Tag Archives: innovation

Telework/telecommuting

Unions for Teleworkers?

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Way back in 1974, after we had completed the first successful quantified test of telecommuting, I was stunned by an announcement of the president of the test company. He said that, while the project was a great success from several points of view,  the company would discontinue offering telecommuting to its employees. When I asked why he said: “Our company is non-union. We’re concerned that, if the company allows telecommuting from these satellite offices, the unions will be able to recruit the employees at one office after another.  Before we know it, because of NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) rules, the company will become unionized and we don’t want that.”

A few months later I was part of a panel discussing the possible impacts of telecommuting. One of my fellow panelists was the head of strategy for the AFL/CIO. At one point he turned to me and said: “You know, this telecommuting is a terrible idea.” When I asked him why he thought so re replied: “Well, if a company’s employees are scattered all over the map, how the hell will we ever get them organized?”

We have what turns out to be a standard dilemma: The fear of becoming organized on the one hand vs the fear of not being able to organize on the other. Telecommuting/telework were  in the middle.
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Telework/telecommuting

Telework: strategy for moving to the gig economy

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While JALA’s efforts over the years have concentrated on telework with and for employees of larger organizations, millennials are changing the equation. Increasingly, younger employees yearn to join the ranks fo the self employed. Information technology is abetting that desire. The gig economy, often described as piecework for the underemployed, is having a similar transformation. Here Lucy Reed of Gigmine has this to say about making the transition while still being employed.

jubilant gig entrepreneur

Make a strong start to your side business to build success

by Lucy Reed
Side businesses aren’t new, but with the connectivity of the digital age, the opportunities to start your own side gig have exploded. With the allure of flexibility and earning extra income, more people are choosing to jump on these opportunities. If you’re ready to get into the gig economy, follow these tips to start strong and build with success.

Do what Inspires you

If you’re overwhelmed by all the different options, start by thinking about what inspires you. Some people naturally choose to go freelance in a field they already work in, which can be a great option for advancing your career and making the most of your skills. This is also a chance, though, to turn a passion into a profit. Building a business is a labor of love, so it’s important to choose something you really want to spend time on.

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Telework/telecommuting

Face-to-face: Who needs it?

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Who needs face-to-face? One of the primary issues in determining the telework ability of a particular job or person is the extent to which face-to-face interaction is needed. Most jobs can be analyzed in terms of the amount of time face-to-face interaction is required versus the time that it is neither required or can be substituted by some form of technology. In the early days of telework the available technology was simply the telephone; therefore face-to-face requirements (meetings, informal discussions, presentations, and so on) had no substitute. So the time available for teleworking was basically the time when the worker could work alone.

As technology has improved it has reached the point where it can substitute effectively for many forms of communication that formerly required face-to-face interaction. Still, there are cases where face-to-face is required or certainly desirable. Let’s look at a few. Continue reading Face-to-face: Who needs it? →

Futures Research, Telework/telecommuting

Assimilation Valley: signs of aging?

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That vaunted fount of innovation, the Silicon Valley, may be showing signs of aging. It is beginning to resemble the history of industrial development before the information age. Some of the symptoms are: growing larger companies by gobbling up smaller ones; attempting to control markets by stifling startups (or by engulfing them as in the prior case); and developing borg-like headquarters facilities aimed at exerting almost total control over the lives of their employees. From the Company store to the company town. From Silicon Valley to Assimilation Valley.

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Telework/telecommuting

Young scientists need telework, not travel

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The World View page in the 19 June 2014 Nature is titled: “Uprooting researchers can drive them out of science.” A key statement in the article by Russell Garwood of the University of Manchester, UK, is:

If they wish, researchers can now communicate more often, and just as easily, with colleagues in a different time zone than with those in the next office.

That’s the problem. The management techniques of science were developed in the time when scientists necessarily worked together in the same laboratory. Although the technology has changed, apparently the management attitudes have not.

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Telework/telecommuting

Productivity, innovation, creativity and telecommuting

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As we have seen in the news lately there seems to be a fad in Silicon Valley based on the idea, particularly for companies that are currently in trouble, that togetherness is an absolute requirement for rescuing the company from a fate worse than death. That is, according to this theory, productivity, innovation and creativity only happen in groups of people constantly engaged in face-to-face communication. So if the company can only get all of its people collocated as much as possible great things will automatically happen.

I have mentioned in previous blogs that I don’t believe this theory, based both on my personal experience and survey evidence we have collected over the years. I think that these companies might better spend their time improving their management capabilities rather than herding all their employees into some mental gymnasium. Let me explain this with my own assumptions. Continue reading Productivity, innovation, creativity and telecommuting →

Telework/telecommuting

Telecommuting and innovation

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The press, both national and international, has been full lately of stories related to Yahoo’s impending termination of telecommuting for all of its employees. The reason for this termination, according to Yahoo’s spokespeople, is the need for more innovation within Yahoo so that it can gain market share. Furthermore, Yahoo’s position seems to be that innovation can only occur if the employees are always co-located and frequently interact with other employees not in their usual workgroup. It ignores the fact that most contemporary telecommuters do their telecommuting part-time and do spend time with their coworkers in face-to-face situations.

As you may have noticed in my previous two blogs on this topic I am skeptical of Yahoo’s approach. There are two aspects to my skepticism. First, there is the question of how much innovation is really needed in an organization. Second, is the premise valid that employees need to be co-located in order to be innovative?

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Telework/telecommuting

Yahoo! and Creativity: Part 2

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Since my post last month on the Yahoo!-Telecommuting controversy word of Marissa Mayer’s decision seems to have spread worldwide. Opinion expressed in the media has been both pro and con (mostly con) about the impending ban of home-based telecommuting for all Yahoo employees. If nothing else, the Yahoos certainly have stirred up public recognition that there are lots of telecommuters out there.

Much of the controversy is centered about two major apparent presumptions on the part of CEO Mayer as she tries to inject new life into Yahoo!:

  • Telecommuters are less productive than are office-bound employees; and
  • It is not possible to be creative or innovative while telecommuting.

Therefore Ms. Mayer feels that it’s necessary to bring the, mostly home-based, Yahoo telecommuters back to the office as a means of revitalizing both the telecommuters and Yahoo.

Continue reading Yahoo! and Creativity: Part 2 →