Calif.-based Nestle have run into busy signals and other phone troubles. The telecommuting program is part of a cost-cutting effort by Nestle. Sales employees working from home will help the company reduce the number of regional offices. But even a manager of the company's technology help desk, on the road on a business trip, said it took 40 minutes to dial into the Nestle system. Nestle spokeswoman Rita Henderson declined to comment.
Doctors complain they are owed millions in back payments.
Claims processors and other administrative workers found their worktime doubled during the worst of the crisis. Productivity, which is supposed to rise when new technology comes on line, can actually slip. Michael Fleisher, head of emerging businesses for Gartner Group, tags it the Futz Factor. Employees burn an estimated 150 hours a year, nearly a month of work time, teaching themselves how to use new technology and trying to customize software programs to their own jobs. Futz time is expected to double in the next five years as complicated applications become available on workers' desktops, Fleisher says.