With gas prices on the rise, I keep reading about innovative companies that offer flexible scheduling options, four-day workweeks, and even part-time or full-time telecommuting options to their employees. If you’re like me, you often look back over all you’ve done at work lately and think it could just as easily have been done from your couch.
Between e-mail, phone conferencing, and instant chat programs, even people working off-site can be completely connected. Companies that allow employees to work off-site, part-time or full-time, save money on utilities and even building space in some cases. So why don’t all companies do this?
At first, I thought it might be an accountability issue. If an employee is working at home, is he or she really getting work done? Will an employee be as productive at home as they would be in an office?
In my experience, the answer is yes. Employees who work from home are more comfortable in their environment and have a daily morale boost that comes with not having to commute. Employees working at home realize that they are privileged—they don’t suddenly forget they have deadlines, and in many cases, supervisors know how much product to expect from employees from past performance, giving them the motivation to keep up the pace with their work.
Think about it—if you were suddenly given a work option that would allow you to be out of bed and working in five minutes, wouldn’t you be ecstatic? No worrying about getting dressed or packing lunch, no forty-five-minute (or more) commute, no traffic? I know I’d be eternally grateful.
As far as direct accountability is concerned, there are ways to monitor employees even if they aren’t five feet away in the next cube. When I worked from home, my coworkers and I were logged into Gmail chat the entire time. The program provided a method for instant communication in addition to instant accountability. If someone is away from their computer too long, the chat program will show that they are idle. Other chat programs, as well as programs like Skype, offer similar features.
Networking, accessing information, and utilizing company databases are all made easy through programs that allow you to remotely access computers, or even by simply connecting home computers or notebook computers to the office network.
Granted, this approach to the workplace doesn’t work for all companies all of the time. Some meetings simply aren’t as effective over the phone or Internet. Group projects are also a little more challenging. But for many workers who spend the day in front of a computer, having the option to work from home or set a flexible schedule can make a job far more enjoyable without sacrificing anything.
Now all we need to do is convince those who run the workplace, often an older generation, to catch up to the world of technology and flexibility and let go of the rigid “9-to-5” concept. The world is changing, and the modern workplace needs to keep pace.
