I have a vision of us all working at home and having our food delivered by people in white ‘radiation’ suits travelling in special buggys. The streets will be empty and only those who keep our networks running will be given passes to go outside.

Sounds like a movie in the making. I’ll keep working on it!

It seems now like an advantage for a Company to have remote workers, and to be prepaired for that kind of World Issues.

Nowadays its being on Skype when I’m virtually “in the office”, plus a bit of tweeting and blogging. (Of course, I’m not wholly or even primarily a distance online worker these days, more “blended” I suppose)

In that regard, nothing much has changed – remote working requires actively maintaining a presence and sending out some “ripples”. This seems to be the usual sort of basic rule you engage in as a remote or semi-remote worker. So I’d agree with the article in that regard

What is different now is that workers who are effective in managing their online presence, can move the center of the pond towards them – its the ones who are always available in the physical institution, but have no effective online presence, that can end up being viewed as being on the “edge” from a client’s perspective. And that does change the rules.

S

I think I used to feel that “I missed out on the possibility of being involved in something that I’d liked to have because I may not have been passing the right person in the corridor at the right time.”

These days I feel I’m missing out on more if I don’t check Twitter that often. Though I’d agree that getting into the office every now and then makes a big difference.

I really liked Rand’s honesty and I think he’d make a fair boss, but I get the feeling there are a lot more managers out there who hold a huge number of prejudices about certain types of worker without being so up front about it.

By the way I’ve recently read the Blink book you recommended at the Remote worker day. It was the first time I’d come across Warren Harding Errors. Interesting stuff.

Marieke

Really great post with lots of echoes for me. I certainly feel myself the danger of missing out on the “unintentional, tweaked, quiet information that is transferred throughout the Pond and doesn’t leave the Pond”, and I do feel it happens not infrequently. I suspect that just recently I missed out on the possibility of being involved in something that I’d liked to have because I may not have been passing the right person in the corridor at the right time. I’ve been trying harder to go some way to “[take] the time to do a complete circumnavigation of the Pond”, as I can see more and more how important this is. I’m not sure I can say I make it round the whole of UKOLN when I’m there, but I do see it as really important to physically get on site, and I’m trying to up my frequency on this one. I also always try to get some folk out to the pub when I’m down as well. One may joke about that, but for sure for me it’s essential for “creating ripples in the pond”.

It’s also interesting to see Rand’s honesty about what might be called prejudices, albeit that he reigns most of them back in as the post reads on. The quote “There should be absolutely no consideration of a person’s location on the planet Earth when considering the work you need of them” seems clear enough.

I think the key is, as you say, “the need for a remote worker to be an effective communicator”. For me this is essential and I think we remoters have to work quite a bit harder than on-site employees in this regard. Having said that, I imagine some would say they have to work pretty hard at this even if they’re on site, so I may be wrong here. Remote working ticks many boxes for me. For starters it allows me to work for UKOLN based in Bath without my having to geographically move there, which isn’t an option at present. Remote working definitely has its tough aspects, and for me it’s really about making sure I get out and about so I don’t miss out on too much of the “pond” intelligence.

One thing that did surprise me is the assumption (if I read correctly) that remoters are more expensive than on site employees. I would suspect given savings on estate costs for starters, this is by no means the case, and I had presumed part of the attraction of employing remote working is that it can save on and organisation’s costs if anything.