Will the future of work involve any travel at all?
by Jim Ware
I think we may be at a genuine tipping point. The rising price of gasoline and other energy appears to finally be affecting people’s actual behaviors - on the job and off. There’s growing evidence that sales of gas-guzzling SUV’s and trucks are dropping like a rock, while more and more people are trying to find ways to reduce business travel, including personal commuting.
I’ve seen two major articles just this week about companies considering four-day work weeks, launching or expanding telecommuting programs, and doing everything they can to reduce inter-office and (sometimes) even client-related travel. And in our own consulting work we’ve even heard one CEO think out loud that she may have to offer her employees incentives or subsidies to come into the office to meet with their colleagues.
Here are the articles (well, it’s one article from the International Herald Tribune and one press release from the Institute For Corporate Productivity).
The Herald Tribune (June 10):
“As gas prices rise, some US employers look at cutting down on workers commutes”
The Institute for Corporate Productivity (June 23):
“With Fuel Prices Rising, U.S. Companies Work Quickly to Reduce Employee Travel”
I found this paragraph from the Herald Tribune story particularly intriguing -and a sign of things to come:
This week [the week of June 9], the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation requiring the head of each federal agency to set policies allowing qualified workers to work from home or another convenient location [emphasis added]. Giving relief from high gas prices was one factor cited by the sponsor, Rep. Danny Davis, an Illinois Democrat.
What’s happening in your organization? Would you rather work from home (or nearby) one or two days a week, or commute as usual but do it for four ten-hour days? What other things are you considering as a way to reduce driving time and cost for your employees?
Special thanks to Lisa Horner of Citrix Online for pointing me to the Herald Tribune article.
Tags: 
telecommuting 
fourdayweek 
gasprices 
futureofwork 
productivity
