All Work is Canceled Due to Weather -

Take a look at the news and you immediately see that the weather is creating problems for many individuals and companies. Employees cannot get to work due to ice, snow or whatever else nature has thrown in their paths. This is one area where improvement can and should be addressed leveraging technology to its fullest.

Anyone who knows me knows that I travel a bit. OK, a lot! They also know I can work from any place on the planet and access the information I need all of the time with few exceptions. Even when I am not able to connect using standard Wi-Fi, I use my USB Laptop stick and get Wi-Fi through my cell carrier. Why today, I can even connect at 35,000 feet using the Wi-Fi offered through the airline. That is why it boggles my mind that unless there is a reason you need to be in the building physically to do your job, like say a Nurse or Physician, why more companies and people are not working remotely, especially when the weather gets tough.

In my view, companies could benefit from the use of technology to enable employees to work remotely. In many of the discussions I have had regarding this topic, the biggest barrier seems to be one of culture and trust. I often hear “How do I know the employee is really working and not just playing golf?” I often reply with, “How do you know they are actually working when they are in the office?” I guess the real question is one of expectation and deliverables. Are you playing an employee to be in the office for a set period of time or are you paying for the knowledge and deliverables? Does it really matter if the person is in the office from 9-5 or is it the end result that matters?

Imagine a world where work gets done on budget and on schedule regardless of work hours and weather conditions. Imagine a world where knowledge and skills can be acquired readily and active collaboration happens outside of a conference room and beyond geographic limitation. Imagine a world that continues to move forward even when nature puts obstacles in the way. It is possible. The question to ask is, “What is preventing it?”

If you are not sure where to begin or what to do next, seek professional assistance and/or training to get you started.

What say you? Do you have a story to tell? What are your thoughts on this topic? What is on your mind? Do you have a topic of interest you would like discussed in this forum? Let me know.

Comments

Submitted by Steve Weissman January 12, 2011 - 5:23 PM

My old sing-song applies perfectly here, for as you write, "the biggest barrier seems to be one of culture and trust" -- and that's psychology, not technology! Seen it a thousand times: yes, you got the job done, but we couldn't see it, so therefore it doesn't count. Yeech!

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Submitted by Bryant Duhon January 13, 2011 - 6:15 AM

The Federal Government's psychology changed last year when DC was shut down for a week. Not sure if it's still the same a year later, but at the time it seemed that the thinking went from "we're doing you a favor by letting you work at home one day a week" to "holy crap, no one can get into work, do some work from home even though we are 'closed'". It was also a wake up call in that "huh, we really could save some money on office space because work does get completed when people are at home."

Seems it'll kick in with most companies eventually, but executives do still seem to enjoy surveying their Cubicle Kingdoms.

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Submitted by Rich Blank January 13, 2011 - 3:59 PM

work anywhere anytime. 9/11 forced many companies to think about this...but it has really taken a decade to become mainstream ...That's what SharePoint and the Microsoft collaboration eco-system enables workers to do. I've lived this way for over a decade and can't work any other way.

However, collaboration anywhere anytime really needs to be part of the corporate strategy from top-down to ensure culturally the organization makes it a priority to leverage both synchronous and asynchronous tools -- beyond email and blackberrys. I've seen this start to finally happen over the last few years - especially at many large institutions who traditionally were more face to face and "office based". SharePoint and the MSFT ecosystem has played a part in that....but office design/hoteling are also part of changing the culture.

Let's face it -- even if everyone went to an office everyday, the fundamental element of work is project based. And it's unlikely the members of your project team are all in the same location anyway. Most likely, they're in a another city or country or even another floor or building on campus. So businesses are in effect paying for expensive office space for many people to sit and have conference and web calls all day.

great example of where collaboration broke down by old thinking - MySpace. I just read an article on how the old corporate thinking of their acquirer changed their office location, broke down the culture, workers were no longer hanging out at local eateries, etc... And we all know where MySpace is now in the headlines.

on the flipside - make sure you see the Pixar story on CNBC....their success again and again and again is very much based on enabling creative collaboration to happen. Technology should simply complement, enable, and facilitate what we already do face to face.

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