Now More Cost-Saver Than Benefit

About a third of IBM’s workforce is “mobile” — the company saves about $10,000 per year per employee on facilities costs alone. That’s a calculation every firm is making now before letting staff work from home, say experts quoted here. IBM, says Pamela Stanford, director of the company’s on-demand workplace initiative, has worked hard to develop an environment conducive to mobile workers. Back in 1993, when their first telecommuters started, they were pioneers. Their joke was that IBM stood for “I’m By Myself.” Now each mobile worker gets a ThinkPad, a highspeed Internet connection and a second phone line for business calls, and workers say they enjoy the autonomy and scheduling flexibility. When someone in Dallas has to call a client in Europe or Australia, they can get up at 3 a.m. and walk over to the computer rather than driving to the office. “The people who consider it a perk, and are concerned about not seeing people in the workplace,” says Stafford, “come from command and control cultures. Command and control doesn’t cut it anymore. This kind of mobility is just right for us.”

Source: Work & Family Newsbrief; April, 2003