How Does Social Networking Affect Your Health and Well-Being?

March 7, 2009 at 3:03 pm · Filed under Communities, Distributed Work, Networks + Networking, Web 2.0, Web Commuting, social media, social networks, social tools

(this is a slightly edited and updated version of a post from The Future of Work blog. The original version is here.

First, look at this chart  showing the shift from “real” interaction to reliance on electronic media (it comes directly from the article that stimulated this post – Well Connected? The Biological Implications of Social Networking“)

Now, I am as enthusiastic about social networking technologies and their ability to connect us with friends and colleagues all over the planet as the next person, but Marc Van Eeckhoudt just sent me the article that includes that chart.

It’s just been published in Biologist, a British magazine: “Well Connected? The Biological Implications of Social Networking.”

The core message in the article: more and more people are becoming “loners,” and that’s really dangerous for their health. Unfortunately it is not clear from this article whether or not people who rely primarily on electronic means of communication can overcome those health risks.

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“Telecommuting” isn’t Just a Perk Anymore

February 27, 2009 at 1:47 pm · Filed under Communities, Distributed Work, Management, Talent Management, Web 2.0, Web Commuting

[This note is cross-posted from the Future of Work blog]

There’s a great new story just published today in Business Week detailing how some organizations are turning to “telecommuting” and flexible work programs as a way to reduce costs and retain employees in these difficult times.

The article (“Telecommuting: Once a Perk, Now a Necessity“), by Michelle Conlin (editor of BW’s Working Life Department), highlights how SCAN Health Plan, BDO Seidman, and Capital One are using flexible work options to cut real estate costs significantly.

The really encouraging side of the story, though, is how many employees relish the reduction in commute times and the rebalancing of their lives (no surprise to us, but still a benefit that’s not widely enough recognized).

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How Come Distributed Work is Still the Next Big Thing?

February 23, 2009 at 4:04 pm · Filed under Change Management, Distributed Work, Management, Web Commuting

I am very pleased that Capital Magazine, based in Dubai, has just published the second installment of an article that Charlie Grantham and I wrote about organizational resistance to Distributed Work – and what to do about it.

The article, “How Come Distributed Work is Still the Next Big Thing?“, appears in the February issue. It’s available online, though free registration is required.

This version of the article is actually a revision and update to a three-part series that ran in our own Future of Work Agenda newsletter a couple of years ago – available as downloadable pdf reprints here (Part One), here (Part Two), and here (Part Three).

We’re pleased at the continuing attention this issue is getting. It can’t be said often enough: there are very real – and completely understandable – reasons why so many organizations resist adopting distributed/flexible work arrangements. But there’s also a highly compelling business case for moving into the “work anywhere” world of the 21st century.

Why do you think resistance to an obviously more productive and more attractive way of working is so prevalent?

The Latest Word on Network Science

February 15, 2009 at 2:30 pm · Filed under Web 2.0

I’ve said it many times, and I’m hardly the only one:  the future of work is all about networks – multiple connections (some loose, some tight) across thousands (no, millions) of individuals and organizations.

Now word comes from our friend and colleague Jeff Stamps of a special program on the Discovery Science Channel this evening, Sunday, February 15, at 9 PM (ET/PT). It’s called “Connected: The Real Matrix.” And it promises to be both fascinating and provocative.

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The Benefits of Flexible Work Programs

February 12, 2009 at 5:29 pm · Filed under Collaboration, Distributed Work, Management, Tips for Tough Times, Web Commuting, productivity

I’ve just gotten off a stimulating and (for me, at least) informative conference call with my fellow AppGap bloggers. Among other things we talked about how to collaborate more effectively with each other. One common area of interest is the economic and “green” benefits of virtual collaboration – when we stay off the roads and highways and get our work done remotely and virtually, we’re saving money as well as reducing greenhouse gasses.

That’s such an important opportunity that I thought I’d reprint here a post from my own Future of Work blog that  I composed only yesterday – it’s about how flexible/virtual work can actually be a job-saver; and in the current economic crisis that can be really important (both for individuals and for companies).

So here goes:

I’ve just read an engaging blog post by Jennifer Swanberg, an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky’s Colleges of Social Work and Business. She suggests (no, virtually proves) that adopting a flexible work program can be an effective substitute for laying off employees (“Flexibility Can Offer Alternatives to Downsizing“).

Bay Jordan argued something very similar in our January Future of Work Agenda newsletter (“Rethinking Redundancy“), and Charlie and I have been suggesting for years that most senior executives don’t have any idea just how valuable their human resources (read, “employees”) are.

I particularly liked this comment from Ms. Swanberg’s article:

These are tough times. None of us wants to take a pay cut. But earning less may be better than earning nothing.

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Following the Beat of Your Own Drum

January 19, 2009 at 3:23 pm · Filed under Artisan Economy, Collaboration, Collective intelligence, Communities, Distributed Work, Networks + Networking, Web 2.0, Work Design, social networks

I’ve come across several posts and articles recently that have gotten me thinking about the pros – and cons – of working independently.

Generally I am a serious advocate of small firms and free-lancers and a genuine cynic about large organizations (but I’ll hold back and express that cynicism some other time).

A friend recently pointed me to a post by Tina Brown on The Daily Beast (one of those many, many political blogs). I don’t read the Beast very often, but this one isn’t about it politics -  it’s about “The Gig Economy.”

“Gigs” are, obviously, projects – the things we free-lancers and small businesses depend on for a living.

Brown has become intrigued with what she calls “gigonomics” – the explosion of people working this way. She reports on a recent survey conducted by The Daily Beast and Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates. Five hundred employed U.S. citizens aged 18 and over were interviewed via the Internet on January 8 and 9.

Here’s what got Brown interested:

A full one-third of our respondents are now working either freelance or in two jobs. And nearly one in two of them report taking on additional positions during the last six months.

Just as startling, these new alternative workers are not overwhelmingly low-income. They’re college-educated Americans who earn more than $75,000 a year.

Welcome to the club Tina! Regular readers of this blog are probably all practitioners of gigonomics. So what’s the big deal?

Consider this, for one:  none of the job statistics we’ve been hearing about daily since last September come close to measuring the impact of the economy-on-free-fall on small businesses. Traditional unemployment data comes from reports from large businesses and applications for unemployment compensation.  It just doesn’t capture the slowdown or flat-out stoppages of work being experienced by all of us small business types.

Just about all the “gigworkers” I’ve talked with recently are reporting that while they may have a project right now, the outlook for the next gig is pretty bleak. In fact, that’s being kind – the outlook is grim indeed.

Now, there’s either going to be a whole lot of creative scrambling (and some pretty intense competition) for the next gigs, or there’s going to be a whole more people “on the street” (hopefully not literally) than even the most thoughtful economists and government leaders seem to be expecting.

This thing could get a whole lot worse way before it gets any better.

But there’s another side to this explosion of small businesses and gigs. And that’s what Jon Husband wrote about just the other day right here  (“The Mass Customization of Work“). A more or less unrecognized consequence of this mass customization of work and the “atomization” of business is the loss of rhythm and synchronization that Jon highlighted.

When we’re all working independently and in our own offices (either at home or at Starbucks, etc) it takes a whole lot more effort and awareness to “sync up” with peers, colleagues, clients, vendors, and so on. We no longer have all those “signals” from the workplace that you see in large organizations – from the mundane clock on the wall to the progression of colleagues towards the cafeteria or the parking lot at lunchtime – let alone the boss scheduling meetings, directing your work, setting deadlines, and so on. And of course we’re not doing anywhere near as much “same time/same place” work as we used to.

As Jon rightly points out, thank god for the proliferation of Web 2.0 social networking tools – though we still have a lot to learn about people use them.

Anyway, this all something to think about on a Monday morning – and one that’s supposed to be focused on national service instead of ruminating on the future of work. I guess I’m just a bit out of sync with everyone else!

A Webinar on IT’s Role in Supporting Mobile Work

November 11, 2008 at 6:39 pm · Filed under Collaboration, Distributed Work, Reviews, Technology Management, Web Commuting, Webinar

Charlie Grantham and I completed presenting a webinar on “The Future of Work:  IT’s Role in Enabling Mobile Work” just a few hours ago.
The webinar was sponsored by Citrix Online, and included our reporting out the results of an extensive survey we recently completed of IT professionals and their views about the challenges and opportunities surrounding mobile work. The survey was also sponsored by Citrix.

Among the topics we covered:

• Why mobile work is real – and here to stay

• What challenges the mobile workforce creates for IT

• Why remote access is just as important as having a laptop and a cell phone

The session is now available for viewing online whenever you wish. Just click here and you should have your Windows Media Player or other media player open right up and start playing.

The whole session takes about 50 minutes; we’re on for about 30 minutes, followed by an online demo of Citrix Online’s GotoMyPC software that does just that – it lets you access a remote PC from anywhere and work on it just as if you were sitting in front of it.

Hope you’ll find some time to listen to the webinar – it’s mostly about the issues and challenges facing IT organizations as they gear up to support mobile workers, but we also spent the first ten minutes or so talking about why mobile work is growing so rapidly (hint, it’s not just because technology makes it relatively easy – there’s much more to it than that).

We think you’ll find the session interesting and informative.

Tags:futureofwork mobilework mobiletechnology onlineaccess