by Daria Steigman on July 12, 2011
Do you time your commute?
My latest Workshifting post is up, and it’s about happens when you actually have to leave your home office (or your favorite coffeehouse):
The only problem with short commutes is not having one.
My commute is 10 feet. I get up, wander into my office, reach down and hit the “Start Me Up” button on my desktop.
I do this daily, except for Tuesday mornings. That’s the day of the week I drive 20 miles away for a meeting, the day I leave myself 45 minutes for a trip I hope will take 25.
Commuting sucks, but there are ways for workshifters to make it a little easier. Read the post here.
Photo by Phillip Capper (Flickr).
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Tagged as:
Workshifting
by Daria Steigman on June 27, 2011
A new study of workshifting in the United States reveals big growth in the last couple of years–but the percentage of Americans who telework remains very small.
The State of Telework in the U.S. focuses specifically on people who work at home at least part time but are not self-employed. The numbers overall are very small: only 2.9 million people consider their home their primary place of work (versus an estimated 50 million “who want to work from home [and] hold jobs that are telework compatible”).
“The typical telecommuter is a 49-year-old, college-educated, salaried, non-union employee in a management or professional role, earning $58,000 a year at a company with more than 100 employees.”
There’s some great data in here:
- Government workers telework the most. Though the numbers remain tiny, the federal government is leading the way based on the percentage of its own workforce that teleworks.
- Only 5 percent of private companies offer flexible workplace benefits. These are 2010 numbers, so you know workshifters are still at the bleeding edge.
- Baby Boomers are leading the way. As a percentage of their numbers in the workforce, Baby Boomers are far more likely to be teleworking. This doesn’t suggest that Millennials don’t want more flexibility–just that far fewer of them have it.
- A college degree makes a difference. People with college and/or advanced degrees are far more likely to be teleworkers. This also correlates to income (higher-paid employees are more likely to have workshifting options) and to type of job (professional, managerial).
Forget what workers want; here’s the business case.
The State of Telework in the U.S. makes a compelling economic argument for flexible workplaces, from reduced office costs and employee productivity to energy savings to the impact on our carbon footprint.
People want more work flexibilty. The question is: will companies trust their employees enough to grant it?
Bonus Reading: Author Kate Lister has pulled out her own report highlights in The Who, What, Where, and Why Not of Telecommuting.
Photo by Pinoldy (Flickr).
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Kate Lister,
Workshifting
by Daria Steigman on June 6, 2011
You know those days when you’re hopelessly unproductive?
Endurance runners talk about hitting “the wall.” It’s slow, it’s painful, it’s really annoying — and it’s unproductive. Workers have a wall too, that moment when your brain can’t focus and your neurons are definitely not firing.
My latest Workshifting post is out, and it points out that:
Success [for workshifters] is based on results and not time chained to a desk. Whether you work for yourself or are part of a bigger team, there’s no one tracking your comings and goings. You either get stuff done or you don’t. So why do we so often feel compelled to be “at work” on some variation or other of 9-to-5, Monday through Friday?
Read the post here. There is also some great discussion in the comments (and feel free to add in your two cents).
Photo by Dichohecho (Flickr).
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Tagged as:
Productivity,
Workshifting
by Daria Steigman on May 3, 2011
I’ve been pondering routines lately: why you need them and when to break free.
In a recent Workshifting post, I explored the paradox of the flexible routine:
Working from home (or anywhere else you choose) isn’t about avoiding routine–it’s about being able to set your own routine.
That said, we do spend a lot of time creating systems to keep ourselves focused and on track. They’re safety nets, barriers against the chaos of an unstructured life. But innovation doesn’t happen in 25- or 30-minute chunks. Sometimes we need to stop doing stuff and just concept, create, go with the flow, and see what happens.
Hence, in my latest post I ask: Can you work without a net?
Photo by Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden (Flickr).
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Tagged as:
Workflow,
Workshifting
by Daria Steigman on March 22, 2011
In Energize Growth Now, author Lisa Nirell discusses five stages of growth (startup, growth, advanced growth, plateau, and decline) and the challenges entrepreneurs face as they move from one stage to the next. The book aims to help founders and other CEOs identify where their businesses stand today and what strategies they will need to successfully pivot to more growth–rather than to slowly descend into decline.
Companies facing a plateau have two choices: (1) address and fix the roadblocks to growth, or (2) avoid the problem and threaten their long-term potential. Nirell calls the process of pivoting to advanced growth “scaling the second brick wall,” and identifies five areas of focus:
- Repositioning
- Developing solid distribution and referral networks
- Defining and strengthening the company’s functionality
- Expanding capabilities
- Building a succession strategy
Read the details and my complete book review here.
Bonus Reading: My latest Workshifting.com post is out. The topic is Workshifting from the ICU, and it’s about the challenges of workshifting during a crisis. Plus it asks: Where’s the craziest place you’ve worked from lately?
*Disclosure: I received a free copy of Energize Growth Now in exchange for agreeing to review it–but without any restrictions on what I might say.
Photo by Christopher Sessums (Flickr).
Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!
Tagged as:
Business,
Entrepreneur,
Entrepreneurship,
Innovation,
Workshifting
