Telecommuting Trends

Hush - don't tell my boss, but it is 10.30 Monday morning and I am on my exercise bike watching TV -  Gerri Willis of CNN talks about telecommuting.

I remember Verizon pitching telecommuting to clients as a buffer against an avian flu epidemic a couple of years ago. Did not help. But gas at $ 4 a gallon just might. But as Gerri counsels - present it from an employer's perspective. Don't demand it. Offer to see more local customers. And only ask for it 2-3 days a week. And assure your employer about your home comm's infrastructure. Larry Dignan has more on the topic.

Of course, I am biased on the topic. Since Gartner (reluctantly) allowed me 13 years ago, I have had a home office. Back then remote workers got  a first generation multi-function copier. And an additional line for dial up access to the network. We have come a long way since then. JetBlue's work at home reservation agents and Offshore firms delivering 75 to 80% of work from thousands of miles away are proof of that.

I can tell you all about the joys and the drawbacks of telecommuting - odd hours, proximity to fridge, kids and dogs saying hello at awkward times, and no office water cooler influence :)

Of course, my commuting with Gartner also significantly increased my air travel. A pattern which I have not successfully managed to break years later. So to me the big excitement is around telepresence technologies. Especially since there is already starting to be disruptive alternatives to Cisco's lofty expectations.

Comments

[Phil Hodgen]

I am also seeing the half-hearted corollary: those who are in control of their own destinies are choosing to move their offices to eliminate long commutes. In my area, this means less need to be in downtown Los Angeles or Century City highrises.

I moved my offices from Beverly Hills (1.5 hour commute each way on bad days) to Pasadena (14 minute commute, including dropping kids off at school). I do international tax law and have clients all over the world. Business continues to grow nicely.

[aullman]

Telecommuting is needed now more than ever with the current price of fuel, traffic congestion on the nation’s highways, and the problem of greenhouse gases. As this article shows, there are some issues with home telecommuting from home. There are many employers and employees who are unwilling to support home telecommuting because of either real or perceived issues. Some workers like the idea of being able to get away from the distractions of the home in order to work, just as they like they idea that they can leave work problems at work when the day ends. Not everyone has reliable internet access and a comfortable/private work area in the home. There is also the sneaking suspicion among management that staff will get distracted and lose focus if they are not in a professional work environment.

The answer is to upgrade telecommuting by adding the features that are missing from home telecommuting. Telecommuting 2.0 calls for the use of Remote Office Centers to provide workers with all of the facilities that are normally available in a corporate office – but from a location near where they live. Remote Office Centers lease out offices to individuals from multiple companies in a shared telecommuting center conveniently located around populations centers, so that commutes are never more than a mile or two each way. Remote Office Centers provide: professional grade internet access, a professional phone system, a mail stop, security, and a real office. Centers are owned and managed by commercial leasing companies that specialize in services needed by remote workers. Workers can search for and find remote office centers using a free search engine available at: http://www.remoteofficecenters.com

For some workers, there is no better work environment than a home office. Others have needs that can best be served by a remote office center. The main goal is to cut out long and wasteful commutes that drain bank accounts and put a strain on the economy.

Telecommuting and traditional office environments can be combined to form a compromise that draws from the best of both worlds – Telecommuting 2.0.