Imagine this:
You wake up around 6ish (or 9ish if you’re a nightowl) and make yourself a strong cup of coffee/tea. You put on your favourite news channel or radio station and catch up with the latest in politics or business. Then, you put on your sneakers and go for a walk outside or in a gym. If inclined, you could set up a home gym in your living room or basement.
A couple of hours have passed since you’ve greeted the day and now you are ready to tackle the responsibilities of your job. Still in your tracks or maybe you’ve changed into a comfortable pair of jeans, your first task of the day is a conference call with a client at 10. You dial out from your living room and you’re alerted that you’re the second caller. After the virtual meeting, you reply to e-mail, proofread the draft sent by your assistant the day before, and set up a follow-up call with a client in India.
All of this happens before lunch. One minute after noon, you enter your kitchen and make yourself a tuna sandwich with sprouts, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos and a dab of olive oil.
Notice anything odd?
This is my vision for the future of a great number of jobs/professions in the near future. People working out of their homes. Prioritizing their work days to spend less time in traffic, hallway conversations, and coworker interruptions. For those people with young children, sick relatives, and/or elderly folks to care for, they can avoid the cost and worry of having someone fill in while they rush madly from one spot to another.
For the environment, it means fewer cars on the road, fewer accidents, and less pollution. Since multitasking is a powerful stressor, imagine the health benefits for a large segment of working people. For people who like to engage in artistic, business, and volunteering endeavours, there would be more time in the workday to enrich their lives without the office being the focus and highlight of their existence.
Some would reject this outright, claiming that people need middle management and supervision to do their jobs. Perhaps so but nothing stops people from surfing the net and gabbing on the phone all day at their cubicles from what I’ve seen so frequently throughout my professional life.
It takes some creativity, vision, and restructuring of how we view the workplace and workday. I just think that today’s world is markedly different than the world that give birth to the structure of the on-site, 40 hour week of the mid 20th century. What is the point of phones, e-mail, teleconferencing, and virtual office spaces available for the past decade and a half if not to revolutionize the way we think of work?
What do you think?
November 6, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Aya, have you thought about moving to Denmark? I remember listening to a story about this very issue on the radio couple of years ago. There are growing companies in Denmark, it may extend to the Scandinavian in general, that let its workers choose if they want to work from home or office and the time they like to work. There were nightowls who would only come to work between after 11am.
Those Scandinavians know how to enjoy life, but I don’t think that will come to America anytime soon.
November 7, 2008 at 1:14 am
Om, Scandinavians are light years ahead in so many ways. I can’t get over their holidays and family leaves. If I could, I would move to Denmark in a second.
Some companies in the US toy with these flexible arrangements, Google is an example. But they are rare and hardly escape this work-obsessed culture.
November 7, 2008 at 5:31 pm
You’re right, a lot of the companies in Silicon Valley have started this trend, but it will take time for this view of work to become the norm in the rest of the US. Here’s what I don’t get: America’s economy is now mostly based on Service, so why not take advantage what you propose? It only makes sense.
November 7, 2008 at 9:02 pm
It’s a mystery to me, Om. If some of the people I’ve spoken with are any indication, the dominant worldview on work clings to the post WWII factory model. Structured hours, foremen (middle management), punching in and out…etc.
November 10, 2008 at 1:50 pm
cities like ATL have had very rapid growth in recent years resulting in severe traffic problems. i’ve wondered about the midnight traffic in the states and i’ve wondered why are these people in their cars at that odd hour. i’ve settled on this cultural difference: whenever i’m upset and have a need to unwind I take a walk. a brisk walk. i think americans solve their problems in the car. the cheap gas prices is to blame.
the comment on scandinavia, i’m sorry to say that everyone was seduced by the right-wing politics and the social programs you’re referring to are in danger. the rights of workers followed by the rights of women is what created a fair and stable society. what’s good for the families is always good for the country. common sense. but right-wing sophistry will try to convince you otherwise.
November 10, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I work from home a lot. One of the best things that have happened to me.
November 10, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Like Paradise, I work from home on most days which is one of the best things I love about this job.
Besides, half the people I know work from home, so it might be the new norm. Actually most people in the Bay, unless they’re really doing something really mundane work from outside their offices, which I absolutely love. One of the main reasons, why I probably won’t move elsewhere during my sojourn in America.
But isn’t that how you work right now?
November 10, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Cigaal, I’m disgusted with right wing nuts and they seem to have grabbed hold on some Scandinavian countries. It’s too bad people are deluded into endorsing their fear mongering. If they don’t preserve social programs, they will pay a high price.
Paradise, you are very fortunate!
AMTAF, the Bay area is so civilized compared to where I live. Thanks to useless, endless client and staff meetings, I have to be in the office daily for some projects. The only break I would get is when I’m travelling for work.
November 20, 2008 at 4:15 am
be careful of what you wish for Aya – I used to work from home every now and then which was okay at the time since I am plugged in all the time anyway and only used that on days I had a light schedule. But now the company started what they call hoteling in some big effort to save few bucks trying to schedule office space if you want to drop by or having design discussion over the phone without those big boards is one big headache.
November 22, 2008 at 1:07 am
Nahja! Where have you disappeared to? I missed you around here .
With all the commuting I do, I would put up with any inconvenience to stay out of traffic and away from office politics. Conference calls are always a pain, sure. But I find them a pain in the office too. Blech. Let’s just not work anymore and marry rich men.