Mobility of the workforce: how far have we come, how far will we go ? (2003)

Mobility of the workforce: how far have we come, how far will we go ?

By Tatiana Andronache, I.S.P.
Published in Galt Global Review

Mobility. Flexibility. Telecommuting. Teleworking. Virtual Office. Virtual meetings. Virtual teams. Flex-office. Home Office. Alternative Officing. The landscape of the office work environment has dramatically changed in the last twenty years. It’s easy to get confused by the many overlapping buzz-words that describe changes already in place – or predict changes yet to come.

What has really changed ?

Not too long ago, a desk, a stack of files and the nine-to-five schedule were the “trademark” of any office worker. Unprecedented advances in computer technology, compounded by the advent of the internet have made possible a dramatic evolution in what office work means today, not only in terms of tools and technology, but also from a human perspective. It is possible now to access and process information from pretty much any place where some kind of computer can function; this computer can be the bulky desktop PC  in a traditional office setting or the sleek, hand-held PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or a wireless phone. It is now possible to be connected almost anywhere and at anytime to our colleagues, clients or managers. As a result, along with brand new service-based businesses generated by and based on these new technologies, new business models have emerged and have been quite successful in many traditional sectors, from government services and banking to grocery shopping. This is the brave new world of the mobile work force and flexible office.

Traditional companies who embraced the new model have done so not because it was technically possible or trendy, but because it promised to be a profitable move. By enabling their employees and agents to do their work around a flexible schedule and from various locations, these companies realize productivity gains and spectacular reduction of those costs associated with real estate. They also count on this model as an employee attraction and retention strategy, since, as studies indicate, many people value flexible hours and work locations over classical perks such as extra monetary compensation. Also, “teleworking” makes it possible to expand a company’s traditional pool of employable resources to geographies and demographics that have not previously been available to them.

Employees favour this model too for a variety of reasons, personal convenience and avoidance of long commutes being at the top of the list.

While the temptation to label all these work arrangements with one word, such as “telecommuting” is there, some companies have clear terminology and policies in place: for example, a mobile employee may be defined as one who works out of various client locations and does not have a permanently assigned work space at his employer’s quarters; an employee working from home is not considered mobile, because it involves the set up of a permanent home office with all the facilities of a “real” office; also, costs and tax implications are different.

Is it too good to be true ?

No, but the challenges of non-traditional work arrangement should not be underestimated. On the employer’s side, there are costs associated with acquiring and administering the equipment and software that enable the work force to become mobile, as well as the cost of training them in using these devices and programs. Ensuring data security and confidentiality also become more stringent and possibly costlier in a distributed and dispersed environment. Another risk is that a flexible work arrangement could be misused or abused and could have the opposite end result when it comes to employee productivity - hence the need to develop and administer effective HR policies for their mobile work force. 

Another impact – more difficult to quantify – is cultural and psychological. For example, some managers are still reluctant to “telemanage”: there still is a perception around, that unless the employee is directly observable and available, he or she is less accountable and less manageable. On the other hand, employees that opted for work from home or mobile work arrangements may sooner or later discover a degree of social isolation and loss of “visibility” with their peers and superiors; many agree that even the most sophisticated communication tools can not eliminate the need for face-to-face contact. For someone to be successful within the new model, it is required to have a certain degree of self discipline, the ability to deal unassisted with various professional, technical and logistical challenges, as well as the ability to manage a potential array of distractions (different from those in the office !). Everyone involved with mobile working needs to adapt new strategies, techniques and tools – and there is no shortage of books, seminars and websites on this topic.

This is not to say that the traditional office and the traditional ways of conducting business is on its way to extinction. In fact, many people prefer a mix of traditional and alternative work arrangements.

In one way or another, under one name or another, more businesses and many people will use some form of flexible/mobile work arrangement, be it for economic, technologic, demographic or environmental reasons. But the transition is not likely to be swift and uniform. Good or bad, the desk, the file and the nine-to-five schedule will still be with (some of) us for quite some time.

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