Work-on-the-move affecting promotion?

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 23 Jun 2008

As flexible working increasingly becomes the norm, some employees are becoming concerned that it is affecting their chances of promotion. They complain that working from home leaves them socially isolated from colleagues.

The 2007 Flexible Working Survey, sponsored by Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions, found 40% of respondents felt flexible working may reduce their chances of promotion.

A similar number feel socially isolated from colleagues as a consequence of not being permanently based in the office.

The survey, conducted in Europe, found the nature of "the office" was changing and now functions more as a collaborative working environment where employees come to meet and interact.

Less time in the office

The new technologies that enable flexible working are also leading to an increasing number of "virtual teams" being created - enabling people who have never met, or who are based in different countries, to work together. Companies are also becoming boundary-less with employees increasingly working away from the office, on client premises and at home.

Consequently, increasing numbers of people are spending less time based in the office and more time working remotely or from home. This is further reinforced by a significant increase in the provision of hot desks, and a comparable decrease in allocated workstations, the survey found.

"This year's survey demonstrates how we are moving on from the flexibility of time to encompass flexibility of place, both within an organisation's premises and the varied locations at which people can now work," says Paul Bartlett, chairman of the Office Productivity Network.

The results, according to Bartlett "demonstrate that, to achieve optimal performance, the emphasis should now be on managing people and not just passively providing a workplace".

Of the participants from across Europe who took part in this year's survey, 35% do not consider it important to go to the office, 90% do not attempt to personalise their workspace, and more than 60% consider their working status as "multi mobile" - a combination of office, home and remote working.

Seventy percent consider themselves totally location independent, with the ability to work from anywhere at anytime. More than 70% find it easy to separate work and home life and feel it is important to do so, and between 55% and 72% of mobile and home workers use Web, video or telephone conferencing.

In SA

These trends are becoming evident in SA too, although belatedly. Citrix Systems SA country manager Nick Keene previously said SA lags Europe, and particularly the UK, by about five years.

Johnson Controls Global Workplace Solutions SA regional executive Douglas Weinrich says mobility, flexibility and hot-desking are increasing in the local workplace because of a variety of factors. These include increased traffic congestion, skyrocketing fuel prices and the ability of staff to demand a flexible environment in the context of a skills shortage.

"As competition for talented professionals increases, businesses are responding by providing the structure and environment that workers demand," he notes.

Weinrich adds that the trend will accelerate as "Generation X" (born between 1965 and 1978) moves into middle and top management. He says younger "Generation X" workers and their "Generation Y" (1979-2002) peers are more insistent on flexible work and older "Generation X" managers, if not flexible workers themselves, are more understanding of the requirement.