At the end of the 80s, Thomas W. Malone, the Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-founder of the MIT initiative “Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century” predicted the rise of electronic business and the possibilities of outsourcing: e-commerce, online marketplaces, work engagement from a distance – all far from reality at the time.
In 2004, he wrote about the future of company organizations. “For the first time in history,” he said, “it will be possible to have the best of both worlds—the economic and scale efficiencies of large organizations, and the human benefits of small ones: freedom, motivation, and flexibility.” With the decreasing cost of telecommunications and the arrival of still new technologies we are looking at a shift from “command-and-control” management to “coordinate-and-cultivate” where people continue to develop new skills to follow the trend that democratizes the workplace, which according to Malone can be not only richer but also better because of the way employers and employees begin to organize their work.
We’ve looked at the latest telecommuting statistics from the US and the facts & figures closely follow Malone’s vision. Emerging work strategies in the 21st centurie do revolutionize work organization, where we are going towards mixed and flexible types of engagement across borders, languages and age.
According to the Global Workplace Analytics, telework has grown with nearly 80% since 2005. While the total workforce declined during the recession, the number of employees working from home increased and continues to grow.
The typical telecommuter is 45-50 years of age, holds a higher education diploma, earns an average to above average salary in a management position and works for a company with over 100 employees.
So what benefits are we looking at when we think working from home?
Global companies and governments are establishing work from home programs and that trend is becoming more and more influential. Two thirds of all employees in the US would like to work from home and 36% prefer the benefit of telecommuting to a pay raise.
Employees who do part-time home office are more satisfied with their conditions and as a result are more productive with almost 40%. Over 90% of all American employers say that introducing a telecommuting program has had a positive impact on staff retention. Companies have managed to minimize turnover with 50% and unscheduled absences with 78%.
The flexibility for employees to perform their duties from non-office locations saves not only commuter time and focus, but also corporate costs. In 2013 the virtual agents of Alpine Access closed 30% more sales than traditional agents the year before. Their customer complaints decreased by 90% and the turnover decreased by 88%, while IBM were able to cut $50 million of their real estate costs.
Across industries, collaboration and communication are key to success. The smart players go global and virtual and allow for a substantial chunk of work to be done online 24/7. With the right technologies in place, teams can deliver high quality services and production without the danger of potential discrimination. Parenthood, retirement, distance and disability can all be negative factors for a job-seeker, who is still capable and willing to work.
And finally, home-based work is not unsupervised work. Emerging technologies allow for improved performance measurement systems which looks at what employees actually do as opposed to where they do it.
So what is the future of work? Are we looking at a creative shift or workplace disintegration? To find out, follow our discussion on the obstacles to telecommuting and what our Business Development VP has to say about the future work environment.
Sources
Thomas W. Malone The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life Harvard Business School Press 2004.
