Home Sweet Office: Telecommute Good for Business, Employees, and Planet
Brendan Koerner of Wired makes the case for telecommuting, citing the work of Penn State researchers who looked at 46 studies conducted over the past two decades that surveyed nearly 13,000 employees. “Their sweeping inquiry concluded that working from home has ‘favorable effects on perceived autonomy, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, performance, turnover intent, and stress.’” The only real drawback: “a slight fraying of the relationships between telecommuters and their colleagues back at headquarters — largely because of jealousy on the part of the latter group.”

Report: workers spend 25% of work time goofing around online
And then there’s this piece from Ars Technica’s Jacqui Cheng which looked at a study that confirms an old saying: when the cat’s away, the mouse will play: “If you’re reading this while your boss thinks you’re hammering away on some code or updating that Excel spreadsheet, then you’re likely one of the workers that spend about 25 percent of their work time doing personal stuff online.” (It should be noted that the sponsor of the survey is a network security consulting firm.)

Is your business cool? Five small changes for a more Y-friendly workplace
Matt Elliott of Y-Working offers his views on what makes companies more attractive to millenials: “People tend to gravitate towards the younger, hipper companies, even if there’s really not a huge difference in individual experience at the entry-level. And what makes these companies seem ‘young’ and ‘hip’ are actually small things, which don’t have to impact your bottom line.” Amongst his tips for helping companies get hip: “Cultivate an environment of questions — with answers”, “Embrace — and try — new technology”, and “be open”.

Recession Proof Your Job with Web Based Tools
Steve Rubel, PR blogger extraordinaire, lists various programs that may help one survive these troubled times: “To protect your job, you need to ensure that you are personally accountable and adding value every day. Social software and web applications, if applied correctly, are sharp arrows in your quiver.” But, he cautions: “They can also become massive distractions…”

How to Never Forget Anything Again
An exhaustive post from Leo Babauta on the Four-Hour Work Week blog with tips and pointers to tools that can help you remember to-dos and get things done: “The human brain is a wonderful thing, but it’s a bit faulty as a tool for remembering things. Luckily for us (and for our frazzled brains), technology has stepped in to help out. With the proper habits and the right tools, you and your brain won’t have to remember a thing again.”

Can Happiness Improve Your Bottom Line?
Curt Barry of the FCBCO blog shares some statistics on employee satisfaction in the workplace: “The bottom line is, productivity is lost because people are unhappy at work. When we get employees into something that they like to do—into their zone or flow—their productivity goes through the roof.” A few stats worth noting: “A Gallup poll says less than one third of the workforce is actually engaged in their work. Another recent poll says people who are unhappy take an extra 15 sick days a year. Gallup estimates that disengagement is responsible for $375 billion in lost productivity—and that’s just the direct costs.”

One in five employers uses social networks in hiring process
Is it time for self-censorship in social networks? CareerBuilder thinks so, sharing their research with Heather Havenstein of ComputerWorld: “The study found that the number of hiring managers that are turning to social networks like MySpace and Facebook to delve into candidates’ online behavior is increasing quickly: Some 22% of employers said they already peruse social networks to screen candidates, while an additional 9% said they are planning to do so.”

All Together Now: Unleashing the Web’s Synergistic Possibilities
In this article in Scientific American, John Rennie argues that this may be the golden age of collaboration: “One decade and a boom-and-bust cycle later, the synergistic promise of the Internet is in force.” He adds: “Perhaps it is just wishful thinking, but I suspect that study of digital networks and their emergent properties may someday yield a premium of insights into how biological networks behave, too.”