It never entered my mind that my work would be remote – out of my home office. When I was first offered my job, I remember asking “You mean I don’t have to go into an office?” My boss simply replied “no”. To date, it’s been more than four and a half years and I’ve only ventured to the closest Polycom office four times. Twice to get a new laptop, once to attend a special meeting – which was cancelled, and another time to meet up with a team that I was doing work with on a regular monthly basis, upon their personal invitation for us all to meet up together.

 

realpresence-desktop-01.jpgAdmittedly, initially I had some angst about working remote. Not about the work. I knew I was the right type of person to work remote. I was disciplined, focused and with a drive and commitment to get my work done. So what was my problem? I worried about not having the social interaction that you experience working in an office. I love to mix with people, be on committees, attend events, go out to lunch with co-workers, and participate in gatherings after work.

 

But guess what? It did not take me long to “get over that”! All the advantages of working remote far exceed any shortcomings in the social interaction arena. I love working remote! I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 

Turns out, the social aspect of work is what I can live without. I don’t miss the office politics, the drama, gossip, and the like.

 

My remote work life is far less stressful, more productive and I don’t get bogged down with the “time suck” that some socializing can create.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the people I work with. I’ve met and work with a lot of smart, driven, passionate and fun people. We see each other in video meetings and we have several ways to communicate throughout the work day. And, about once a year, our larger team gets together at the corporate office. We meet, plan, discuss and have a productive and great time together.

 

Thank you Polycom for having the culture which not only allows, but promotes and encourages remote workers. Polycom “Unleashes the Power of Human Collaboration” and has been telling all of us for some time now – “The Workplace of the Future” is here! Remote workers can connect from any location, and share and collaborate with anyone, anywhere.

 

There are more and more flexible and remote workers around the world. Why? Because more and more smart companies are recognizing the value and benefit of these workers. The benefits to companies include cost reductions, enhanced productivity, and more collaboration which leads to faster decision-making and better efficiency.

 

Remote working is not going away – it will only get bigger!  Take a look at some statistics from Global Workplace Analytics’ research:

 

  • Fifty percent (50%) of the US workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least partial telework and approximately 20-25% of the workforce teleworks at some frequency.
  • Fortune 1000 companies around the globe are entirely revamping their space around the fact that employees are already mobile. Studies repeatedly show they are not at their desk 50-60% of the time.
  • Regular work-at-home, among the non-self-employed population, has grown by 103% since 2005.
  • 3.7 million employees (2.8% of the workforce) now work from home at least half the time.
  • The employee population as a whole grew by 1.9% from 2013 to 2014, while employees who telecommuter population grew 5.6%.

I’m glad to be part of the statistics on this!