Telecommuting when needed is pretty well accepted at MegaTech. I think my own old fashioned work habits are probably more of a limiting factor than any "company pressure". With broadband, cell phones, netmeeting, etc. sometimes it seems almost silly to come into the office.
T.R.
Working from home today, myself. Did not physically leave the 'plant' until ~7:00 PM last night, was back on my email directing activities and responding to issues at 5:45 AM this morning.
I have worked from home maybe four days in four years, and I still feel guilty doing it. I allow my own staff to do it if they feel they have enough work to make it worth their while, and they seem to do it sparingly and with good judgment.
I also have at least an hour commute one way, and it's getting longer. On the work-at-home days, I use those two hours, plus usually lunch hour to work, so it is a bargain for Megacorp, but I can see it was be very easy for people to abuse.
One of the signs of getting 'eased out' is often stated to include a 'special assignment.' Recently for the first time in my career, I was suddenly asked to take on another dept while they restaff the leadership team of the department I was asked to step into. I have worked on developing my old organization prepping for my ER, so this was a nice chance to see how things will work, with me out of the mix. The old area is so far working like clockwork, but a weird thing is happening: in the new area, even though I intended only to be a short term caretaker, I am seeing a lot of things that things could be improved, and it is difficult for me to be true to my own self-decided limit, which management agreed to, that I would only keep the pot from boiling over and not retool/re-engineer. New faces are coming in, who will doubtless have their own ideas.
So here I am, having been hoping frankly, to find a chance to make a graceful exit, and now I'm at this new assignment that was clearly stated as being temporary with a return to my own digs afterwards. So it might seem the stars are aligning! But, I have a feeling that the results for the short period I am there are going to be positive enough that I will be sent back to my golden handcuffs...
I'm truly ambivalent.