Hey Steve, This is great and really interesting, and it's even better given that you have done the research to support these assertions.
Could we turn this into a blog post for the Coworking blog? If you could send me your wordpress.com email address, I could add you as an author. Chris On Jan 5, 2008 11:14 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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, 3:15am, "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 > > > -- Chris Messina Citizen-Participant & Open Source Advocate-at-Large Work: http://citizenagency.com Blog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog Cell: 412.225.1051 IM: factoryjoe This email is: [ ] bloggable [X] ask first [ ] private --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
