Well, the recent gas price now has Atlantans being forced to Telecommute, simply because they can’t buy gas!

I am down in Atlanta, visiting with clients and attending a large employment law conference this week and have spoke with numerous business people who are telling me that even after driving to over 14 gas stations, they still can’t buy gas! They say that the gas shortage has other employees in there offices being forced to Telecommute simply because they don’t have the gas to drive to and from the office.

This is amazing to me, because for the first time employers are faced with the challenge that no matter what, their employees really can’t get to work. It seems as though an almost miny-pandemic exercise is taking place here in Atlanta, where employers are now charged with the task of getting the work to their employees instead of vice-versa. From what I understand, from the people I spoke with, this poses a problem for some of their colleagues.

Colleagues main fears are that employees don’t always have the same access to information and work resources, as they do in the offfice. And because of this employees are rather limited in what they can do. In addition, many employees are logging into work networks through home computers and other means, simplpy as a last resort. This poses a lot of problems for employers if they aren’t careful.

I hope Atlanta employers are starting to see the need for formal Telecommuting programs. A city this large, notorious for bad traffic, has been needing wide scale implementation for a long time. Hopefully now, employees have another reason to bolster their cause. But for many, I’m sure the arguement will be “no gas = less traffic”.