Depending on your situation but in my line of business, talking to people face to face and be able to talk with your hands, draw on the white board and visually explaining things really makes a difference.

Perhaps when my experiment 100 Websites Experiment makes enough money to make what I make in the corporate world then I might be able to work at home permanently.

NORM

And the ‘sitting around time’ drove me nuts. I like how Alana put it – ‘“burst” instead of “busy”’ – this is how I work now and an office setting just doesn’t work well for me.

I pray I never have to make that choice again.

Jill

As far as the work, my team is spread throughout the country, so we make the effort to get together 3 times a year in one place. That is a lot of fun and we get more done in that short amount of time, knowing that we can’t waste time on politics or wasteful meetings.

It’s my way of life now and I will not change it.

Paul

I personally would not go back to a office bound job ( conventional 40 hours a week in an office) for a number of reasons.

1) I think it is a disservice to the company. If I’m spending my time running a business or working for somebody that is paying me, I think maximizing my value/input is critical in that value exchange. That is a baseline. Limiting my (or my fellow workers) to 8 hour days, confused by commutes, politics, silos and the rest, I’m not going to be competitive.

2) It is a huge benefit to myself and my employees to be able to work from anywhere!. In fact, it is the # 2 benefit behind pay and the initial stats show Gen Y (Milleniuls) are putting Alternate Work Arrangements/ Flexibility above pay. Time / Standard of living is being looked at differently from the employee perspective. If I want the best and brightest at the best price, I NEED to do this.

#3) OUR FUTURE

I care about our community and the future of my wife, boys, friends and family a great deal and I want us (USA) to be competitive as a nation. The odds are stacking up against us and we need to buckle down and get smart. It might seem that telework/telecommuting is counter intuitive to “GETTING IT DONE” but I fiercly defend that working smart trumps putting the suit on and shmoozing. Right now, through managed programs on this front, companies are going to cut office space by 35% and garner all the benefits noted while productivity goes up 15+ Percent. This will help us (the USA) work smart and remain competitive globally.

Ecologically speaking:
All the signs point to Telecommuting/ Telework as the lowest hanging fruit (metaphorically speaking) in the short term to help with our transition to creating a clean energy based economy and reducing our consumption along the way.

So, no, I wouldn’t go back to a 40 hour work week in an office, with commutes, silos, politics, etc…..

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
Sincerely,
Richard

Now I can make decisions, decide who I want to talk to, work my own hours and be beholden to me for a change!
Go back full time to the Office? You must be joking!

I feel very much the same way as Alana and Donna.

Even though it feels good to be around with co-workers for some time in an open space environment. It needs sometimes external input and flowing thoughts to generate new ideas and action you alone couldn’t possibly imagine.

Presently on job search there seem no jobs available over here in Germany where one can live as knowledge worker 2.0.

Do you have any ideas? How to overcome that “small” constraint?

Best regards and very thankful for further insights, ideas or questions

Ralf