Do you see yourself in future scheduling meetings via skype – either from home or the office, becoming a member of different communities in social networking sites where you brainstorm your work ideas in a virtual world and communicate with your colleagues through a variety of technology channels including instant messenger, mobile or blackberries?
Add to this a workforce becoming increasingly discerning about the environment, who are starting to demand that their company helps its employees cut down on their own individual carbon footprint on the planet, then how we conduct work and where we choose to work in a few years time could be a completely different reality to the one we know now.
Forget face-to-face communication with your colleagues. The world of work is constantly changing and technological advancement is already influencing the next generation of workers as sites such as MySpace, Facebook and other bookmarking sites are already massively influencing the way people communicate with one another.
This was just one of the discussions that emerged around a table at an event recently with faculty from Henley Management College, including Peter Thomson, director of Henley’s Future Work Forum, who researches on how working practices will change in the 21st century.
While I agreed with his argument that employers should be encouraging more flexible working practices and promoting work-life balance, I couldn't see a future where I would no longer be able to step into a normal office environment surrounded by team members who I could talk openly to, face-to-face.
However, as Peter continued to challenge me and present the argument that not interacting face-to-face wouldn't stop me from losing touch with colleagues, I started to look at how this could be feasible.
Especially as he explained that as employees we still don't exploit the opportunities technology offers today even though, right now, it would be easy to dial into a video conference, conduct virtual webinars where everyone is connected by webcams and instant messenger, or connect through skype, vlogs and other gadgets that would allow us to see each other through the advent of mobile technology.
Or how about you getting in touch with me by ringing up my blog on the internet and leaving your own personal voice message - which is actually a feature we are going to install in the near future, so watch this space!
Here is a quick resource guide to finding out more about flexible working:
In an extract from an article on HR Zone: Juggling not struggling, Kate Milner of WebEx Communications says:
• The proliferation of mobile communications now available make it easier for employees to make better use of 'dead time', such as their daily commute, allowing them to work when they want, wherever they want. • Virtual, collaborative communications, such as web meetings and online workspaces, are coming to the fore, giving parents, and indeed other employees, the tools to truly embrace flexible working practices. • Increasingly businesses are investing in remote access technologies to enable employees to work as effectively from home as from the office. Specifically designed to make working from home easier and more cost effective, a WebOffice provides business with a 'virtual office' located on the internet. Remote workers - from anywhere in the world - can then collaborate over the web and share documents, calendars and databases, assign and track tasks and hold online meetings.• Learn more on how you can use technology to create flexible working practices by logging onto The E-Team: Working flexibly together in the Information Age. Websites such as MySpace have redefined a generation, and HR needs to keep up with how young people communicate and work. Margaret Kubicek finds out how to catch recruits young in the following article Sowing the seeds of future success: using the internet to catch recruits young
Comments (3)
Posted by Graeme Yell | July 16, 2007 3:53 PM
There's a danger in posting this comment that I might sound like a bit of a luddite: I agree with many of the views expressed and I have seen a lot of changing patterns of use of different communications media for work over the last couple of years - it's starting to seem to me like we are gaining a more effective understanding of which media to use and for what purpose (but with some notable exceptions eg the notorious "sackings by text").
My point being that in all work situations involving any task which is not a solo activity, face-to-face contact will continue to be important, and even if there's less of it, I'd expect it to become more important; as we make better use of technology to enable some aspects of communication, the occasions when you get "face time" with a colleague, client or supplier will be more and more critical and thus people's interpersonal skills and ability to maximise these opportunities may paradoxically become more of a differentiator than they are now.
Posted on July 16, 2007 15:53
Posted by Jeff Knooren | August 3, 2007 10:40 PM
... a bit of a luddite.
I am also. But my last job, working remotely was the only way to meet, because the company had offices in all the US timezones. Sure, I worked from home a lot, but it made the workday very long, because I had to be available during normal business hours, of both coasts.
Posted on August 3, 2007 22:40
Posted by Louise Esplin | June 17, 2008 4:37 PM
Yes, I think that we will all be scheduling meeting via skype in the future and brainstorming online and using all the latest technology to communicate with our colleagues. It makes environmental sense as well as offer flexibility to employees and cut costs for the employer. But that can’t be the whole story, good old fashioned working practices are at least as critical to success. So the bosses can’t relinquish all responsibility and just leave their remote workers to get on with it on their own. They will need to adopt a new style, moving away from a directive style towards a more facilitating and supporting management approach. – so empower rather than control people. You could potentially have up to 100 users linked together in a videoconference at a time, but how well those users collaborate will depend, not on the quality of the hardware, but on the quality of the communication.
Posted on June 17, 2008 16:37