Maybe you wake up at 5:30 a.m. so you can cram in a couple of hours of work before dropping the kids at school. Then, after they go to bed, out comes the BlackBerry. Today's technology, including fixed wireless, Bluetooth, wireless broadband, NextG cellular networks and the like, help employees become productive even when they're not in the office.
But is this progress, or simply the death of the 9-to-5 workday?
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Get more done
If the results of a study by Cisco Systems Inc. and OMNI Consulting Group LLP are to be believed, the use of mobile data services increases productivity by an average of 13.4 per cent a week for a full-time worker. In other words, employees get more done each week because they have the iPhone and laptop handy. Insurance adjusters can handle more claims while on the road, for example, and pharmaceutical sales reps can conduct more physician briefings because they don't have to run back to the office for that missing file.
The technology, which becomes cheaper every nanosecond (remember when laptops cost upward of $4,000?), allows for a kind of flex time that goes beyond working from 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. to be around for school drop-offs and pick-ups. The new flex time for a mobile worker is less about anywhere and more about any time.
Brantz Myers, director for industry marketing for Cisco Systems Canada Co. in Toronto, thinks of his workday as a series of “working moments,” a term also used by the company. If he has 20 minutes before his plane takes off, that's a chunk of work time. Once his two children go to bed, there's another chunk. He says it works for him because much of his job – crafting business plans, budgeting and other strategic functions – isn't driven by the time of day it gets completed.
“Yeah, I don't think I've lived 9 to 5 in years,” he says.
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Location, location, location
Staying industrious on the road at any time of the day is certainly helped by finding a comfortable workspace, according to Derek Kerton, principal analyst with The Kerton Group, a wireless consulting firm with offices in San Jose, Calif., and Waterloo, Ont. When he's mobile, Mr. Kerton likes to rate how productive he feels compared with sitting at his large office desk with its 23-inch computer screen, ergonomic keyboard and laser mouse.
“I can't beat that. It's 100-per-cent productivity,” he says.
A hotel room's productivity rate ranks at about 70 per cent because he doesn't have all his files or a full-sized keyboard. It also takes about 10 minutes to sign up for the hotel's broadband service. Sitting in a parked car rates a “pretty dismal” 40 per cent, while a coffee shop – with its hubbub and tiny tables – comes in at about 50 per cent. Airline business lounges, which usually cost about $400 annually to join, get a thumbs up.
“Are they worth the comfort and the free orange juice? Absolutely not. But what if the flight is delayed by about an hour?” Mr. Kerton asks, noting that the lounges offer quality work desks, comfortable chairs, good lighting and an outlet. “I get at least hotel-grade productivity, if not better.”
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Goodby, SUV
About 11/2 million Canadian employees work away from the office an average of two days a week – and more are asking for the privilege. Apparently, people really, really hate sitting in their cars.
A recent 2007 survey by Microsoft Corp. and Kelton Research showed 55 per cent of workers interested in working away from the office were most excited about ditching their commute. Comparatively, 12 per cent liked the idea of making their own work hours and a measly 9 per cent looked forward to spending more time with their families.
Only 7 per cent said they wanted to have flexibility to be more productive.
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Keeping it at work
But why are employees working morning, noon and night whether they have a flex time deal or not? Perhaps because it's so darn easy, writes Gil Gordon in Turn It Off: How to Unplug from the Anytime-Anywhere Office Without Disconnecting Your Career.
