2013-05-19T04:06:13-04:00 Scott Dodds http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=scott-dodds Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Scott Dodds Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2868941 2013-03-14T19:00:00-04:00 2013-05-14T05:12:01-04:00

Scott Dodds http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-dodds/
Many have been quick to criticise the change, most prominent among them Richard Branson, who sees it as a regressive step that is out of sync with modern business thinking. Others, including a number of Yahoo! employees, have pointed out that working from home policies have been abused by some employees, causing a dip in productivity and creating a disparate workforce.

The point missed by many, is that flexible working is about far more than simply choosing between the office and the home. It isn't a case of "either one or the other" and it is possible to do both. A blinkered approach could be why some remain blind to the opportunities flexible working presents. It's also why we refer to it as Anywhere Working.

Anywhere Working, a cause championed by the Anywhere Working Consortium, is about being productive regardless of your location; whether that's at home, in the airport, on the train, in a café, or at a specially designed drop-in office. To realise the potential of Anywhere Working, we are encouraging industry and Government to invest in creating 'third spaces' that allow people to meet and be productive. The folks at Yahoo! are right: communication and collaboration are important. Working in isolation prohibits social interaction and often the best ideas are a cumulative effort, spawned by shared thoughts and multiple opinions.

But, it is important that employees are able to match tasks to environments and match environments to people. Sometimes it helps to have someone to act as a sounding board for your ideas, and even in our hyper-connected society, it is difficult to replicate the level of connection made when speaking to someone face to face. On the other hand, there are some jobs that require focus and are best tackled away from the hub-bub of the office. Different people find inspiration in different places. For some that's in a meeting room or, as the cliché goes, at the water cooler. But for others, it's on the bus, or walking the dog, or over lunch. People should be empowered to work from wherever they are most productive, rather than simply choosing between the office or the home.

Anywhere Working is about protecting productivity, not only by liberating employees, but also by safeguarding against disruption. A workforce that can operate from multiple locations will be able to respond better when the snow arrives, or transport connections go down, or, as evidenced by the Olympics, when the rest of the world pays a visit.

The conversation should be about the work we do and how and where we can be most productive. Arguing about which single location is best misses the point entirely.

Anywhere Working Week is taking place from March 18-22 across the country to encourage businesses to review the way people work and to promote the benefits of flexible work-styles. Led by the Anywhere Working Consortium, of which Microsoft, Department for Transport and Transport for London are founding members, the campaign will involve the creation of a number of flexible working hubs for people to use and visit.

Working in conjunction with Local Authorities, the Anywhere Working Consortium will be setting up hubs in London, Devon, Bristol, Norfolk and Essex. Visitors to each of the hubs will have the opportunity to network with fellow or aspiring flexible workers, while the sites will also play host to Anywhere Working workshops. There will be sessions with thought leaders on the future of work as well as an opportunity to hear practical advice on how to work flexibly and get to grips with the latest Anywhere Working strategies, technology and tools from the Department for Transport, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, Regus, Transport for London and Vodafone.

To find out more, please visit anywhereworking.org]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2574539 2013-01-30T19:00:00-05:00 2013-04-01T05:12:01-04:00

Scott Dodds http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-dodds/
With up to one in three UK workers unable to make it to the office in last week's heavy snow, many must have had pause for reflection and asked themselves whether this is the only way to work. Now, with the snow melting and a proportion of the country under the threat of flooding, the answer is staring us in the face more starkly than ever before: treat 'work' as something we do rather than somewhere to go.

The average commuter spends an inordinate amount of time commuting. In London, it adds up to five weeks per year, according to a TUC analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics. That's 277 hours going in and out of the metropolis every year. Even the fastest UK commutes constitute something of a schlep with Welsh and Northern Irish commuters spending 166 hours and 164 hours respectively. We're not alone in having to commute of course but the RAC has suggested Brits travel further to work and spend longer doing so than any of their European counterparts.

It's not just journey distance that affects us, however - the impact long commutes and disruptions to travel have on productivity is huge. Research conducted by the RSA suggests last Friday's snowfall could have cost the UK economy half a billion pounds, while the Office for National Statistics said that the heavy snowfall witnessed back in December 2010 caused the UK economy to contract by 0.5 per cent.

While the option to work remotely may not have been suitable for all of those stranded - such as construction workers or retail staff who do need to be at their place of work in order to be productive - a huge number of those stuck in the snow could have continued to work if the right tools and policies had been in place.

So why isn't this the case? To a large extent the answer is cultural. The myth that has long been perpetuated says that not being at a workplace somehow equates to reduced productivity. It's so widespread that it has led to absurdities like 'presenteeism', defined by Ruth Simpson in the British Journal of Management as the "need to demonstrate visible commitment" although others define it as showing up for work even when ill - in many ways, an equally inane concept.

The latter form of presenteeism can carry a high price. A 2012 report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that sick days were falling as workers showed up for fear of losing their jobs with three in 10 companies reporting an increase in people going into work ill. And a 2010 report published by think-tank The Work Foundation found that presenteeism can cost 1.5 times more than sickness because of reduced productivity and the likelihood of causing longer, more series absences from work.

There are times when being together with colleagues is essential, of course. Some collaborative processes, brainstorming and team meetings thrive on intimate, visceral interactions. But for many tasks, breaking the shackles of desk working can itself be highly productive.

Experts like Scott Edinger of Edinger Consulting Group, writing in the Harvard Review in 2012, suggest proximity can lead to complacency and, rather than enabling useful interactions, most of us will know the phenomenon of workers who will email rather than ask a question of a colleague sitting a few desks away. By contrast, not being physically present in a workplace will often make people strive to stay in contact and to check on people and the status of projects, making better use of phone calls, conferencing, messaging and other tools to work optimally with colleagues. Remote workers can also find the time and space to complete projects requiring focused concentration and when they do meet colleagues and others they will tend to make better use of their time, removing distractions to drill down on key information and get tasks completed.

Companies that embrace Anywhere Working and give staff the freedom to work from other locations, also reap benefits, finding it easier to recruit and saving money on office costs.

Of course, remote working is no panacea. Certain personality types want the structure and routine of office working and many tasks require physical presence. But businesses that are open to multiple ways of working will generally run better... and are less likely to be disrupted by a snowy, or even a rainy, day.

Scott Dodds is the General Manager of Marketing & Operations for Microsoft UK. Microsoft was a founding member of the Anywhere Working Consortium whose mission is to champion the benefits of Anywhere Working and communicate best practices, examples and evidence so that it is considered by any organisation employing 'information workers'.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2473038 2013-01-14T13:11:10-05:00 2013-03-16T05:12:02-04:00

Scott Dodds http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-dodds/ Old-fashioned views mean many are missing out on the opportunities offered by anywhere working

Most of us will just be returning, maybe reluctantly, from our Christmas breaks. We're back to the daily commute, contending with school runs and weather concerns and probably wishing we could be anywhere but back in the office!

January is often recognised as a tough time for commuters - largely because of the risk of travel disruption due to wintry weather, but also because of low morale levels after the holiday season.

The Chartered Management Institute has recently cited motoring experts asking "Can you work remotely, or change your schedule?" The CMI titled its article "Think about working from home if it's snowy, says expert" but the conflation between "working from home" and "remote working" is telling; far too often the terms are used interchangeably when in fact they can be very different concepts.

Part of the reason Microsoft selected the term 'Anywhere Working' for its campaign - and as the name of the Anywhere Working Consortium that we founded in partnership with a number of other bodies who promote flexible working practices - was to promote the advantages of working more flexibly in terms of time and place. It was also to avoid the myth that if you're not working from the office then you are automatically working (or, to sceptics, shirking) from home.

Of course, the myth persists in part because of the 'WFH' term seen on many a shared calendar as a shorthand term to tell colleagues and others not to expect you on the pod that day. You are not physically in work but you are working and available on some form of communications medium at least some of the time.

It's certainly true that lots of people do work from home and the saving on commute time as well as ability to work from a comfortable, private environment can be a big part of the appeal. For others, though, working from home can be impossible for a number of reasons - lack of broadband (or even mobile cellular) coverage, screaming children, the lure of household chores and a myriad other distractions. Those who work permanently or near-permanently from home can easily become disengaged and can be less likely to add to creative thinking or get closer to customers and partners, even if they make good use of communications tools.

Of course it's dependent on the job in hand, but other forms of remote working can be more productive, letting people work on site with customers and partners, even making use of what would have been 'dead time' travelling.

Today, most places are potential work zones. With faster connectivity and a broad range of mobile devices - smartphones, tablets and laptops - that suit different tasks, it's possible for knowledge workers to accomplish a lot. That means when in transit, on site with clients or partners, from hospitality environments such as hotels, cafes and bars, or drop in co-working places like Club Workspace and 'third spaces', the catch-all term to describe places that aren't home and aren't work. Even pubs and libraries are being adapted to act as hubs for local workers, giving a new lease of life to buildings and taking the weight off our roads and public transport networks. So long as there's the chance to plug in for power and internet, you can work and the environment will have an effect on the work you do. Co-working environments might let you brainstorm and run ideas for a presentation or new business by a colleague, snatched 15-minute journeys will be good for catching up on email, home working might be ideal for a longer chunk of work where peace and isolation are needed.

The great news is that wherever you work, the tools are getting better. Mobile operator EE now offers 4G in the UK and the same service will soon be offered by other carriers. Wi-Fi is appearing more in trains, black cabs, coaches and the London Underground and is also set to get much faster with 2013's 802.11ac scheduled to deliver 1 gigabit-per-second speeds. The net effect of all this: a smoother surfing experience in more places, even with video and other resource-hungry activities.

Once again it's a case of stressing that 'work' is not a place to go but an activity... and there is rarely a reason for employees not to be productive, which should mean greater control of time for employees and a better balance of working and personal lives.

Scott Dodds is the General Manager of Marketing & Operations for Microsoft UK. His is responsible for orchestrating the direction and success of the sales, marketing and services resources in each of the business groups, strategy and planning for the UK subsidiary, as well as leading the marketing teams responsible for promoting the company's consumer and commercial products and services.

Microsoft was a founding member of the Anywhere Working Consortium, a body of UK organisations that aim to champion the benefits of Anywhere Working. The Consortium communicates best practices, examples and evidence so that flexible working is considered by any organisation employing 'information workers'.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2145008 2012-11-18T19:00:00-05:00 2013-01-18T05:12:01-05:00

Scott Dodds http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-dodds/
Indeed, the world of work has, in the past few years, changed completely. The old days of 'presentee-ism', the nine-to-five working day and the same desk, phone and chair are quickly becoming relics of a bygone age. The macro economy, environmental mandates, the congestion on our roads and transport systems, demands for work-life balance and the need for companies to get closer to customers and partners are all factors that are driving new working patterns.

Today, we need to be at our most productive wherever we are. That might be at a customer's office, with a partner, on a manufacturing site, in transit, in 'third spaces' such as coffee shops and drop-in offices, or at home. And this fluidity of location has enormous advantages. With this newfound flexibility we can take the weight off our roads and public transport networks at peak times, work more collaboratively, get closer to peers and buyers, save on commute time and the cost of office facilities, and make decisions faster.

The results of working flexibly are proven. The Edinger Consulting Group, a strong proponent of flexible working, found that its staff are more committed to their work, make better use of their time and better use of technology tools when able to work remotely because they have to make an effort to make contact with each other, so are more concentrated in their attention to each person. Other studies, such as a Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization report in April 2012, suggest remote working can make people more effective in creative tasks especially, and can lead to higher job satisfaction. On the environmental side, the load is taken off travelling at peak times and carbon emissions are fewer and the environmental burden is reduced.

The success of London 2012 shows flexible working really works. The games brought thousands more people into the capital, yet did not grind to a halt because businesses allowed staff to stagger their commute times and work the hours they wanted. Not only did this reduce commuter pain and cut journey times, the elongated working day enabled people to work when they were most productive while also allowing businesses to be seen as 'more available' to clients and customers. This approach is reflective of the modern business world: the working day is no longer circumscribed but built on trade-offs and peaks and troughs in demand. The parents that take their children to school can make up their time by working later; 'work' becomes something you do and not some where you go.

This flexible approach has become easier with the evolution of the technology landscape. The last few years alone have provided us with fast wireless broadband access, mobile device proliferation in the shape of smartphones and tablets, the rise of apps, Skype, social networks and cloud computing. These tools are not an end in themselves but they provide a way for workers to access services, discover information, store work, process enquiries, update records and much more, regardless of physical location. It's now time for us to embrace these services, and use them to our advantage - for the benefits of us as individuals wishing to work in the way we like best, and for the benefits of our employers and the business they run.

All of this is not to say that the new ways of working are for everybody and there remain many jobs that require people to be at a given spot at a given time. But for the rest of us, we must fight the sense that because many of us have worked one way for many years that is the way forward. Flexibility is a boon and a competitive weapon. Let's use it.]]>