IT managers say: 'Don't blame us for the lack of flexible working'

HR personnel believe IT departments are inhibiting the take-up of remote working: that was the key finding of a survey covered yesterday on silicon.com (http://www.silicon.com/a52680 )

Unsurprisingly, that has provoked a deluge of responses from our readers - according to most IT managers, the main barriers are in fact a lack of board-level understanding, and a lack of money.

One reader working in IT support warned of the frustration of having to travel out to colleagues' homes just to have them tell you, "It was working fine until I installed this free CD I got".

Read on to find out what your peers think - and do join in the debate by posting a Reader Comment at the bottom...

IT are just scapegoats
Anon

IT departments are often considered responsible for any problems in business, simply because of our high visibility. The truth is often more complicated, but scapegoats are as popular in HR departments as anywhere else.

My own experience bears out that of others, that budgets are the only realistic obstacle to technical innovation& It must be nice to work in a department like HR, where hundreds of people do nothing but shuffle paper to justify their existence... meanwhile we in IT will keep the systems running and keep the business in business.

On a final note, implementing PeopleSoft HRMS reduced my HR department staffing by 55 per cent - I doubt they'll be posing us with much of a problem for long... That'll teach them.

IT would love to help - give us the money to do it
Colin Docketty

Some companies I have worked for have IT departments controlled by the bottom line on the budget report. This is the real constraint on the development of the IT department.

IT staff are generally very helpful and bend over backwards to support their systems. It is the budget (the will not to pay overtime or buy laptops) which constrains them to seem inflexible.

Tell the board - not the IT department! (Part One)
Alex Knox

As a network specialist, I have been trying to get the board to adopt the idea of taking on the technology to enable flexible working. To no avail.

However, when an employee requested flexible working patterns, the IT department was blamed for not delivering the technology to make it happen!

Tell the board - not the IT department! (Part Two)
Anon

This is the main problem within business - they'd rather listen to other people than their own IT staff. You can demand away and come up with the theoretical solutions but will business pay for a workable solution? Don't blame IT, give us the funds and we will be more than willing to do it.

There are other factors that have to be taken into consideration: Will business pay for the ADSL connection without an SLA or pay through the nose for one and even then they are not guaranteed? Will business pay for the engineers to travel from house to house repairing PCs and software problems that cannot be sorted over the phone?

Unreasonable expectations
William Hart

IT departments are all too well aware that they are there to support the business. The problem in most cases is that 'the board' normally expects the IT department to react immediately to its proposals without proper analysis or consideration of the wider issues.

What about the bills and the hassle?
Anon

Home working can be good - there is no denying it. But in my view it depends on the market area you are working in.

I had a home worker who connected 10 hours a day on ISDN seven days a week. That makes for a big phone bill each quarter.

Support of home workers takes more time than an in-house user and can cause you to have to keep visiting their house.