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Working from a Third Place
Krishna Dagli writes to mention a USA Today report on the social and business ramifications of working from a third place - somewhere that is neither home nor office. From the article: "An estimated 30 million Americans, or roughly one-fifth of the nation's workforce, are part of the so-called Kinko's generation, employees who spend significant hours each month working outside of a traditional office. This rootless army is growing 10% annually, according to Gartner Dataquest research. The reason? Corporations are increasingly supportive of teleworking for reasons that range from saving money on office space to needing a backup in the event of a natural disaster or terror attack."
"Corporations are increasingly supportive of teleworking for reasons that range from saving money on office space to needing a backup in the event of a natural disaster or terror attack."
Now even more places for data to leak.
There seems to be 2 kinds of working from home:
1) I'm taking a sickie really and I don't feel like working and look the business has provided me with a good excuse.
2) Legitimate working from home.
Unfortunately the infrastructure at the moment seems to be set up more for type 1, because every employer I've worked for hasn't got their technology right to facilitate type 2. Mind you I'm in IT and require access to a lot more than many non-IT employees might.
I think if you're going to allow work from home, that's a good thing, but for goodness sake unless your business can afford slacking off set some goals that have to be met, and provide the technology.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I've been one of these so called root-less workers for six years now and I can tell you it's not what it's cracked up to be.
#1: My company provided me with a cellular 'broadband' card as my primary connection. It works great in city centers, but is horrible if it works at all outside of major metro areas. I love it when it goes into idle mode as well - drops my VPN login, web pages time out on load, etc etc etc.
#2: My company insists it's important to load bloated corporate spyware that forces updates at inopportune moments and suddenly reboots when it's done - many times in the middle of a large email response. No warning, no choice.
#3: They insist on loading Novell services as they do for internal office workers when everything I need is strictly IP based. I got my hand slapped for backing it out, since that also reports back to the mothership daily.
#4: Many cafes that offer WiFi have minimal electrical outlets, so if you don't vulture other laptop users, you don't get to plug in. Not to mention, these environments are not conducive to making business calls with the grinders and blenders singing their harmonious tune - not to mention the vocals: "DECAF VENTI NON FAT SUGARFREE VANILLA LATTE!"
#5: Recipients of my calls complain of noisy backgrounds, so I have to go out side and talk. Winter sucks for this.
There is some luxury to the practice of being a rootless worker - the scenery does change frequently, I avoid bad coffee/snacks and the people working at these places get to know you and eventually hook you up with a freebie once in awhile.
Shame on companies who try to get off cheap and don't provide proper resources or financial compensation for lack of a decent working environment!
That's actually a good point. I'm going to ask my boss if I can "telework" so that I won't be bothered by the constant terrorist attacks at the office.