By silicon.com, 30 November 2004 17:40
Commuting to work can be more stressful than a fighter pilot going into combat or a policeman facing a mob riot, according to a new study which received much press attention today.
But so what? That's probably no great revelation to a large number of silicon.com readers, and is certainly backed up by the London commuting experiences of the silicon.com editorial team.
A look at the sponsor of the research gives you a clue. The study was backed by HP, which had an ulterior motive in promoting the health-related benefits of kitting out employees with technology to allow them to work remotely and from home more.
A separate piece of research today, backed by Microsoft and the London School of Economics, also focused on the "key success factors" for mobile productivity.
After deciphering the kind of pseudo-management speak that The Office's David Brent would have been proud of, one of the underlying themes of the research appeared to suggest that people need to open themselves up to being contacted by more people, more often through new communications technologies.
Indeed the author of the piece, Dr Carsten Sorensen from the LSE, warned: "White collar workers will have to realise they are blue collar workers in the 21st century."
Undoubtedly the use of technology by corporations to facilitate mobile and flexible working has largely been a positive development for staff and the productivity of UK Plc. At a briefing for the launch of the mobile productivity report today, Microsoft UK MD Alistair Baker said up to 40 per cent of Microsoft's Reading campus workers may be out visiting clients or partners at any one time of the day.
But the intrusive nature of an 'always on' culture has its downsides too. Research has consistently shown that those who work from home put in longer hours than they would if they had been in the office. And how many of us use our wirelessly-enabled laptops, PDAs, Blackberrys, mobile phones and broadband PCs to check work emails long into the night and over weekends?
Commuting and the old nine-to-five desk-based existence may well be stressful but we also need to think more carefully about how we are going to maintain worker wellness in this 'always on' corporate culture.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Oliver Wright
Having made the break (not by choice I may add) to working for myself, I now have a 5 yard commute in the morning to the garden shed, and that is the ONLY advantage of my new lifestyle. I had such a much better work-life balance when I worked a 9-5 office job, the family saw me in the evening and weekends, clients didn't call me at odd hours of the evening. I could compartmentalise.
Email, phone and instant messaging whilst a great facility, are no-way a replacement for one-to-one interaction. Trouble is I know of many small companies now, that due to heavy handed employment redtape don't employ their own staff, and don't even have a central office, simply staffed by self-employed contractors/consultants working from home across the entire country. The world of work of the future? Give me the good old days....
2. uncle.wilco
Oliver
would you care to share your shed?
on www.readersheds.co.uk we are a bunch of sheddies who enjoy sheds
3. Tony Gasson
Your article on mobile working rightly points out that growth in the use of mobile phones, email and instant messaging has led to an ‘always on’ culture where, if we are not careful, we could find ourselves on call 24/7. Five years ago, the distinction between the office and home was absolute. Your weekend was your weekend and customers and colleagues would not have dreamt of calling you outside working hours. These days business associates and clients have a channel to reach you in your leisure time.
Remote working should give employees a choice of where they work and more control over their time. If we are to embrace these advantages effectively then the onus is on us to be disciplined enough to create an optimum balance between work and leisure. To prevent flexible workers becoming permanent slaves we need to ensure that workers have the tools to be extremely productive and interactive during the day, so that at the end of play they can power down and put their feet up. Setting simple parameters can also help; buy a separate mobile for work, leave your desk regularly to stretch and refocus, and ensure you leave the work environment at lunchtime to recharge batteries.
Whether it’s the chance to skip the infuriating traffic jams of the M25, or to simply reduce the daily cost of doing business, there are advantages to mobile working; the key is to ensure that we set ourselves a healthy balance.
4. anonymous
From one who still struggles, but is improving daily, the two most important skills for remote workers are -
- time management
- knowing the location of, and using, the "off" button on PCs and mobile phones and the "on" button of telephone answering machines