Remote Support
I recently found myself with more available time than I needed so I began to look for more contracts. I searched through many job boards and posts and discovered many companies looking for people with the skills I have. most of the posts were from staffing agencies, headhunters, and IT service companies. I contacted a number of these either through the job posts or directly to the companies themselves. The response I got was very surprising.
All of the companies pretty much blew me off because I did not live in their immediate area. I can understand that their clients may be asking for a local tech, but the abruptness of the sales staff at the agencies was quite negative. I did onform them that with Altiris, I can really do 90% of the tasks remotely.
I can understand that companies may initially find it difficult to trust that a “new” remote support worker would be honest with the time spent on tasks. For the employer, there is this risk and that likely shows the need to initially be onsite for a few days. One the “comfort level” is there, the need for an onsite Altiris Admin is not really valid. There are a great many benefits to having a remote worker which mainly are on the cost savings side. Here is jsut a quick list of some that I can think of.
For the Employer
- Office space – rough cost 10-15k
- IT support / Computer costs
- Environmental footprint (Commuting emissions, Energy consumption, Space usage)
Remote Admin
- Fuel costs ?
- Parking?
- Vehicle payments
- Vehicle repairs
- Vehicle depreciation
- Time commuting (Cost is family time)
- Food /coffee (reduced)
- Happiness I can avoid commuting = priceless
I am sure there are many, many more to note but the point is that there is more benefit to working remotely than there are any negative aspects to it. I do understand tehre needs to be some face to face contact, meetings and presentations (training), but for the most part, an employer can jsut have some temporary stations put in place to house the workers when needed.
I would really be interested in hearing other people give their thoughts on this. I would also like to hear more about why this is NOT a good idea.
I recently participated in a discussion thread that some of my Altiris Administrator peers started with the same thoughts in this post.
