On Working From Home, Minnesota Winters, and the Relative Sanity of The Author

Today we find our hero (your favorite author, me, thanks for being momentarily confused) having an argument with his inner monologue over a topic that has haunted leaders for decades. 

C:  Whelp, it’s that time of year again.

IM:  What, where you start swearing every time you hear Christmas Carols?  When you kinda give up on your Fantasy Teams?  When you start thinking about Thanksgiving stuffing?

C: Well, yes, but that’s not what’s bugging me today.  It’s Sunday, but I still got an email today from someone asking me if they can work from home tomorrow because the roads might be crazy.  I checked the forecast earlier today, and they are calling for anywhere from 2-10 inches of snow between late tonight and Tuesday morning.

IM:  So what’s the problem?

C:  First of all, I thought I was past all of this now.  I don’t technically manage anyone anymore.  I’m the Project Manager, so I oversee their day to day activities, but I’m not their manager.

IM: Say, didn’t you write a great entry about the different types of reporting relationships  that Project Managers work with?

C: Yep, I sure did.  It’s called Entering the Matrix, you can find it on this site.

IM: Golly, I really like that article.

C: Me too.  But we’re digressing now.  Anyway, so one of the guys on my team emailed me asking me for my thoughts on him working from home tomorrow if the roads are crazy.  My first reaction?  Of course the roads are going to be crazy.  This is Minnesota. In the summer, the roads are terrible because of all the construction.  In the winter, they are terrible because, well, I guess I’m not sure why.  It seems as though everyone just forgets how to drive here when it snows.  We get a small break in the fall and right after the snow melts where things are relatively normal, and as of tomorrow it seems as though that will be gone.  So if his criteria for working from home is crazy roads, I guess I will see him again in May.

IM: Yeah, but you hate traffic too.  That’s why you would wait out rush hour at night and leave early in the morning- to avoid the crazy roads last winter.

C: Sure, but I still went in.

IM:  Not all the time though.   There were at least two times last year where you didn’t go in.  And I know for a fact that one time was because you didn’t want to deal with the traffic.

C: It’s not that I disapprove of working from home.  It’s just that I think people abuse the privilege. If your position is a telecommute position, fantastic.  If it isn’t then you should be in the office more often than not. 

IM: But you telecommuted for years, right?  You understand better than most that you can sometimes get more done in 4 hours at home than you can in 2 days in the office.  There are fewer distractions, less interruptions, a more comfortable environment, and a stocked fridge.  All in all, more conducive to being productive, no?

C: Yeah, but I had an office.  I was all set up to work from home.  And remember, most of the time I was on the road at least 2 days every week.  It’s not like I’d take conference calls from my back yard so I could smoke or anything.

IM:  Chris…

C: OK fine, I did do that. 

IM:  So how do you know when someone is abusing the privilege of working from home?

C:  I don’t know.  You just do.   I guess when you see a guy who is out every single time it snows, that’s obvious abuse.  Obviously, there are lesser degrees of abuse than that. You just have to handle each case individually.

IM:  But if someone can do their job effectively remotely, what’s the problem?

C:  Here’s the deal.  We live in Minnesota.  It snows here.  A lot.  Starting tomorrow, we will enter a period of permafrost that won’t go away entirely until May of next year.  It also gets kinda cold.  And while I get that when it hits -25, you really can’t tell the difference between -26 and -50, it still hits that level of cold here.  As a Minnesota resident, you accept that weather as part of the package.  Why you accept it is a whole ‘nother article.  You drive the vehicle you drive, you work where you work, and you know that you’re gonna have to deal with the weather for 6 months out of each and every year.  That means you’re gonna have to go out in it.  You’re going to have to get the snow blower working.  You’re going to have to drive on Minneapolis side streets when they’re basically impassible and Minneapolis alleys when the city stops plowing them.  You’re going to have to chip the compacted snow and ice off of your driveway a few times.  And you’re going to have to go to work.

IM: Hey, why exactly do we live here again?

C: Quiet you.

IM: We’ll talk about that later.  Does 3AM work for you for that?  We can work it into our you’re 40 now and where are you going with your life conversation we’ve been having.  Anyway, if I am hearing you right, your basic objection to people working from home during the winter is that they should know that it snows in Minnesota and deal with it.  Do I have that right?

C:  Well, no see, its deeper than that really.  I mean…um….there’s company policy of course, and…see…um.  I JUST DON’T LIKE IT, ALLRIGHT?  Jeesh, get off my back.

IM:  So, you just don’t like something that you can do yourself, potentially saving aggravation and cold extremities that no one says you can’t do, and that you do in fact do from time to time, but only when it makes sense to you to do it?

C:  Right.

IM:  So what are you going to tell the guy then?

C:  I think I’ll go with a Minnesota Nice/Catholic Guilt hybrid response.   Just enough ambiguity to not give him my blessing but also enough specificity to convey how I feel about it without coming out and saying no while simultaneously pointing out that I’ll be in the office.

IM:  We really gotta get us out of this state.