HR Professional - February/March 2009 - (Page 29) DISTRIBUTED WORK If you love your workforce, set them free BY MICHELLE MORRA ibility outside core hours and negotiable tele-work and reduced workweek options. “At the end of the day, if you get the work done, you get the work done,” says Pearson. THINKING OUTSIDE THE CUBE(ICLE) Technology allows almost limitless ways to arrange work, including tele-work, virtual teams across the world and “hotdesking” (see page 30). The advantages are hard to ignore. Less rigidity appeals t o w o rk e r s . P ro ductiv ity and work quality can improve, depend i ng on the job. So can finances. Dr. Jamie Grum a n , p r o fe s s o r of organizational behaviour at the University of Guelph in Ontario, comp a r e s d i s t r i b u t e d w o rk t o just-in-time production systems that eliminate the need for manufacturers to store inventory. “Same goes with staff,” Gruman says. “If you don’t have to ‘store’ people at their desks and they can come in just for meetings, you can rent smaller offices and save money.” Still, the old system of what Pearson calls “babysitting” may have had its merits. “Alternate arrangements are probably not for everybody,” Gruman says. “If you’re not a highly conscientious, reliable person, working away from the office gives you the freedom to sleep all day.” Industrial Safety and Hygiene News, a successful U.S. trade magas zine, is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, but its chief editor, Dave Johnson, and his managing editor and art director, work from their homes. “In publishing, I believe this is the wave of the future,” Johnson says, adding that other magazines are also “decentralizing” given today’s economy. He and his coworkers rarely meet in person. N AUGUST 2007, AIR MILES moved its headquarters from suburban Toronto to the heart of the city’s downtown. The company expected to lose 10 per cent of its workforce but lost just one per cent thanks to a bold office redesign. A ir M iles president, Brya n Pearson, says the old office, with partition walls raised for privacy, had an “almost stif ling environment.” In the new office, despite attractive, open spaces, a s s o c i at e s r e a c t e d s t r o n gly at first to the lower walls and s e e m i n gly d i s t r a c t i n g, l e s s private work environment. That changed in a month. Noise went down whenever someone was on the phone. People adapted. “They’ve provided incredibly positive feedback,” says Pearson. “Our associates enjoy hearing and seeing some of what’s going on around them and feel more connected, and able to contribute more freely.” I TING Besides, no one is confined to a desk anymore. Associates are free to retreat to cosy “teaming” rooms and sit in cushy chairs to problemsolve or brainstorm. This employer has altered its concept of not only space, but time. Pearson says he wanted to stop monitoring everyone’s comings and goings “babysitting-style,” and now offers flexw w w.H RThought L ea der. c om Johnson and his colleagues all worked together at an office at one time. “To me, trust is a decisive factor in whether you can pull off distributed work arrangements,” he says, and believes the privilege to work from home requires a probation period. When a former managing editor quit, he received resumés from hopefuls across several states but wasn’t comfortable hiring a stranger for a workat-home position. The person he ultimately hired had worked parttime for the magazine for 15 years. NEW DYNAMIC, OLD ISSUES There’s no denying the exciting, seemingly limitless possibilities of having workers scattered across an office building, in their homes or around the world. But if bosses can overcome the fear of an “out F e b r u a r y / M a r c h 2 0 0 9 29 http://www.hrthoughtLeader.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.