We've done a lot of research and focus group work over the years with people who work from home. The groups have included both home business folks as well as corporate folks working from home. There are four consistent complaints we hear. These are, in order: (1.) loneliness; (2.) a feeling of being "out of the loop". Interestingly enough even solo practioners express this feeling. They feel they are "out of the loop" related to clients and/or their industry. (3) lack of support and/or back up. This is a bit broader and includes having the right stuff, having good technical support, as well as having back up from a work standpoint. While independent workers express this concern, corporate employees generally are quite strong in complaining about this; and (4) procrastination, focus and distraction. Many feel it is hard to be productive from home.
We first started looking at this back in the 80's when it was called "telecommuting". The view at that time was almost all of us would be working from home and telecommuting by now. This, of course, didn't happen and the 4 major complaints back then are still the four major complaints today. But a lot has changed since the 80's. The Internet and related connective technologies have reduced loneliness and the feeling of being out of the loop. Home based technology has advanced to the point that home workers don't feel better supporedt. Corporations discovered they can save a ton of money by sending workers home, and outsourcing showed them they could manage distributed work. And of course, economic change has resulted in a lot more independent home workers. Procastination and distraction remain a major problem, but as people get used to working from home they often find they are more productive (I certainly am). All of this has resulted in greater acceptance of working from home, and greater numbers of home based workers. But one fundamental issue remains. Humans are social creatures and for most adults work provides both income and their major social support structure. When home workers are asked what they miss most about the office, the universal answer is the social environment. When asked if they would rather work in an office, most answer they would prefer to have an office but mostly work from home. People want the flexibility working from home provides, but also want the social and support infrastructure provided by offices. This is a major reason I think coworking facilities of all types are going to become increasingly common. Big companies will develop their own coworking facitlities by creating "office hotels" and worker "drop in centers" to provide home based employees an "occasional office" and social and work support structures. Independent coworking facilities will support small businesses, independent workers and networks of workers. There is a broader issue here around the human need to belong to a group, and the role work and corporations play as family and village substitutes in modern society. But this is sociologically too deep for me to go beyond just mentioning it. Steve On Jan 4, 3:15 am, "John Gauch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I imagine folks saw this working out of the office piece in yesterday's > Times:http://tinyurl.com/18 > > I found this quote interesting and true for many,I suppose: "We found if > you're working from home and do not have an interaction with someone from > work, or a client, or a physical meeting, after three days you start to feel > isolated," said Dan Pelino, who manages I.B.M.'s mobile workforce program. > > What did people think of the two articles (the second one > here,http://tinyurl.com/3yemlx)? > > I thought the toys were cool, but pricey overall (http://tinyurl.com/2ncvl4 > ). > > John --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
