When I ran down the slipway into the Hudson River last week after my runaway sailboat and trailer, I couldn’t have imagined the work-related repercussions.
Yes, I managed to grab hold of the mooring rope on my boat, a 20 foot Cape Dory Typhoon, preventing its ‘no-handed’ voyage down the Hudson towards New York City, and I eventually retrieved the trailer with the help of a long tow rope. But the damage to my company iPhone, which was in my shorts’ pocket at the time, was already done. (According to smartphone insurer, SquareTrade, 14 percent of smartphone accidents in the UK involve being immersed in liquid.)
Water+Tech=Trouble
First, the waterlogged device vibrated violently for 30 minutes, then it fell silent for good. (And no, despite my colleagues’ suspicions, I didn’t dunk it so I could get upgraded to the iPhone 6 I had been lusting after.)
Since I use my company smartphone for most company related communications – including text messaging with my co-team members – the accident had an immediate and obvious impact. But I also use it to store the VPN (virtual private network) soft-token I need to access the corporate network securely via my laptop, so it also effectively stopped me from working remotely. (Lesson One: the more useful a smartphone is, the more you come to rely on it.)
Now that wouldn’t have been a big deal for me until relatively recently because I didn’t work remotely that often. Many old style employers – including my last - suffer from what I called ‘bums on seats’ syndrome. Unless employees are in the office sitting at their desks they are presumed not to be working.
(As a result, “I’m working from home tomorrow,” becomes accepted code for taking a day off work, and there is a pre supposition that an employee out of town on a business trip is actually sunning themselves poolside which may, or may not be the case.)
It is also worth noting that the pool of potential talent available to companies that require employees to be physically present is restricted to those within commuting distance of a company office, who are both able and want to work outside their homes – something technology companies in particular can ill afford.
Rigid rules kill productivity
Far from enhancing white collar productivity, I believe company, and individual, performance suffer if rigid antiquated rules get in the way of flexible working and foster mistrust – it’s no coincidence that most startups operate flexible hours and provide employees with the tools they need to be able to work anywhere, on any device, and at any time.
Not surprisingly perhaps, the latest data the American Time Use Survey released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that the growth of flexible working schedules, the freelance economy, and video conferencing are enabling more Americans to get their jobs done without ever heading into an office. Among all workers, 23% report spending all or part of their day working from home. That’s up from less than 19% in 2003, the first year for which there is comparable data.
The trend is most pronounced among people with bachelor’s degrees, probably because they are more likely to have traditional office jobs. Last year, 39% of the working population with a bachelor’s reported working at home and the percentage who reported not going to an office at all reached the highest point since data was collected.
However, the increase was not enough to account for the overall rise in people reporting working from home. That difference probably reflects the rise in flexible work schedules, and the expectation that those with company-supplied laptops and smartphones are available at all hours of the day - which brings me back to my predicament.
I did eventually discover that I could ask company IT for a temporary VPN code that would enable to access the corporate network remotely for 24 hours at a time while I wait for a replacement company smartphone – a process that apparently takes three weeks.
Now I know I shouldn’t have dashed into the Hudson with my corporate iPhone in my pocket. But accidents do happen and it is in everyone’s’ best interests to make it quicker and easier to recover from such mishaps.
Remote working is not easy, but it should be. The technology already exists. In addition to my new iPhone 6, I have requested a new Windows 8-based laptop that, once configured, doesn’t need a VPN token and will automatically connect to email and corporate portal AS IF I’m in the office. I know it will increase my productivity immensely… no tokens, no waiting, a seamless experience just as it should be.
In corporate IT, as in consumer technology, simple trumps complex every time, and employees have a right to demand it.
