Sure, I love tele-commuting, but some aspects of virtual offices really suck. Forget the days when employers are afraid that they won't be able to adequately supervise tele-commuters. Let's talk about the drawbacks for the employee or contractor who works from a home or remote office.
I rent an office about a mile from my house, which eliminates the typical complaints from people who work from home (kids, TV, refridgerator, work being too close). The real drawbacks are the lack of football pools and the isolation inherent in working alone. In a physical office, there is the opportunity for non-business banter, a chance to share a game of hearts over lunch, or the possibility of finding a tennis partner. Working in a virtual office is like having a foster child in Senegal. An occasional airmail letter isn't the same thing as a nightly bath and bedtime hug. Hell, even mail order brides get delivered eventually.
This situation never hit home until I attended the funeral of O'Reilly's former (beloved) Editor-in-Chief Frank Willison. Thankfully there were people who worked with Frank in the Cambridge office who could provide CPR when Frank had a heart attack, but alas to no avail. At Frank's funeral, I realized that I had never met him face-to-face despite our numerous emails and phone conversations. I felt robbed never to have shared lunch or a holiday party with Frank. We talked about music, but never sat in the same room letting the sound of Little Feat soak into our tired brains.
In a few weeks I'll be moving into a new (or at least different) house about 10 minutes from where I live now. Unfortunately, there are no co-workers that I can ply with promises of free pizza and beer to help me move. I have no doubt that Frank would have glady leant a hand.
### Get your Daily Bruce! ###
Are virtual (remote) workers more or less productive than office workers over the short term? The long term?
Categories
Web
Read More Entries by Bruce A. Epstein.
Become an O'Reilly Member
Visit the Digital Media Forums
Subscribe to the Digital Media Blog Feed
Subscribe to the Digital Media Newsletter
Where is the problem?
GaryM wrote: "I don't understand this essay at all."
That's okay, I don't understand your reply at all. Maybe you thought you were replying to a different weblog entry?
The point of "Why Virtual Offices Suck" wasn't to complain that you can't know everyone. Nor was it to say that office workers have more fun than tele-workers (I'm a tele-worker). My point was that I've met some people in a virtual context that I would like to invite over for dinner or share a Sunday football game with. You can't do that with virtual officemates. There is something to be said for being in the same physical location, especially when it comes to, say, building company morale. Even from a pure business perspective, it is often faster to get things done when you are in the same room (although that may change as collaborative tools improve).
Where is the problem?
I don't understand this essay at all. When I worked in a cubicell, I never knew my next-door neighbour, nor did I know any of the 'passengers' of any hearse that ever passed by my neighbourhood streets. Today, I at least know _of_ most everyone in my neighbourhood, obits are real people, and I get a community in exchange of the urban business support services; a coffee to the teleworker is most often served by a long-time associate, not some teen-of-the-month.
Yes, I fully agree: you cannot know everyone personally, no matter what your business or how it is carried out. So what's new there? That's just a fact: The world is big. This has nothing to do with making one's living over a wire or locked in badly ventilated and overmortgaged urban towers.