There is a decade-long trend of collaborative workspaces designed to support mobile work, and a growing proportion of the workforce is as comfortable working in a corner coffee shop or airport waiting area as they are in a physical office. Yet I still routinely encounter managers who view teleworkers as akin to root canals – something to be avoided at all costs and then tolerated only when forced to as a last resort. Is there some truth to these concerns or is this merely a case of professionals unwilling to let go of the traditional office, unwilling to embrace change?
The Prestige of the Traditional Office
Not too long ago, one of the ultimate status symbols for office-based employees was the corner office. These desired spaces often come with more windows, natural lighting, and pleasant views. A larger footprint means more and varied furnishings – a large desk, credenza, plush desk chair, visitor chairs, and often a conference table. You get the picture. And because there is a limited number of corners in a building, these offices are the fewest of spaces. You knew you were moving up when you got assigned to a private office with a window but if you were one of the lucky few to achieve the corner office, you knew you had arrived. But then things started to change.
Trends in Open Offices – On the Bleeding Edge
With recent trends in open offices, workstations in place of offices, and shared collaborative spaces, the individually assigned private office tradition may be dwindling, but is this modern workspace effective? The perceived loss of personal space, privacy, and prestige can produce a resistance to change that causes workers to view an open office unfavorably. Even for employees who are currently in workstations, the reduction or removal of enclosed offices could be seen as limiting their upward mobility within the workplace, as they can no longer envision themselves in that corner office as their career progresses.
In addition to resistance to change, open office environments often introduce other issues: increased disruption from nearby co-workers who talk too loudly or are physically distracting, an inability to concentrate and work efficiently and effectively, and employees who adjust group office settings to meet their personal preferences with no regard for others in the workspace.
Often these conflicts result in the conclusion that problems of this type are inherent characteristics of open offices, and that reverting back to a traditional office environment with private enclosed spaces is the only solution. On the other hand, proponents for flexible workspaces note that a better option could be mobile workers or teleworking – allowing employees to work remotely from home offices part or even all of the time, but is this recent change just the latest cutting-edge trend?
Back to the Future
Based on my personal home office experience, I have come to believe that the best solution may not be going back to the recently bygone days of the traditional office, but instead going back even further and creating a contemporary version of an era that preceded the traditional office. A time when home offices were the norm.
During the 1700s, professional services such as legal and financial services were rarely administered from separate office structures. For example, it was not until 1774 that Lloyds of London leased formal office space in the Royal Exchange of London following years of meeting in a……. coffee shop.
According to Colin Jones in his landmark book Office Markets & Public Policy, it was not until the Industrial Revolution, along with technological advances including the telegraph, telephone, and typewriter in the 19th century, that “the office” as a distinct building form evolved to become a more common feature in large cities such as London, New York, and Chicago. Ironically, the contemporary version of these same technologies has now made it easier to move away from the office….to change again.
Even more recently, home offices have continued to exist and flourish. I grew up going to a dentist whose practice was located in the front half of the first floor of his home. He had a designated parking area on one side of his driveway and other than the unmarked interior door off of the reception area that led to the family’s kitchen, the office looked exactly like what it was – a completely professional medical office. So why not extend this once-commonplace practice to modern-day business and organizations?
A Tailor-Made Space
There are many benefits to working from a home office, including the ability to create a completely personal work space furnished and decorated according to personal preference. Also, the employee is in complete control of the environment – a level of customization and adaptability that can’t be matched, even in the most flexible of open office spaces. It’s totally up to the individual how hot or cold the temperature should be, how clean or organized the desk and work surfaces are, and what type of background noise is used.
There’s a host of other benefits – the lack of a stressful commute (and resulting positive impact on the environment), having family and pets nearby (perhaps on a blanket under the desk, as one of my co-workers does – her dog, not her family members), and the ability to strike a more positive work-life balance.
The Resistance to Mobile Workers
With all of these obvious benefits, I still find plenty of instances where managers resist letting their employees work from home offices, even part of the time. I recently worked with an organization that had successfully used a part-time telecommuting policy for several years. Employees who could work remotely were allowed to work from home offices up to several days a week with their manager’s approval. The organization had recently hired a new manager from outside the organization and I learned that one of that individual’s first moves was to revoke the telecommuting policy for her staff because she wanted to be able to see them working in their offices (her stated reason). While this action meant that she had her staff present in the office full time, it also resulted in tremendously decreased morale and even animosity among professional employees who had previously worked very successfully from home offices for years before their new manager’s arrival.
Unfortunately, this resistance or even aversion to remote workers isn’t uncommon. Is this due to mistrust? A fear of losing control? A very human resistance to change, which we frequently encounter in workplace reconfiguration projects? I believe that it could be any one or a combination of these, but these reactions don’t have to mean the end to a potentially effective and healthy new workplace benefit. If working remotely really is an effective and healthy new option, change in this direction is likely inevitable. Instead of fighting it, perhaps the focus should be on employees and managers making it work.
Reaction and Opportunity
Following is a list of some of the more common fears associated with teleworking mobile workers and some potential ways to overcome or even avoid these scenarios.
- I’m just not sure that my employees will actually get work done at home with all of the personal distractions there
This can be restated as a lack of confidence or even a lack of trust in an employee, not necessarily because the employee has performed poorly in the past but perhaps just because the manager knows the different types of distractions that could be present in a home office (family members or other personal commitments infringing on work time, personal chores that need to be done around the house, etc.).
As an employee, the best way to counter this is to first build your credibility with your boss by showing that you have a solid record of valuable performance and that you are a valued member of the team. This can include keeping records of your accomplishments and positive feedback you’ve received. As a manager it’s important to identify how you will be reviewing and approving the work of your employees and to determine if anything will change for employees who are teleworkers and mobile workers. It’s entirely possible that nothing will change in this area and that you will still be able to easily tell who is getting their work done and who is having difficulties in this area, regardless of where they actually work. - I won’t be able to effectively monitor or manage the work of someone who’s not in the office with me
This is very similar to my first point but it also goes directly to the supervisory responsibility of a manager. If you can’t see what someone is doing, how can you be an effective manager?
As an employee a good strategy is to establish a schedule for communicating regularly with your manager and identifying short- and long-term work plans and performance goals. This could be as easy as a weekly call on Monday mornings to set the priorities for that week and a follow-up call or email on Fridays to list your accomplishments. Letting your manager know of anything that changes your plans, such as an urgent request from a co-worker or client, is also very helpful. As a manager, ask yourself if you are really evaluating your employees’ performance on what they are accomplishing or if you are just counting on the fact that you can see them in their offices, at their desks, doing something. If it’s the latter, work with your employees to set up ways to help set priorities for them, monitor their progress, and provide feedback on what they achieved. (This is helpful for all employees, not just the ones who are working remotely.) - I need to be able to immediately contact someone if I need them and I can’t do that if I can’t walk down the hall to their office
For any employee, it’s important that a manager knows your schedule and can communicate with you if needed, regardless of where you are working. As an employee, the best thing you can do is to let your manager know if you are away from your office for a period of time, such as for an appointment or even running errands over lunch. You would do this in an office setting so this shouldn’t change when you work from home. As a manager, make sure you know how to contact your employees, including what number to call. (As basic as this point sounds, I once encountered a very frustrated manager who kept getting a busy signal on the phone line she was using to call an employee who worked from home one day a week. She was nearly ready to cancel the teleworking arrangement when she decided to double-check the number with her employee and it turned out she was calling the employee’s fax number, not her office number.) - Once I let one employee work from home, they’ll all want to
One of the best things that any organization considering telework can do is to clearly document the policy for mobile workers. The best telework policies clearly identify the parameters, establish the employees’ and managers’ responsibilities, and specify the requirements. As a manager, it is helpful to remember that treating your employees fairly doesn’t mean that you have to treat them all the same. There are some individuals who will never be able to telework, either because the nature of their job responsibilities requires them to be physically present in the office or because they lack the self-discipline that is required in a home office (this issue will likely result in other performance concerns, but that’s a topic for another blog).
For the employees who are eligible to become mobile workers and telework, having a clear policy in place means that there are clear rules and expectations, both for you and for your employees. As an employee, it is important to identify the business, not personal, reasons to telework when you are submitting your request.
Instead of noting that working from home would help you get your son to his soccer practice on Friday afternoons, point out that teleworking two days a week would save approximately two hours in commuting time per day, which would enable you to adjust your schedule to better meet your office’s needs. You could also mention that you would have longer stretches of uninterrupted time to focus on concentrative work. Better yet, specify which tasks require this intense focus that is difficult to obtain in the office setting.
Change is Inevitable
Change and its counterpoint, resistance to change, can be very emotional and passionate issues for both managers and employees. Still, the reality is that change is inevitable in most instances (from one of my favorite sitcoms, “the only constant is change”). Within the workplace, the office has experienced tremendous changes for centuries and as new technologies emerge, developments in space and work practices will follow. We’ve survived the past, perhaps now it’s time to embrace the things that worked well in bygone eras by welcoming back the home office, this time supported by modern mobile work technology.
