Hi, This might not be exactly on the same topic, but of the over 100 mainframe sites that we currently support less than 1/2 of them have their systems programmers anywhere near enough to the hardware to actually be considered on-site. Once you place the mainframe hardware in a building that is over 100 miles from where the systems programmers sit, it's not a big stretch to find that the systems programmers tend to perform more of their duties from home and at some very odd hours and not even think about going in to the site to fix the issues. The sites themselves realize how silly it would be to expect them to leave their home, drive into work (remember it's still 100 miles or more from the mainframe) and fix the problems when they can do it just as well (sometimes better and certainly faster) from home.
I fully agree with those sites that support their people working off site and especially for systems programmers who tend to not be able to do anything during the day but be a fireman for the site and really can only get things "done" in the "off" hours. It makes sense to allow them the flexibility and so long as it is not abused it appears to work well for all involved. There are those systems programmers that I have met that sit their butts at their desk and work 9to5 and get absolutely nothing done. That said, of the sites I have provided support to, and there have been hundreds over just the past 7 to 10 years, I have never even visited more than maybe 10 of them, and those sites have been a once or twice type of event. I have never had any site complain that they thought I wasn't working for every hour they were billed or had any complaints about the work product or my availability when they have a problem. While it's not the same for a consultant as it would be for a actual employee, there is no logical reason why (at least the systems programmers) could not be just as productive via remote as being physically there. With the advent of many of the video telephony options, there is little reason to psychically be sitting at any specific desk when you could be getting actual work done. Hope this helps. Brian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
