Archive for the ‘technology’ Category

The “Enabling” Remote Working Conundrum

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

In order for office workers to be able to work remotely, what do you need? The first answer usually given is “broadband”. Broadband is the life blood of remote working, no question about that. Once you’ve got your high-speed Internet connection, the next thing you need is secure access to your organisation’s data and applications. This is where remote access tools, virtual desktops and virtual private networks come in.

Now the remote worker has all of the systems he/she has in the main office as their remote office. Thanks to technology, they now are now no longer commuting to sit in front of a PC – they can do it without the commuting. They can save on gas/petrol, have a better work-life-balance and their employers can save on office space, lighting and heating to boot.

The problem is that there is more to office work than just the technology – there are people. People have roles and people have jobs to complete. People interact with each other. In the office environment, there are a multitude of roles, for individuals, teams and managers. Managers can easily determine how a piece of work is progressing – sometimes even without asking. Employees know when they’re well thought of and their work is appreciated.

In the remote office, things are different. There’s little or no human interaction except phone calls, email and IM. As a manager, it’s easy to forget about the person working from home today. As a remote worker, it’s easy to forget about the work that has to be done today. Managers find it difficult to “feel” how something is progressing and workers get very little feedback on how they’re doing.

Thus to be “enabled” for remote working, doesn’t mean a person is actually working and doesn’t mean that their manager considers them as part of the team. Solving this isn’t trivial. Some solutions suggest that the remote worker should spend time and effort on being more responsive when out of the office. This entails fast replies to emails, more regular phone updates and IM chats.

This seems counter-productive to me. Just for starters, working remotely shouldn’t incur more effort. However, many remote workers opt for this to justify the fact that they are working remotely.

This is the problem that we at RWorks are addressing – how to make sure a (remote) worker remains key to the success of an organisation while at the same time making sure an organisation gets the very best from its employees. We’re not about “enabling” remote working, we’re about making it it a success.

Posted in e-working, flexible working, remote working, technology, teleworking, virtual working, work-life balance | No Comments »

RWorks Focuses on Remote Working Advocates Part 1 – John Berry and remembers ‘Snowmageddon’, Winter 09/10

Monday, March 8th, 2010

In his nomination statement before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, in March 2009, before his appointment as Director of the Office of Personnel Management was confirmed, John Berry stated that ‘we need to provide competitive pay and benefits, healthy model workplace environments, and sensitivity to employees’ responsibilities to family and loved ones’.

The following month, Berry issued a news release announcing an ambitious and comprehensive plan to significantly increase the number of American federal workers who work from home. At that time, just over 5% of America’s 1.9 million Federal employees were teleworking (103,000 employees).

The news release states that ‘ Increased adoption of telework in Federal offices across the country…would have tremendous economic and social value. These programs would enable the uninterrupted delivery of government services if employees were instructed to work from home due to natural disaster or conditions that threaten human health, including concerns related to the spread of influenza. To facilitate agency business during emergencies, managers have authority to implement new telework agreements to the fullest extent possible’.

This obviously allows for improved Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) .

Less than a year later, Washington D.C. found itself under several feet of snow, nick-named ‘Snowmageddon’ by President Barack Obama, as the dreadful weather conditions all but shut down the city.
On Wednesday 10th February 2010, John Berry was interviewed on 1500 AM Federal News Radio. It was his birthday that day, and President Obama had called him that morning to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’. The conversation between President Obama and John Berry then turned to the hot topic of teleworking, because despite the fact that the Federal Government had been closed for several days, both men were delighted that approximately 30% of federal workers were managing to do their work remotely, from home.
Berry says during this interview that both himself and President Obama have realised that the snowstorms created a ‘watershed moment for the importance of teleworking….it will grow from here’, and also that  ‘Technology does work…it does advance, and the government have taken advantage of that and it can only get better. Technology allows us to be unchained from our desk, and unchained from the office setting, and still get the job done’.


To listen to the entire interview, go to:
http://ow.ly/165TK

Posted in American federal workers, Barack Obama, COOP, John Berry, Office of Personnel Management, Snowmageddon, technology, teleworking | No Comments »