Posts Tagged ‘telework’
January 23rd, 2007 in Trends No Comments
This article provides readers with an overview of how the nature of the office has changed for mobile professionals. The protagonist is a young consultant in Jakarta, who has decided to avoid battling the local traffic snarls. Instead, she sits sipping coffee at a neighborhood café as she checks a proposal and then emails it to a prospective client. Her mobile telephone keeps her in close contact with her officemates. The article proceeds to discuss a host of new and improved instrumentalities whose rising effectiveness and falling prices are allowing ever greater numbers of workers to occupy virtual offices. New methods of communicating like VoIP are discussed, as are new services like Ibackup which allow people to collaborate in cyberspace.
Source: The Jakarta Post; Jan 23, 2007
September 5th, 2005 in Small Office Home Office No Comments
The author of this article believes that telecommuting at least one day a week is one solution to the high cost of gasoline. A brief discussion of the benefits of lowered commuting costs and easing stress levels is followed by an admission that getting permission and support for telecommuting is no easy matter. The author cautions those interested to plan ahead. He offers a number of tips to those interested in telecommuting that will help to position them with their employers and prepare them for the privilege of working from home. Among the more interesting suggestions:
- Accumulate work tasks that require quiet concentration and take them home to work on them one or two days a week.
- Communicate with both managers and colleagues as to what specifically you’re working on, and, when you return to the office, what you’ve accomplished.
- Create personal work rules that help to establish discipline and concentration.
Source: Michael Dziak, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Sep 5, 2005
April 1st, 2003 in Small Office Home Office No Comments
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
October 1st, 2002 in Small Office Home Office No Comments
This article holds that “the real key to successful telecommuting lies in a clear understanding of both the worker’s and manager’s roles and expectations.” It advises companies to establish well-defined job descriptions and to have manager and telecommuting employee agree on exactly what is to be accomplished and when. The article declares that telecommuters themselves need to manage themselves for their managers by proactively anticipating developments and consistently and effectively communicating with the home office. The article offers ten “guidelines” for telecommuters to help enhance their relationship with their manager. Managers, for their part, are encouraged to establish commuter support groups and a company-wide orientation that positions telecommuting as a working style alternative, not a perk.
Source: American Salesman, October, 2002
