The New Virtual Office Environment

A revolution is spreading through the world of work because of changes in information, technology and communication. Information and technology has lessened the gaps between individuals and it is no longer necessary for people to be in close geographic location to enhance working capabilities. Telework means working at a distance and technology makes this possible. Teleworkers are defined as employees or contractors who work at least one day per month; they are also referred to as telecommuters. Research shows that teleworkers work nine days per month at home with three hours per week during normal business hours. Teleworkers seek to blend work responsibilities and personal benefits to enable them handle their work better and life responsibilities.

Microsoft Office Lync for Business is the proven solution to this ongoing problem of communication. Lync offers real-time office communication through the use of the cyber technology’s instant messaging, live-video/audio conferencing, mobile device enabled options, and much more. With Lync we can bridge the communication gap and offer the opportunity to grow beyond the current company size while saving money and saving time.

(Balestrero, pg. 143). The advantage of shared, on demand data allows teams to work more collaboratively and with the most up to date information which aids in employee retention and attracting more talented employees. This initiative will also aid in driving innovated products and processes, as it more employees and leaders are able to view a wider range of data and information. In turn they can use the virtual workplace platforms to plan, develop, solve and implement solutions without needing to travel from office to office and limited access to

Prior to the industrial revolution, working from home was a practice that had been around for years before the phenomenon of telecommuting was created. Telecommuting, a term coined by Jack Nilles (Venkatraman, 1994), describes someone who works from home or a telecommuting site through the use of the Internet and other forms of technology. Mirroring the past, many people telework today because it is required by their occupation or simply because it is convenient. Whatever the reason may be, the effects of telework as a prominent practice permit it to be considered a norm in our society. With telecommuting becoming a fast-growing ubiquitous phenomenon, it should be considered the norm for suitable occupations (e.g. sales representative, customer service representative, and software developer) because of the benefits it affords the employee/individual, the employer/organization, and society.

In our current age of technology, societies have been given the opportunity and capability of connecting across distances in ways that were impossible not too long ago. With computer applications such as skype, people can connect from opposite sides of the world. This has created a unique advancement in the way that businesses are run. Handling business with others who are far away is now easier than ever. Curtis (2011) says virtual teams have become so common due to their "potential for flexibility, responsiveness, as well as for cost and production efficiency" (p. 97). Virtual teams are an effective way to bring employees of companies together within the comfort of their own office or home. .

With the use of technology increasing substantially as well as with the new generation who relies on such technology, telework has become the future of work. Companies embrace and adopt telecommunicating practices, as the benefits are clear. For this reason, telework was chosen as a project to be implemented in the business in order to gain profit and in turn reduce turnover. Berkeley College conducted a comprehensive program that analyzed companies such as AT&T. This study was conducted to discern the percentage of savings that would result from such action. Thus, AT&T initiated 30,000 employees nationally to begin to telecommute from home. Through the next five years, they studied this program and found that AT&T was able to save

Although the film presents a pessimistic view of this (claiming that this will make children lazier regarding information), this literacy with computers will eventually allow a digital connection with people from around the world. When these young students begin to enter the job market, they will have the skills to connect with potential employers digitally. These virtual meetings can work the same way as in-person meetings, covering all the necessary training aspects, task assignment, and in-company communication. Allowing the employees to work from home also lowers the severity of sick days because important and necessary work can be finished in spite of the employee’s condition. These tasks can even be monitored clearly and with record, so there is no loss of information by way of speech, which can occur if something is neglected to be written down or if it is forgotten. In this way, these virtual platforms are not only a good fit for future companies, but an even better fit than the current

The typical telecommuter as examined in Smeal School of Business’ analysis (Smeal: Research: Telecommuting A Win-Win For Employees And Employers 2007) was a manager or a professional from the information technology or sales and marketing department of a firm. While this example does still hold true, this is no longer the only company benefit. Estimates for providing office space for the typical knowledge worker run as high as $10,000 or more annually.(Wainhouse, Greenberg & Nillsen: Telework and the U.S. Federal Government: At the Tipping Point 2008) To further illustrate the extent to which telecommuting can be utilized, a local Casper branch of Energy Laboratories initiated telecommuting for lab analysts in 2008 to facilitate reporting of failures after-hours. While an analyst still needed to travel to the lab to restart an analytical run, without this in place, a run would remain stalled until the next business morning. Every area of expertise within our firm can benefit from this technology, and with that in mind, every client will benefit as well. What are the downsides for the company? For this pilot program to succeed, two major issues will need to be addressed: 1. Employees will need to maintain focus on the work or projects that need to be completed in a timely manner.

Providing possibilities for the everyday workforce to accomplish in the best way possible is a necessity today. With the great strides in the Information Technology environment work is not limited by the building your offices reside. Work is what you do, not where you do it. The use of telework should be incorporated into this business to better address the corporate needs of the company. Telework will be beneficial in productivity locally and worldly.

It’s fair to say that our economy is teaching our children to become computer savvy and this is different from let’s say 1983 where they didn’t even have cell phones, and when they did they were as big as a house phone. You could compare the revolution of technology to the industrial revolution when speaking of the impact between work, and home life. A huge challenge we are facing and will continue to face in the twentieth century is the process of being rated and placed in a high value job and being informed about it in the work place. I don’t think we should depend on the new generation to come in and take all the previously employed persons jobs. We should allocate more time and resources to keep our current

Telecommuting will be the new way that jobs are performed in the next ten years. Telecommuting can be defined as working from a remote location, usually a home office, by electronically linking to a company. Allowing employees the option of telecommuting whether one or more days is an opportunity that most employees would take advantage.

Robert Jones, Robert Oyung, and Lise Pace, authors of Working Virtually: Challenges of Virtual Teams (2005) state:

Using collaborative virtual workspaces will generally benefit an organisation by allowing the most skilled groups to work on projects no matter where they are. This also means that expensive travel costs can be cut, since groups can work together at any time of the day and don’t need to physically meet up with one another. It also has the effect that group members can work at times that suit them best as they will have access to the information when they need it (ed. Young, 2010).

In order to meet the financial needs and wants one has in society, he or she may choose to work. In general, most work has traditionally been performed through a physical presence of an employee in a workplace; where individuals are paid for their services. While much of this tradition is still present, the development of communication technology and the internet has allowed for telecommuting to be possible. Telecommuting, e-commuting or remote working, is defined by many as work performed by employees outside of a workplace such as a residence. While telecommuting, individuals are paid for providing the same services done at a workplace. This transition has illustrated many benefits and setbacks to individuals and society. Some influences are psychological, which change the lifestyles of individuals and damage certain social behaviors. There are also many economic benefits presented to businesses with telecommuting that lower expenses and increase employment with certain jobs. The ways families operate and the careers individuals choose, are also impacted by the social effects of telecommuting. For this reason, communication technology has allowed for more individuals to work at home; resulting in various benefits and disadvantages.

However, video conferencing is not without limitations. In an organization, besides the teams do their work face-to-face, virtual team is a popular model nowadays. Virtual teams are teams that use computer technology (video conferencing, e-mail) to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal (Organizational Behaviors, 2013). So, teams face technical problems. Due to low quality of connection and limited number of users at the same time, these meeting or interviews that are held by video can be interrupted. As a result, video conferencing should not be applied for an important business meeting. Secondly, using video during work can make employees have less social rapport and direct interaction among members. Particularly, each individual gets trouble transferring information in organization and the company does not have direct supervision of employees. Finally, most organizations