Right or wrong, Yahoo is the talk of the town
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer needs to light a fire under her company, but was banning telecommuters the right call? It probably doesn’t matter. Read more »
One group that really gets remote work? Vacationing small business owners
Vacation season is in full swing, but small business owners continue to be besieged, as ever, with a tidal wave of responsibilities. The collision of these two realities could equal frustration, but according to a new survey, there’s actually a happier result– more remote work. Read more »
The secret ingredient for successful cross-cultural communication
High-tech tools and innovative management practices to ease coordination hassles may have their role in leading cross-cultural teams, but according to one expert on communicating with folks from different backgrounds, the real key to success is simpler and rarer. Read more »
Women can have it all… if we get rid of “time macho”
An article on women and work-life balance is stirring a predictable flurry of debate on the internet, but the piece is worth reading for those interested in remote collaboration as well as gender issues for what it says about “time macho” work culture and telecommuting. Read more »
Needle weaves fans, customers and companies together
Companies and employees are finding unique ways to work in a world supported by mobile Internet access. We’re seeing growth in coworking, and telecommuting in general, and Needle is a great example just how far you can push these ideas. Read more »
Remote work study: Distance makes the heart grow fonder
A new study explodes conventional wisdom that telecommuters feel less close to their teams than co-located employees and also reveals that more communication often leads to greater stress for remote workers. Should managers of dispersed teams consider rethinking how often they communicate with distant employees? Read more »
What professions are going remote the fastest?
A new report from the Conferences Board reveals that while professions traditionally associated with remote work like writing and sales continue to have the highest rates of telecommuting, other less expected job categories are making huge gains. What are they? Read more »
No telecommuting, please! We’re signaling
The case for telecommuting is solid and gets more so with each new study. But despite this mounting pile of evidence, the number of actual telecommuters hasn’t exactly skyrocketed. Why? Economist Bryan Caplan points to a paper that blames signaling. Read more »
Surviving a dual remote worker marriage
First-person accounts from couples that both work from home illustrate that the experience can be fraught, with one partner sometimes imposing on the other. But the arrangement works well for some. What are the secrets of these happy home working couples? Read more »
Remote work doesn’t have to be glamorous to be effective
Hertz’s CIO explains how the company moved from housing all its customer service agents in a call center to having nearly half of them based at home, puncturing any ideas of successful remote workers as elite, highly educated professionals in the process. Read more »
Olympics causing remote work controversy in Britain
With the Olympics just a few months away, there’s the usual flurry of stories detailing frenzied preparations by organizers and athletes. But one other type of news item is surprisingly popular in Britain – stories equating telecommuting during the games with slacking at home. Read more »
Remote work boosts productivity? Only for creative tasks, says new research
Remote work advocates have plenty of scientific ammunition to convince skeptics as study after study has shown telecommuters get more done. But what’s true on average doesn’t hold for every case, new research suggests. For stultifying tasks (and, unsurprisingly, slackers), the office may be best. Read more »
Canadian managers still skeptical of remote work
Microsoft Canada’s latest Flexible Working report shows that despite a steady drumbeat of studies validating the idea that telecommuting improves productivity, Canadian managers are still much more skeptical of the practice than their employees, holding back uptake of remote work. Read more »
UK telecommuting study bolsters case for remote work
The results are out on UK telecoms giant O2′s one-day telecommuting experiment and it’s good news for fans of remote work. Sending nearly 3,000 workers home improved productivity, saved money and CO2, and resulted in more sleep and family time for employees. Read more »
Virtual managers less effective, study finds
While a host of studies have found that telecommuters are more productive and happier with their work, new research paints a less rosy picture of managing virtually, finding that bosses who don’t share a space with their reports perform slightly worsel than co-located supervisors. Read more »
Tips for virtual team leaders: Teach your employees to manage up
If miscommunication or fuzzy delegation of responsibility can hurt co-located teams, these mistakes can torpedo virtual ones. That’s why experts on managing virtual teams stress talking not just about what you’re working on, but how you’re going to work on it as well. Read more »
Workers to pollsters: Widespread remote work is imminent
Findings from a new survey that confirm earlier polls showing workers are willing to sacrifice money or vacation time to work remotely may not be shocking, but other revelations about how soon employees expect their offices to go fully virtual may surprise skeptics. Read more »
Gas prices up? Time to remember remote work again
Rising prices at the pump inevitably prompt a flurry of interest in telecommuting as a short-term solution for commuters’ pain. Should we be thinking longer term, using remote work as a way to restructure our lives to take the sting out of gas prices for good? Read more »
February gets a new holiday: Anywhere Working Week
Gloomy February is generally in need of more celebrations, and it has gotten one: Anywhere Working Week is on now. But this initiative from UK business, government and nonprofits to promote remote work is hardly getting pulses racing. Flexible work deserves a higher profile. Read more »
CEOs increasingly going virtual, study finds
Forget Mad Men-era images of CEOs spending hours around conference tables. A research project reveals that while executives still spend a ton of time in meetings, modern CEOs increasingly use virtual tools to connect. What might this mean for corporate culture further down the ladder? Read more »
Telecommuting is worth serious sacrifices: Valentine’s Day edition
A new survey from TeamViewer confirms earlier reports that Americans would be willing to make sacrifices for the privilege of working remotely, as well as offering a timely but shocking revelation of what some desperate souls would give up to telecommute. Read more »
O2 sends 3,000 staff home to telecommute for a day
Some say remote working is still a bit fringe outside of tech firms, edgy startups and freelancers in coffee shops, but a recent experiment by the British telecoms behemoth suggests the practice is slowly seeping into the mainstream of business. Read more »
An unexpected side effect of remote work: Denser communities
The rise of remote work may mean teams can spread out far and wide from corporate headquarters, but ironically, the increasing prevalence of telecommuting could actually lead to denser communities rather than atomized workers as work and life are integrated in one space. Read more »
Who telecommutes the most? Not developed nations, new survey finds
Globally, nearly one-in-five wired workers telecommute on a frequent basis, but the number working from outside the office varies enormously between regions, with those in the developing world reporting far more mobility than Europeans and North Americans. Read more »
Self-knowledge: The secret ingredient for successful remote work
A round-up of advice from veteran remote workers to those who work from home turns up a rarely cited truth: Your productivity problems may have more to do with what you do than how you do it. Now you just have to admit it. Read more »
Coworking: the pivot in today’s transformation of work?
New scientific evidence is emerging about the benefits of telework, supporting workers’ desire to work out of the office. Stowe Boyd discusses the implications involved in the increasingly popular post-industrial adoption of telecommuting, and explains why coworking may be the missing link. Read more »
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says
For stressed-out working parents, telecommuting seems like an intuitive solution to improving the juggle and reducing their time squeeze. But according to surprising research published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, telecommuting may actually make matters worse for some busy parents. Read more »
The latest research on telecommuting, via video
A few weeks ago we brought you the preliminary results of a Stanford University study into the benefits of telecommuting, suggesting that reluctant bosses might be persuaded on remote work after looking at the findings. Now, one of the authors presents the results via video. Read more »
Another reason to work remotely: Commuting is killing you
Sky high gas bills, road rage, unpleasant body odors on packed subways: The many downsides of commuting already constitute a solid argument in favor of remote work. But a recent study offers another reason to trade in your train pass: Your commute is killing you. Read more »
Is telecommuting feeling the economic squeeze?
Telework may have obvious benefits, but the number of remote workers isn’t exactly soaring. In fact, according to some recent studies, the growth in telecommuting is actually slowing. Many explanations are possible, but maybe the simplest is best: The terrible economy has everyone scared. Read more »
Scientists prove telecommuting is awesome
Stanford University researchers partner with a Chinese travel agency to do a rigorous scientific test of the effects of allowing telecommuting, using a large sample and control group. The results are heartening for fans of remote work and might be enough to convince skeptical bosses. Read more »
Senators try again to eliminate dual tax on telecommuters
Telecommuters whose employers are based in one state but who work out of another can run into tax headaches, as both states claim a portion of their pay. Now, it appears congress is making another effort to eliminate the double bill for remote workers. Read more »
The exurbs: The natural habitat of the telecommuter?
The impact of more remote workers on the built environment is a fascinating subtopic of the future of work. Will office spaces shrink? Transport plans change? Now there’s a new question about a world of remote workers – will they all move to the exurbs? Read more »
Extreme telecommuting: how to move to Italy and keep your day job
Tech sites present plenty of speculation on new tech and ways of working. Is this just the jabbering of pundits or is all of it making a difference on the ground? A conversation with Barry Frangipane, the co-author of The Venice Experiment, proves work is changing. Read more »
The truth about telecommuting and childcare
Even though research shows men value working from home as highly as women, the perception persists that telecommuting is of particular value for mothers. Why? Working from home is often cited as a way to cut down on childcare costs. Total myth, say experts. Read more »
Podcast explores the challenges and rewards of working from home
Telecommuting offers well-publicized benefits, but Census Bureau figures show only four percent of workers actually work from home. What makes telecommuting so challenging? The Workforce Institute asked two veteran work-from-homers to discuss their on-the-ground experience with remote work in this interesting podcast. Read more »
Surprise survey result: The way to improve the office is to eliminate it
When Staples.com surveyed workers to find out what would improve life at the office, they were probably hoping to hear answers like fancy printers or chairs, but one of the top results was a change no merchant can supply: Getting rid of the office entirely. Read more »
Flex work rhetoric vs. reality: How big is the gap?
It’s hard to be against flexible work arrangements. but despite a lot of talk in support of new ways of working to help knowledge workers keep their sanity and families intact; a new survey shows many managers are merely paying lip service to the idea. Read more »
Flatter orgs: An inevitable result of collaboration tech?
From provision of office space to recruitment and retention, the ubiquity of fast, secure internet connectivity has changed plenty about how business gets done these days. But what, if anything, will stay the same? Are org charts and hierarchies a thing of the past? Read more »
Study: Telecommuting is worth a pay cut, especially for men
Several surveys have found people are willing to take a pay cut in order to have the flexibility to work remotely. Now, a new survey is confirming these findings –- but with a twist. Read more »
