Telecommuting - the future ain't what it used to be

via smh.com.au

Productivity versus collaboration. Isolation versus distraction. The pros and cons of working from home and "telecommuting" were making the rounds last week with articles about Google and Yahoo policies. Google, despite enabling its users to collaborate remotely doesn't favour the practise itself. The positions of these companies on the matter are summarised by Asher Moses and Ben Grubb with some additional research facts, stats and links. Here's a sample:

Dr Blount said telecommuting was not a one-size-fits-all solution and in each case a business case needed to be made.
Her research has found that in some instances team members and managers felt reluctant to “bother” teleworkers at home which could hinder collaboration, while at the same time the teleworkers themselves reported being far more productive and satisfied. Some however experienced “social and professional isolation”.

If this is an issue in your workplace read on for more links and references to a Deloitte study "Telecommuting - the future ain't what it used to be" http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/telecommuting--the-future-aint-what-...

The Future Of Working From Home

via fastcoexist.com

Citrix surveyed 1,900 "senior IT decision-makers" in 19 countries, asking about future trends in workspaces and telecommuting. Among the highlights:
The IT executives surveyed believe that by 2020 there will be seven desks for every 10 office workers, reflecting the growing number of telecommuters.

There are many advantages to a more flexible work environment: potential cost savings to businesses, happier and more productive employees, happier families. This article touts the attitudes of IT-decision makers but what it doesn't do is extrapolate on what the possible disadvantages are -- for instance minimising the serendipitous encounters between employees working together that can't be scheduled or planned that lead to great things. It will be interesting to see how this trend is embraced and how companies design a work culture of sometimes there employees.

2012: Our Intelligent Return to the Physical World - Forbes

From cubicle to newsroom to hot desks. The complete article talks about customer service trends and spaces, but the snippet below pertains to the workplace environment specifically.

Every company now is a retail company
Another interesting trend is the rise of new workplace designs that are meant to accommodate an increasingly mobile, matrixed, virtual workforce.   In early December, I sat in a new cafe on University Avenue in Palo Alto with a leading thinker in workplace design.  We were both marveling at the innovation in the seating design at the new cafe.  I asked if she was seeing the same kind of design in the workplace.   Yes, she said.  Not only the same kind of design, but the same design.   At one time, the dominant workplace design in Silicon Valley was the cubicle farm.  Sometime in the mid-2000′s — perhaps inspired by the Web 2.0 ethos — we saw the rise of the “open newsroom” as the favored design.  Now we are seeing something else:  longish tables alongside the walls and perimeters of workspaces where itinerant workers can drop in at anytime with their own equipment.  This twist on design recognizes a shift in behavior and expectations:  people crave the opportunity to drop in and work side-by-side their peers, but the experience has to be less chaotic than a newsroom.  Yes, the experience has to be more like a contemporary cafe, with better bandwidth and less noise (people will bring their own music).  There was a time, not long ago (again, the mid-2000′s) when we used to say, “every company is now a media company,” a reminder to the corporate world that they have an obligation to rethink their content and outreach strategy in the age of social media.  Now that we have entered the postdigital age — where the offline experience is as important as the online experience — every company now is a retail company, where the customer is the empowered employee who can come and go.
via forbes.com