Commuting Crazy

Times Online Commuter Crazy

Dynamic Work saves economic, ecological as well as social costs, and one dimension of those savings in two areas (economic, social) are the health benefits to flexible working.

The Times covered a study on this topic with a number of personal profiles as illustrations.

“For the first time, our survey has analysed the effects of the daily commute on people’s overall feelings of wellbeing. The results are clear. The longer people spend travelling to and from work, the more their health appears to suffer. In previous years, we have looked at the impact of overtime, but travel times have almost identical effects on work-life balance. At least when employees work long hours, the boss might notice and it is a sign that they are stimulated by their job and regard it as an important part of their life. But endless hours commuting have only a negative effect.”

“The figures are stark: for every two hours that people spend travelling each week, the result for questions on wellbeing goes down by 1.2% on average. People who spend up to two hours a week travelling have an average wellbeing score of 65.4%. For those who spend more than 14 hours a week on the road or in trains, the wellbeing score is just 57.4%. Dr Pete Bradon, director of research at Best Companies Ltd, says that the similarities between the ill effects of overtime and commuting are astonishing. ‘The things most affected by travel time – health, pressure, stress and work-life balance – are exactly the same as with overtime. But there is a compensation with overtime. People say their work is more stimulating, and they gain experience. That all makes sense. The downside of travel is that you don’t get any positive benefits. If your boss sees you doing an extra three hours in the office, he has a great opinion of you but if you drive for three hours a day, he may just think you are an idiot.”

One of the companies profiled was Microsoft UK speaking with my former colleague Theresa McHenry

“The figures suggest that flexibility about home working is a solution to the problem of commuting. When people can work one day a week from their “home office”, personal growth scores rise by 13.7%, people feel better about their company (up 12.4%) and about the fair deal they are getting (a rise of 11.7%). Reading-based Microsoft UK has 92% of staff doing up to 60% of work from home. Theresa McHenry, who works in training and development, spent 15 years commuting in and out of London. Now she appreciates the chance to work from home. ‘It is the overcrowding and unreliability of trains and Tubes. In the car, you can choose when to leave home, and Microsoft is completely flexible about when you come and go. I work from home one day a week for my own health, but I do use my hour-long drive to and from Reading to prepare and decompress. You can’t do that on a train when you have an inch of personal space.’ “

And What Do You Do

And What Do You Do

As I have posted previously, Katie Ledger’s concept of ‘Portfolio Working’ is sort of the flip-side, supply-side version of ‘Dynamic Working’ but from the staff perspective. Dynamic Work looks at how a company is more flexible with its resources such as staff. Portfolio Work looks at how a person (staff) is more flexible with its incomes such as employment for a company. From the ‘SOA’ metaphor, Katie’s concepts are ‘loose coupling of compute resources’ in action in the human world of endeavour. Now Katie has teamed up with Barrie Hopson to structure, elaborate and colour this world that she has explored and lived for many years.

Corporates have long known the benefits of having multiple suppliers, securing diverse revenue streams and building a portfolio of assets that play to their strategic strengths. This book is a must read for people who want to apply these same principles to their personal lives for careers that are rewarding both financially and personally.

The official launch is 19th November in London which I won’t miss. If any of my readers are particularly interested in this area, I have access to a few invitations to the launch which I am happy to share out on a first come, first serve basis.

The First Pitch

Washington Post Missing the First Pitch

The Washington Post carried a poignant illustration of the more subtle, but very palpable social costs fixed work schedules which not only constrain family coordination, but also concentrate use of shared community resources, namely roads. It described in detail the challenges of families sharing a simple activity of school sports.

“Late-arriving parents and coaches show up in suits instead of shorts, their hands clutching BlackBerrys instead of mitts. Kids, who wear their uniforms to school and can imagine nothing as terrible as a rainy day, are robbed of pregame practices and must wait to play until as late as 7:30 at night — almost a half-hour after the first pitch is thrown out for Nationals games at RFK Stadium. The children's games end at or past bedtime, leaving little room for homework and — worse to Little Leaguers — the traditional after-game trip for pizza or ice cream. And leagues struggle to sign up coaches, volunteers and umpires who can commit to arriving on time.”

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Great Places to Work

Great Places to Work

Microsoft has just won the #1 spot in the 2009 Europe’s Great Places to Work survey. President Jean Philippe Courtois called out a number of New World of Work initiatives that really showcased Microsoft’s exploitation of technology to enable dramatically new approaches to business…

“Our new office in the Netherlands is a flagship example of how we are creating a New World of Work with employees. The Amsterdam office is no longer a 9am-5pm destination – rather it is a ‘meeting place’ for when people need to come together. Underpinning the roll out of new working practices is Microsoft’s own Unified Communications technology. Equipped with a mobile phone, laptop and UC software, employees have the freedom to work anywhere and anytime that suits them. In addition, with UC Microsoft is saving more than $212 million annually in reduced travel and better productivity.”

The commendation cited a Belgian staffer’s commented on the impact of Microsoft’s ‘New World of Work’ vision…

“The New World of Work gives us complete flexibility to determine in a creative way how to do our projects and when we want to work. This gives me energy every day. It allows me to treat my family the way I want. It gives me the opportunity to do a number of things regarding my health and sporting activities. The way things are delegated allows me to work in a flexible way and to combine my job at Microsoft with my tasks as a mother.”

Het Nieuwe Werken

Microsoft Netherlands New World of Work

Microsoft has been pushing the boundaries of flexible working for years now obviously leaning heavily on the empowerment that mobile, productivity and collaboration software enable. Last year I highlighted some of the measures that the UK office had introduced which led to it being selected as Mother at Work 2008’s Employer of the Future. But the country that is truly trailblazing in this area is Microsoft Netherlands.

Attached below is a round table session that Chief Financial Officer magazine organized at Microsoft’s brand new Schiphol headquarters which have been totally revamped around the principles of the New World of Work.

“Inevitably, the radical way in which the concept was introduced at Microsoft Nederland created a culture shock that everyone will have to work through. At the moment, the process appears to be shaping up well. Recently, CFOs from various companies visited the new Microsoft headquarters to talk about this issue and to gain inspiration for their own organizations. Bemused, the finance chiefs strolled around the new building with its designer furniture, bean bags, computer game corner and even a ‘relaxation cockpit.’ ‘We no longer have fixed workplaces, not even for the directors,’ says Microsoft CFO Franklin Hagel. ‘The 660 people who are employed here are free to decide whether to work at home or at the office. The company provides them with a laptop and a broadband connection, as well as a budget to set up a home workplace that meets the applicable health and safety standards.’”

A more comprehensive study of this whole area using themselves as subjects was commissioned by them with the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University, originally at the request of Microsoft Netherlands. The study, ‘RSM Research: New Worlds of Work’ examined the central question, “Did workplace innovations impact the work dimensions and the multidimensional productivity of the Microsoft the Netherlands” with lots (172 pages) of affirming insights.

Dynamic Education

Daniel W Rasmus

The ‘workplace’ for our children is school and this institution suffers many of the same issues as the ‘knowledge worker factory’ mode of daily working. And here too the notions of flexible and ‘dynamic’ learning are just as applicable.

Dan Ramus, Microsoft ‘Futurist,’ and steward of its ‘New World of Work’ thinking, is a digital soul mate on the matters of Dynamic Work. His blog ‘The Future of Information Work’ carries lots of posts that support and extend the ideas and notions shared here. His recent post ‘Five Way To Reinvent Education and Stimulate the Economy’ describes an educational system as flexible in its use and application of resources as the Dynamic Workplace…

1. Complement teachers with retired or out of work professionals.

2. Think of schools as multi-purpose and cross-generational ‘learning hubs’ for flexible use or resources and facilities.

3. Foster entrepreneurship.

4. Distribute learning so it isn't about an educator or a single school.

5. Adopt new learning models that cross school boundaries, regional boundaries, even international boundaries.

Dan’s call for a dynamic learning place evoked memories of my own high school days where my first foray into activism was to protest a newly instated absenteeism policy. Essentially, the school said that 10 absences meant a mandatory failure grade. Not only did this smack of a violation of due process (which I had just learned something about in my civics class), but also it defined that the only real education was sitting in chairs in classrooms. At this stage of my life, I was getting involved with community programs, private study and a host of exploration. Who cared if I missed the class, as long as I caught up on the notes, did the work, learned the material and ultimately made the marks? I successfully fought back against this effort to straight jacket learning into presenteeism , and yes, the school kindly rescinded the policy later that year.

Dynamic Working Mums

Daily Mail stay-at-home mums

Dynamic Work is all about preserving key assets: economic resources, environmental resources and social resources. Concerning the lattermost, Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent at The Daily Mail, has been running a number of pieces on attitudes and trends in two income families.

The entry of women in the workplace in the post-war era has been one of the major drivers of productivity gains of the twentieth century. Women have brought contributions to the economy, new opportunities for achievement and satisfaction for themselves, and higher living standards to their families. Doughty’s article “Number of stay-at-home mums drops 25pc in 15 years as they become 'a luxury'” highlights how much the trend has continued unabated in recent years half a century and two generations since Rosie the Riveter.

But these gains have not been with out their costs. Doughty’s piece “'Superwoman is a myth' say modern women because 'family life suffers with working mums'” highlights the stresses and trade-offs inherent in juggling work and home life. He quotes Professor Jacqueline Scott of Cambridge University: 'Some people are now starting to have second thoughts. In most cases, this appears to revolve around concerns that the welfare of children and the family are being compromised the more women spend their time at work.'

Innovative approaches to Dynamic Work is going to be one of the keys to bridging the gap between the demands for even further growth of two income families and the counter balancing demands for maintaining a healthy family life and household.

Employers of the Future

Mothers at Work Award

One of the aspects that enthuses me about the area of ‘Dynamic Work’ working at Microsoft is that it is an area where we not only have so much to offer in the way of empowering technology, but we have long strongly practiced what I am preaching here.

Microsoft Ltd. was the first UK company to provide free broadband to all of its employees as well as GPRS digital connectivity for both laptop and smartphone devices (I was involved with the setting up the trials of what was then prototype offerings by BT and Orange respectively). It subsidizes home office equipment and promotes the use of sophisticated unified communications tools.

As a result of these commitments and investments, Microsoft has been picking up a number of UK accolades for its family friendly policies and innovations: The Times Top 50 Where Women Want to Work, Great Place to Work Institute 100 Best Places to Work in Europe, The Times 100 Best Companies to Work For.

The latest one – of which I am particularly proud – is the Mother at Work 2008’s ‘Employer of the Future’ award. Particularly proud because the award was accepted by teammate Claire Smyth (see picture) who served as one of the case studies in the consideration.

Saving the Collapse of the Middle Class

Elizabeth Warren Jefferson Memorial Lecture 

With $140/barrel crude oil and melting ice caps, the focal justifications for increased flexibility in the workplace have centred on the economic and environmental benefits. But a critical third resource is just as pivotal in the business case for dynamic work – people. While inexpensive energy and technological advances have been pillars of productivity growth, one of the greatest drivers to post-war growth has been new entrants into the labour force. Rosie the Riveter and a range of new occupations pulled the fairer sex into its ranks in the demands of wartime and the workforce never looked back.

The rise of women in the workplace has brought new freedoms and opportunities, but it has also brought with it new stresses and challenges. One of the best explorations of these challenges is Elizabeth Warren’s Jefferson Memorial Lecture at University California Berkeley “The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class” (see above).

Families are in essence now saying that they are largely content to provide two economic units in the workplace to continue to provide resources for growth and productivity, but with so much of the family human resource so engaged, something has to give on the business side. Without the resilience of a ‘homemaker’ to attend to the critical needs of ‘Family Incorporated,’ the businesses need to enable the flexibility for either of the adults to either (a) shift the timing of work, or (b) shift the location of work.

For example, if one needs to go home early to attend to a sick child/parent/boiler, they want to either be able to make it up in the evening or weekend or just shift the location of their work. This example is just one of many scenarios where the downside of having everyone of the adults in a given household working – either dual income or increasingly the rise of the single parent household – which are leading to increasing demands by these workers for a new mode of workstyle which is increasingly flexible and dynamic. The companies who exercise the vision and innovation to operate in these new modes will attract the best human capital at the most competitive prices.

Preserving the World’s Assets

World

A number of megatrends are all converging to drive this move out of concentrated workplaces towards more distributed work. All of these drivers are centred on preserving key and increasingly precious assets to the global economy.

Energy Assets: Peak Oil – Concern is growing to new levels about world oil supply. While eternal optimism abounds in the world’s ability to out innovate and out discover the depletion of existing sources, recent evidence is that the new finds are smaller and fewer, the existing supplies are less accessible and less productive (eg. more energy input is required extract and refine). The commodity of oil is not just a unique energy source in its combination of power and safe transportability, but it is also a critical substance in plastics, construction materials and range of everyday substances and its increasing scarcity represents a major pinch point to global economic health.

Ecology Assets: Climate Change – If the economic costs of oil-supply and demand don’t hit us in the wallet, then the environmental costs of greenhouse gas emissions will hit us there and elsewhere. Not much comment needed on the profile and intensity of this issue. But in terms of what we can do about it one of the most prominent sources of emissions is automobile commuting. 54% of US petroleum used is consumed by automobiles and in commuting to work, the average number of passengers-per-vehicle is 1.1.

Social Assets: Dual Income Social Pressures – One of the most significant contributors to post-war growth in the Western world has been new entrants to the labour force, especially women. While this infusion of economic muscle has been a boon to the second half of the twentieth century, the social consequences of this mass rise of two income families combined with longer and longer commuting to places of work (fewer people live and work in the same city or town), means less parental time to manage the household and intensifying demands to juggle work and home life responsibilities.

Intellectual Assets: Rise of Knowledge Work – Assuming we have enough power to continue running the machines we have invented and propagated to handle brute force and routine tasks, the value-add work that human beings do gravitates increasingly to creative pursuits employing intellectual capital. Increasingly people are recognizing the intellectual waste from sitting in a car and the upsides of each person finding places and environments most suited to their own individual inspiration (a library, a quiet den, a retreat, a café, etc.). MSNBC recently reported (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20829879) people lose on average 1 week per year ‘sitting in traffic…and it is getting worse’ costing the USA $78 billion.