Amitabh Sharma, Features Coordinator
The world is shrinking, and at a faster pace than we can imagine. As information technology (IT) is bringing continents closer, it has also brought down the physical barriers of the working space. In the modern paradigm, an office is no longer confined to a structure, nor does it have any boundaries, it is slowly and steadily moving to the virtual space.
Working from a remote location and working flexi hours is no longer an alien phenomenon. It could be working from home or another office in one city or anywhere across the country or even time zones.
Still in its nascent stages, working flexi hours and out of remote locations is being debated by management experts, managers and human resource personnel, alike.
There are varied arguments on the viability of not working in an office environment; some believe that it depends on the employee and the manager. If expectations are clear and the manager does not lose touch, productivity gains can be significant.
Experts feel that the success of a virtual office/flexi hour scenario depends largely on how much and what type of collaboration is required. They say that management from home is difficult to accomplish but, if the systems (hardware, software and IT support) are in place, it is easy to work from home.
Some managers say if there is no need for a rigid time schedule for operating any equipment or for regular scheduled hours, it is possible to work flexi and on one's own time schedule.
Set time schedule
Flexi hours cannot be offered across all ranks and departments. A set time schedule is necessary, for example, for retail store employees or those in the manufacturing sector; they will have to work out of their offices and facilities. The role of each department and its constituents will determine whether flexi hours can be offered or not. For instance, a department (say sales) which requires continuous interaction with external factors (say clients) will need to time its work schedule based on the availability schedules of these external factors.
If one takes professionals who are pretty much left to their own to meet deadlines and are trusted to figure out their meeting times or gather their resources to get the job done, then a flexi schedule is very possible and even a perk of working for that company.
BestBuy, one of the major US corporations, offers such a schedule for some of its employees. At the end of the day, managers say, if the employer cares more about the quality of the work and that it is completed on a pre-determined deadline, it shouldn't matter at what hour or where the work gets done.
Flexi hours and the virtual office act as tools aimed at increasing productivity. They help people to manage their personal and professional lives to achieve a balance, which is a good motivator.
The experts caution that, since this is a new phenomenon, there has to be checks and balances in place to ensure that this is not misused and does not hamper growth and productivity of an organisation. The employees must exercise this freedom with responsibility.
The experts believe these options can actually increase productivity, because people tend to work better if they choose their work time and place, within the context of clear objectives and an agreed time-table of deliveries.
For the viable functioning of a virtual office and a flexi-hour scenario, it is important to understand the product or service delivery chains and the support necessary to provide the level of service that is expected or required by the customer or the stakeholder. When correctly aligned and supported, they can provide significant productivity boosts.
Culture
In today's economies, a capacity for telecommuting is vital as a business continuity provision. Appropriate telecommunication arrangements are a benefit to any company. What's key is that the environment adapts as the arrangement becomes part of the culture.
Managers have to manage differently and it's critical that companies provide support to teach them how to manage virtual teams. Success of the virtual environment will hinge on planning and development to ensure the employees are appropriately supported.
The concepts of flexi hours and the virtual office are tools for better management. They are becoming more viable each coming day. Experts believe that there are so many benefits to them that they see this phenomenon catching on in the future.
amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com
Move up by moving sideways first
Given the proportion of your time that you spend working, you probably want your job to be an interesting part of your life.
It used to be that to keep things interesting you needed to keep getting promoted. In today's lean and flattened workplaces, frequent promotions have ended up on the employment scrap heap, alongside the notion of a 'job for life.' Fortunately, today, both employers and employees are discovering that lateral career moves - between basically equivalent jobs - are a creative way to build exciting and rewarding futures for individuals and companies.
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