Whatever Happened to the Virtual Workplace?
Christiane Hoeninger’s recent SCN blog Whatever Happened to the Paperless Society? got me wondering:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE VIRTUAL WORKPLACE?
Coincidentally, I attended a great presentation that same day on Allstream’s Workplace 2.0 by Vice President of IT Gary Davenport, which led me to consider why I haven’t heard more about tele-commuting lately.
I’ll admit to selfish motives here … Toronto, the city where I work, boasts the world’s longest commute times. According to an article by the Toronto Star, “At 80 minutes per round trip, Toronto commuters spend 24 minutes a day longer dragging themselves to and from work than people in Los Angeles, 12 minutes longer than New Yorkers, and 32 minutes longer than residents of Barcelona.” As much as I enjoy the interactions with my colleagues around the office, tele-commuting is looking pretty good!
While some managers may have concerns about the whole idea of working-from-home, many organizations appreciate the business case. Allstream’s original business case was centered around the following four pillars:
Reducing business continuity risks
A business continuity plan needs to take into account potential security threats, transit disruptions, epidemics (e.g. SARS, H1N1) etc. This is especially true for offices located in major metropolitan areas. A tele-commuting infrastructure allows operations to continue in the event of unforeseen business interruptions.
Reducing costs
Businesses can realize significant annual savings on real estate costs (not to mention the money saved by the employees on the cost of commuting).
Attracting and retaining talent
Most employees would appreciate the option to work from home, at least part of the time. This may or may not be driven by the Gen Y’ers (we seem to blame them for everything these days). Either way, offering this type of flexibility seems a good way to ensure access to the best talent.
Increasing productivity
75% of Allstream’s remote employees reported an increase in productivity. Using my own Toronto example, even if I only count the average of 80 minutes per day in saved commute time, that’s 6.67 hours per week more work time. But my experience is that you work harder when you work from home (fewer distractions), and the work day tends to spill over into “personal time” (a discussion for another time).
With the rising concern surrounding the climate crisis, changes in employee commuting habits represent a real opportunity for addressing GHG emissions. This Bright Hub article cites a Gartner Dataquest 2008 report, which indicates tele-commuting will rise through 2011. I wonder if the rate of growth is increasing beyond Gartner’s predictions with the rise of the sustainability movement.
Technology barriers seem to have been removed. Mobile access to the Internet is proliferating. Social networking options alleviate some of the isolation associated with working from home. There’s even a “working from home” emoticon in my office instant messaging application.
So what about you? Compared to 3 years ago, do you tele-commute more or less?
This is a very timely question for me - as we have just started an official WFH option for some of the developers. So yes, the pilot program for ABAPers has been embraced, and we are hoping it expands to others as well. I do work from home sometimes, as circumstances require and wonderful manager allows - but have yet to make it a fixed schedule because of the spillage - not to mention distractions of two kids and a dog. Sometimes, it is a relief to go into the office and have adult conversions 🙂
We should talk more about spillage though - life spilling into work, work spilling into life.
Sue
I've found Spillage to means other things when you're dealing with dogs 🙂
On Topic - I've been on call (on and off) for something like 30 years (less the 5 years I spent as a Developer in the 80's). It comes with the territory with Systems Programming and BASIS jobs. Add to that the requirement that these jobs have for scheduled work outside normal office hours, and it's not surprising that people either get out or get addicted. FWIW, I'm definitely one of the later 🙂
The effect isn't detrimental to me; I enjoy my work. The problem is what it does to your family life and other relationships. Letting 'work' (Think air quotes; I sometimes feel guilty about getting paid to what I do !!) steal your time means it is stealing you away from people who need or want to spend time with you (spouse / partner, kids, etc).
In this business, you can usually allow for a deficiency in one resource by doubling up on another (insufficient CPU ? throw some real memory at it). Time, on the other hand, is finite, and the amount available is always decreasing. Use it wisely.
Martin
I was reading just yesterday that work/life balance is irrelevant if you love what you do - which we do. On the other hand, this doesn't take into account the important people in our lives who need our time. I will take your sage advice to heart, and hope others will as well.
Cheers,
Cory
Happy Mother's Day 🙂
Thanks for the comment - GREAT to hear about the pilot program. I really hope it works out well and gets explanded.
Spillage and distractions ... I'm still chuckling. I suspect we could come up with a very interesting follow-up post here, if you're game?
All the best,
Cory
Many in education had said that my quest was a bit futile because one couldn't be in the classroom virtually (at that time) and still engage in SAP education. But luckily for me that proved wrong.
Perhaps more commitment to being a virtual worker is needed not just on the side of our employers but on the worker's side as well. This wasn't something "offered" it was something sought. And I'm fortunate that I found managers willing to work "with me" in creating a more flexible framework.
Also in terms of home commitment ,for me, it meant retrofitting a room in my house to serve as an office and the infinite patience of my husband/partner as the room I retrofitted also served as our sleeping quarters. In addition it meant having my kids adjust to the fact that although I was physically home, I wasn't available during work hours to their requests.
But to answer your question Cory, the last few years (at least 5) have been as a virtual employee and though there are quite a few challenges, one of them being longer hours than I would have had at any central office (what Sue called spillage), I wouldn't trade this back ever for so many reasons: better use of time that would have been wasted traveling, ability to be a more normal family member by saving commute, some flexibility, and my own deep deep hatred of traffic and commuting.
With the advent of better video conference abilities I am able to enjoy "being" with colleagues at a distance as well.
Of course I also have the distinct advantage of attending SAP events like Sapphire and SAP TechEd as well as a once a month Tweetup in our NSQ office where I can have concentrated face time with my otherwise virtual colleagues, friends and community.
And I seem to be seeing that more and more of my SAP friends are balancing their office time with home office time as well. Perhaps starting the office day later and avoiding traffic because they have actually started much much earlier at home.
I'm sure our employer benefits from this as well. Certainly happy employees are more productive.
I believe I speak for "EVERYONE" when I say thank goodness for tele-commuting because it means you are part of SAP Community Network!
Very enlightening idea... "This wasn't something "offered" it was something sought."
Thank you for sharing this story!
Cory
I have worked within an SAP office for the past 11 years, but began telecommuting in March of this year. I soon realized that I could get much more accomplished before 10 AM (I begin working at 7AM) than I could accomplish all morning while in the office. I certainly miss the social aspects of the office, but with a 45 minute commute, I now can enjoy the extra time with my family. It also allows me to join calls earlier or later than my usual schedule, because my drive home used to have 2 large dead zones where my calls would always drop. (not that driving while on the phone is a good idea in the first place...)
I found that my lunch hour has morphed into eating a sandwich while I type with one hand, but I try to take one or two days per week to give myself a totally work free lunch.
My basic hygiene has suffered a bit...my goal is to have my teeth brushed before lunch and my razor blades are lasting much longer these days. I am certain that my neighbors think that my car is disabled and I have a homeless twin staying with my family.
Having a dedicated workspace is a must for telecommuting. When I was unpacking from a move that never happened (long story..) I had to spend a few days working from the kitchen table, or using my lap as my desk. The neck strain and back fatigue motivated me to invest in converting a bedroom to an office the following week.
As a technology company, the employees of SAP have the technical capability to work from anywhere. SAP should be able to evaluate our quality of work to determine if telecommuting is effective for some employees or certain positions. Other than the decline in hygiene, it has made a positive change in my job focus, efficiency and my work/life schedule...and the coffee at home tastes much better.
Appreciate you sharing your experience. Like you, I find I get a lot done before 10am on the days I work from home. I hadn't really thought about the neighbours' reaction - hmmmm 🙂
Congrats on making the move to a virtual workspace.
Cheers,
Cory
I completely agree with all your points.
but data security is the main concern, accessing production system from the comfort of home will always be preferred by employees ( including me ļ )as they look into system as their routine work but for a business it is a vital information and virtual workplace is a major threat.
Thanks!
Cory
You raise something I hadn't really thought of... do you think that the more global nature of your team and business in general has led to increased tele-commuting, on top of all the other factors?
Thanks Natascha!
Great blog -:) I'm lucky to do remote working since the last two months...this should ideally last for more month, but still I have is enough time to share my thoughts.
For me, working from home has been a relieve because the early I woke up, the early I can start working. Taking a shower is not a problem, always shower at 7:00 a.m -:)
About distractions...well, everything is cool when my daughter is in school...which is about 3 hours...after that I still get more concentrated than when I was working in an office...even when having full Internet access and no external control, I feel that the responsibility to work is harder...I have learned a lot from my "working from home" experience -:) Also...best thing is that when you're hungry, you just need to go to the fridge and grab something -;)
Greetings,
Blag.
Great to hear from you! Thanks for the kind comments.
It sounds as though you and others feel an increased responsibility to work harder when you work from home. Thanks for the insight. Is tele-commuting fairly common in Peru?
Leave it to the guys to bring up the food-connection 🙂
Cheers,
Cory
You will miss out on the social aspects of work and the value of face-time. Like missing that office party or company luncheon.
On the upside, yes, you can be very productive and probably work more. The costs shift a bit from the employer to the employee (power, coffee, etc.), but they may be offset with commute savings.
In the end, it is challenging, but it seems to work. Your boss and company have to support the idea (makes it much easier and enjoyable for all). Virtually all companies do it to some extent, so it is not going away. Just advancing more slowly than one might like.
As an aside, it's surprising that after all this time, we're still not better at tele-conferencing. I'm on a con call right now where several folks have forgotten to mute themselves 🙂
Thanks for the great input and insight.
Cory