The future of the workplace
Discussion
Reading that thread about where is the best place to live in Britain made me think.
Many of us are living where we are for work and would move if we could.
Can you see a situation in the future where most office work is done from home?. My own firm is moving toward a paperless office; a policy of scanning all documents, then storing them electronically.
If all the information you needed to do your job could be accessed at the click of a mouse why travel hours each week to and from work?
Many of us are living where we are for work and would move if we could.
Can you see a situation in the future where most office work is done from home?. My own firm is moving toward a paperless office; a policy of scanning all documents, then storing them electronically.
If all the information you needed to do your job could be accessed at the click of a mouse why travel hours each week to and from work?
Not really because non verbal is supposed to be extremely important. Facial gestures, mannerisms, add nuance to communication which just cannot be replicated over the phone, or worse via e-mail. Let alone building effective team spirit.
Some working from home is nice, perhaps 1-2 days per week for some employees, but if everyone tried to do it most of the time I think the negatives would start to outweigh the positives.
>> Edited by timmy30 on Wednesday 8th February 13:20
Some working from home is nice, perhaps 1-2 days per week for some employees, but if everyone tried to do it most of the time I think the negatives would start to outweigh the positives.
>> Edited by timmy30 on Wednesday 8th February 13:20
timmy30 said:
Not really because non verbal is supposed to be extremely important. Facial gestures, mannerisms, add nuance to communication which just cannot be replicated over the phone, or worse via e-mail. Let alone building effective team spirit.
That may be the situation now, but what about the future. Videophones/video conferencing could be used for communications which require a more personal touch.
Home working is something that more and more companies will go for if for no other reason that office space costs a lot of money.
I work from home and I guess I am lucky as my wife does as well so I get to have a chat at lunchtime etc.
With Video conferencing getting easier and the spread of broadband its going to come down to employers. Do you trust your employees to work at home and do you want to save some cash. Both are shades of grey so you will more roles going to work at home.
Plus it does let you have a far wider choice on where you live.
I work from home and I guess I am lucky as my wife does as well so I get to have a chat at lunchtime etc.
With Video conferencing getting easier and the spread of broadband its going to come down to employers. Do you trust your employees to work at home and do you want to save some cash. Both are shades of grey so you will more roles going to work at home.
Plus it does let you have a far wider choice on where you live.
Jaglover said:
Can you see a situation in the future where most office work is done from home?. My own firm is moving toward a paperless office; a policy of scanning all documents, then storing them electronically.
Same here.But at the moment underwiters still want paper files so I will have to continue to commute
home working is being held back by a perceived lack of monitoring and empire building.
for it to work efficiently you need people who you can trust, and some employees you can trust and some you can't. however, they all need to be monitored. this could be done by remote desktops and webcams to be honest. your boss can flip to your webcam and screen to see if you are doing anything.
the empire thing is a bit odd. there are many people in business who employ large amounts of staff for no real reason. a place i worked at as a director for many years had a small staff, i kept people focussed, the jobs were fun, and most importantly we were beginning to become hugely profitable. the major amount of work was being done by computers and staff simply managed the systems and looked after customer problems. within 18 months of me leaving a team of 6 had grown to a team of 30. profitability was crucified. it was expended purely because someone wanted a large staff. when it came to firing them all the spineless creature employed a new MD to do it for him.
in such a company, home working just doesn't work because there is an ego at play. the ego wants to see lots of people in the office - not a few and a big server room.
hmoe working is definitely the way forward. want to ease the crush on the train into London - get people to work from home and there are plenty of people who could. want to ease congestion - again people working from home is the answer. want to do your bit for the environment - work from home. it all makes sense, just needs an inititiative from the Govt to encourage companies through serious tax breaks to do it.
for it to work efficiently you need people who you can trust, and some employees you can trust and some you can't. however, they all need to be monitored. this could be done by remote desktops and webcams to be honest. your boss can flip to your webcam and screen to see if you are doing anything.
the empire thing is a bit odd. there are many people in business who employ large amounts of staff for no real reason. a place i worked at as a director for many years had a small staff, i kept people focussed, the jobs were fun, and most importantly we were beginning to become hugely profitable. the major amount of work was being done by computers and staff simply managed the systems and looked after customer problems. within 18 months of me leaving a team of 6 had grown to a team of 30. profitability was crucified. it was expended purely because someone wanted a large staff. when it came to firing them all the spineless creature employed a new MD to do it for him.
in such a company, home working just doesn't work because there is an ego at play. the ego wants to see lots of people in the office - not a few and a big server room.
hmoe working is definitely the way forward. want to ease the crush on the train into London - get people to work from home and there are plenty of people who could. want to ease congestion - again people working from home is the answer. want to do your bit for the environment - work from home. it all makes sense, just needs an inititiative from the Govt to encourage companies through serious tax breaks to do it.
Jaglover said:
Not really because non verbal is supposed to be extremely important. Facial gestures, mannerisms, add nuance to communication which just cannot be replicated over the phone, or worse via e-mail. Let alone building effective team spirit.
That may be the situation now, but what about the future. Videophones/video conferencing could be used for communications which require a more personal touch.
I guess so, although the equipment would need to improve alot and get much cheaper. Iv'e used VC a bit....... it was like something out of a comedy sketch I was trying to conference with some developers in Bangalore.....absolute catastrophe
timmy30 said:
I guess so, although the equipment would need to improve alot and get much cheaper. Iv'e used VC a bit....... it was like something out of a comedy sketch I was trying to conference with some developers in Bangalore.....absolute catastrophe
i havent seen VC yet but its only a matter of bandwidth between the data centre and home locations. i've no idea how much bandwidth a small stream uses, but i'd think adsl is up to the job already. also you dont need the big VC kit - just need a logitech quickcam clipped to your machine and job done.
As others have said - give it a few years and I think a lot of the large blue chips will be happy with a large percentage of staff working from home 1-2 days per week.
However the flip side to home working is that it doesn't matter what country you are in either. My copany has grown considerably over the last 10 years. From 16 staff to over 400. We now have less staff in london than we did 4 years ago - all recruitment is now overseas - office space is cheaper and so are wages - no point filling up head office now that the it connectivity is as good there as it is here in london....
However the flip side to home working is that it doesn't matter what country you are in either. My copany has grown considerably over the last 10 years. From 16 staff to over 400. We now have less staff in london than we did 4 years ago - all recruitment is now overseas - office space is cheaper and so are wages - no point filling up head office now that the it connectivity is as good there as it is here in london....
I did work from home for three years, and when one of the comapanies I design for moved a mere 12 miles away from me, I jumped at the chance to set my equipment up there (where I am now) Working from home is all very well and good, but I do remember having extreme bouts of 'cabin fever', being in the same place most of the time is tantamount to open imprisonment, I found.
Now, it is really nice seperating home and family life from work, and there's something really comforting to coming home after work, and sitting down with a nice cup of tea, knowing that this time is now your own, whereas, I found that the family and work commitment got blurred very easily when working from home, I ended up hating it!
Now, it is really nice seperating home and family life from work, and there's something really comforting to coming home after work, and sitting down with a nice cup of tea, knowing that this time is now your own, whereas, I found that the family and work commitment got blurred very easily when working from home, I ended up hating it!
Jaglover said:
Reading that thread about where is the best place to live in Britain made me think.
Many of us are living where we are for work and would move if we could.
Can you see a situation in the future where most office work is done from home?. My own firm is moving toward a paperless office; a policy of scanning all documents, then storing them electronically.
If all the information you needed to do your job could be accessed at the click of a mouse why travel hours each week to and from work?
Working at home wouldn't effect the likes of you and me too much JL, because we both spend most of the day poncing around on the net.
chris watton said:
I did work from home for three years, and when one of the comapanies I design for moved a mere 12 miles away from me, I jumped at the chance to set my equipment up there (where I am now) Working from home is all very well and good, but I do remember having extreme bouts of 'cabin fever', being in the same place most of the time is tantamount to open imprisonment, I found.
Now, it is really nice seperating home and family life from work, and there's something really comforting to coming home after work, and sitting down with a nice cup of tea, knowing that this time is now your own, whereas, I found that the family and work commitment got blurred very easily when working from home, I ended up hating it!
that's what I found. Like I say 1 maybe 2 days a week from home is a nice break from routine and the commute, btu done all of the time you miss 'face time' with colleagues and management and IMO have too little human contact.
Jaglover said:
Reading that thread about where is the best place to live in Britain made me think.
Many of us are living where we are for work and would move if we could.
Can you see a situation in the future where most office work is done from home?. My own firm is moving toward a paperless office; a policy of scanning all documents, then storing them electronically.
If all the information you needed to do your job could be accessed at the click of a mouse why travel hours each week to and from work?
At the risk of hijacking your thread, what software do you use to scan/store/search your documents, and is it any good? I've been tasked with finding a similar solution for my company.
pcwilson said:
At the risk of hijacking your thread, what software do you use to scan/store/search your documents, and is it any good? I've been tasked with finding a similar solution for my company.
I'm afraid i don't know. I do know that they are paying another accountancy practice to make use of a system they have developed.
chris watton said:
Working from home is all very well and good, but I do remember having extreme bouts of 'cabin fever', being in the same place most of the time is tantamount to open imprisonment, I found.
I ran my own company from home for 4 years and i aggree with your comment ,, i would much rather be in a nice office with some Totty ,, having said that i am working from home today and enjoying it
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