A large 4-wheel-drive vehicle which is designed to operate in the harshest of terrain and to protect its occupants from the most inclement conditions, but which only gets used to drive the hundred yards from a four bedroom house on a Balfour-Beatty estate to a Montessori f****ing primary school. The north west equivalent of a Chelsea Tractor.

Did he need the tractor to pull the skoda out of the mud?

fatboytim

Yes, OK, I was being deliberately provocative.

However, as an employer, I think that homeworking is a poor substitute for people's presence in the office/factory. This is analogous to the advantages of visiting a customer versus videoconferencing - you can really get a feel what is going on.

I don't think working at home is very efficient and you can kiss goodbye to your promotion chances if you are not privy to office politics and the nuances of everyday activities. How does a manager really mange staff issues remotely?

IMHO, electronic communications is no substitute for face-to-face contact.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I work from home most of the time. It IS possible but (in my view) only for certain types of job and certain types of people. My manager can manage me remotely but there needs to be a lot of trust both ways and excellent communications. As I write, it's just gone 9.00 and I ought to be working, but I'm (effectively) on "piece work" so as long as I get the stuff done, it doesn't really matter when. I sent my last work-related e-mail at 11.30 last night! Also, my job is very "portable". I only need a computer, a phone and some CDs of regulations. I have no staff under me. I tried that in my last job and even being on site 3 days a week and it didn't work out. Sod's law was such that if there was a crisis at work, it would have happened on a day when I wasn't there!

I go to work (150 miles) once a week and I tend to find that the tendency is to make every minute count when I'm up there. My colleagues want to get as much stuff done that needs my attention as possible (and so do I otherwise I might have to go up TWICE in a week)! On the other days, at home, I find that I'm actually more productive because I don't get sidelined by people coming in to see me about this & that all the time. The downside is that it's a bit lonely - especially at lunchtimes when I'd prefer to go to the canteen with my mates and have a chat.

He wasn't suggesting permanent working from home, which I agree does have those disadvantages, but many people could work part of the time from home, and the rest of the time hot-desking. The big change is in management attitudes and the setting of task based objectives rather than clock watching. If the employee is expected to complete a certain task in an agreed time, then as long as that task is completed in that time to the correct quality level, then it doesn't actually matter were it was done, or how long it actually took to complete.

I personnally am dramaticaly more efficient when working from home because the distraction level from most offices is incredible; we are talking about 200%+ increased productivity just because people aren't spending half the morning talking about last nights East Enders, how drunk they got and how bad the office coffee is. If you provide a laptop, VPN and possibly a VOIP phone, and the employee has broadband, then the employee can have full access to everything on the office network, and is as well equipped as if they were in the office.

Yes I know it doesn't work for everybody, but not everybody goes on holiday at the same time, and yet the congestion drops dramatically.

I'm in pretty good agreement with Mole above.

On task based objectives, if you are in the office then the deployment of staff changes to suit the day's requirements. There are a few fixed tasks to be completed by 17.00 hrs but most tasks are reaction to events. You can't easily do this with remote workers but, as you say, a limited amount of homeworking might be OK.

Hot-desking goes against the human trait of possessing territory. People like to have their own little space at work - strangely, it makes them feel "at home". However, the best implementation of hot-desking that I have seen is at one of our customers where staff have a portable cupboard with all their bits and pieces in which they wheel to a free desk as required. the cupboards are stored in a central pool at other times.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I'm an occcasional homeworker (more often "away from home" worker, sadly!) but there is an issue with companies "providing" stuff to allow home working - if they provided the laptop and VPN, they then become responsible for the Health & Safety in the workplace at your house. The way to get around it is to proved the equipment to allow working at other corporate sites, the work from anywhere capability allowing working at home almost accidentally.

One of the MOST stupid H&S rules I know of!

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

They have tarmac and everything in Shropshire He's still got the Skoda (mums got one too!) but the cows have gone, so I don't have to help him christmas morning. nice.

just edited me typo...

Makes me smile too, having moved up to rural Cumbria. The farm behind our house has a VW Caddy pickup and a Passat. Most of the other"incommers" have Shoguns, Pajeros, Jeep Cherokees etc. We've lived here for 6 years now with 2-wheel drive and not had a problem. You can usually spot the locals, they're the ones with the ordinary cars that are covered in mud. The big 4x4s are all remarkably clean!

Late october 1998, NW Kansas. It snowed 24 inches over night and was rough. Mucho snow drifts everywhere. Once the storm had passed it was beautifully sunny. We ventured out of our trailers to let of alittle steam to find some clown in an oldish F150 with nobbly tyres and 4X4 resplendent in large graphics down either side. Though the stickers spoke with forked tongue. Sure, there was drive to all four wheels, but only two were a spinnin', one on each axle. 2 drive axles and no diff lock. Good one. He had to dig himself out.