Written by Lori Thiessen

I just came across an article in the Telegraph entitled, “Remote Working ‘Far Off'” which, as you may have guessed from the title, argues that the remote working phenomenon is not as widespread as you might imagine.

Writer Ben Bland cites a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers which shows that only 5% of international graduates polled  felt that they would be working remotely.

Further in the article, Bland reports that British grads don’t expect to be working from home but a sizeable portion of American and Chinese grads expect to have more flexible hours.

Apparently, the British are a bit more wary of remote working than other nations. It is interesting thought that Cambridgeshire’s local goverment website offers tips on how to make remote working work. The initiative of teleworking has also been adopted by the councils of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Durham, just to name a few.

Interviewing the Head of HR at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bland quotes Michael Rendell saying there just isn’t a substitute for the social environment of an office and the creativity output generated in a face-to-face meeting.

And that’s quite true but I believe that companies are really interested in saving money on bricks and mortar as well as the costs of running an office.  What I think is keeping companies and even people who want to freelance for a living from embracing remote working is a fall in productivity which affects the bottom line. If you don’t have direct supervision over the worker or a boss looking over your shoulder, it is really easy to see your productivity fall.

There are other concerns about making remote working a reality but I think that is the major consideration — making remote working or freelancing pay in real dollars. For the truly self-motivated, self-starter, this isn’t a dilemma, but for the rest of us the stable or increasing productivity hurdle can be a tough one to overcome.

Q: What tips and strategies do you use to keep your productivity flowing?

Thanks for dropping by and I’ll save your seat until next time!