Kristin AndersonYou could argue that all of the workers in Dilbert are pretty remote. That is, they don’t seem to do much work, or listen very well, or accomplish… anything. We’ll get to that in a moment. This strip is about telecommuting and actual remote employees. It also portrays an interesting relationship between remote employees and their in-house management.
At first glance, this strip is a simple 3-panel story about a remote employee being disappointed that he’ll have to do “real work” now that he’s moved to the home office.
The funny question is: is the former remote employee’s work load really going to change now that he’s in-house? We know that the Pointy Haired Boss is an ineffective manager to his in-house employees. We know they never get anything accomplished. In case we had forgotten this, Dilbert is sitting right there through the whole strip to remind us.
Dilbert is really the star of this strip. He just sits there, silently, through the whole conversation. Talk about a remote employee. There’s no reason for him to be in this strip, except to show the real joke in the exchange. The PHB will ignore the new co-worker just as much now as he did while he was telecommuting.
This strip suggests that the work done by in-house and remote employees is the same. Increasingly, Human Resource managers are starting to agree. The backlash against Marissa Mayer’s decision to bring in Yahoo! remote employees is a perfect illustration of the movement. Mayer made her decision with an eye toward increasing collaboration between her employees. However, from a productivity standpoint, here are some interesting statistics:
- In a Stanford study, employees who were allowed to work from home if they chose were between 13% and 22% more productive than employees stuck at the office.
- 75% of business decision makers reported seeing happier employees after implementing telecommuting programs.
- 37% of managers saw a decrease in absenteeism, as workers avoided spreading germs when ill, and could telecommute during bad weather.
For many companies, telecommuting is an important part of keeping their workforce happy and productive. Statistically speaking, the former remote co-worker will be doing less work now that he’s at the home office!
Of course, now that we’ve talked about the benefits of telecommuting; how it makes employees happier, more productive, and more engaged… it makes perfect sense that Dilbert’s company would get rid of that policy. Maybe that is the secret underlying message in this strip: don’t be like Dilbert!
Decoding Dilbert: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Decoding Dilbert unravels the real-world HR problems in the cartoon world of Dilbert comics. The series focuses on a different strip every week, with an eye toward improving employee-management relations. Suggest a strip by leaving a comment below, or send Kristin a tweet: @ithinkther4iamb #DecodingDilbert
IMAGE: Courtesy of Dilbert.com
Guest Post
Josh Tolan
