Going for the Gold in Flex Work, what HR can learn from the Olympics…

Practically the whole city of London has been running a giant "working-from-home experiment" during these past few weeks of the 2012 Olympics, according to this recent article by Steve Ranger of ZDNet.  As he summaries, "Office workers have abandones London to escape the Olympic queues-but the decision to embrace flexible working shouldn't be temporary.  It's time to rethink the way we work." 

For more traditional employees, this really is a radical way of thinking—the idea of working outside of the office, away from the watchful eyes of supervisors seems crazy.  Won’t employees take advantage of this freedom, seeing it as a chance to run errands, save money on daycare, or catch up on their DVR?  Ranger argues that while technology has evolved significantly over the past century, the way we work has stayed the same.  “The modern office is a strange relic, an invention of the 19th and 20th centuries designed to allow managers to keep an eye on indolent staff.  For many, the working day starts with checking email over breakfast and continues into the evening: the 9 to 5 is an anachronism, so the office has to change too.”

 

Studies are continuing to prove that working remotely actually develops more productive and effective employees.  The 2011 Telework Association Productivity Survey revealed that people working from home are less stressed, have fewer interruptions and have a stronger sense of loyalty to their company than those that work every day in the office.  Not only can employees be more productive in a quiet space away from the office, but they can also be more innovative and creative with a little change of scenery.  The benefits of people working from home extend beyond just the business.  With the average commute to work in the Boston area running just under 60 minutes round trip*, we owe it to the ozone to lay off a bit.  We also owe it to our health.  Turns out commuting for as little as 10 miles a day can increase your blood pressure and put you at risk for diabetes and heart disease.  Check out this video highlighting the health effects—both physical and mental—of commuting (the guy on the hood?!? yikes…).

While the author agrees that it will take a while for many companies to shift their way of thinking, it is a good time to at least “jump-start a conversation around how we organize our working lives.”  What do you think about working remotely?  Is this a benefit currently offered by your employer?

*Boston Daily, 10/19/2011, No Wonder Commuting is Such a Bloodsport