Great post!
.-= Beth´s last blog ..Laziness. The Devil’s Quality? =-.

Just like my friend who had the video cameras installed at her office and they blocked other sites (Facebook, etc.) she’s unhappy at her office. She’s a top performer, it’s not as though she will slack off but the little things that help you get by or take a little time to breathe are important.
.-= Grace Boyle´s last blog ..On Originality, Blogging Content and Copying =-.

I’m not calling for meetings every day, but if one a week everyone comes into an office setting to hammer out some things it’s worth it.

Trust me, every one of the 5 things I do now is ‘virtual’ and at home, but with all of those I make sure that for a portion of every week we get together and meet face to face.

A face to face meeting can yield the same results that a few hours of emails can. Just works better for me in my situation.

To your point, being free to go for a walk, go through the mail, play with a pet, or do whatever you’d like for 5-10 minutes greatly helps decrease burn out. 100% agree with you. We shouldn’t forget about commute time, to and from the place of work. Very draining, especially when you know you’ll be stuck somewhere for 7-9 or so hours.

And if you are working at home and decide to put on the TV for 10 minutes what’s the big deal? Is there a difference between a 10 minute TV break and a 10 minute cigarette break that people take. Not to generalize, but many smokers are usually taking 5-6 smoke breaks a day (maybe more). That can turn out to be a good hour of time away from the desk. Non-smokers should be allowed oxygen breaks at work, and people working from home should be able to take any break they’d like. Complete the work, and take your breaks!
.-= Rich DeMatteo´s last blog ..Unemployed and forgotten? Senate (finally) extends unemployment 14-20 weeks =-.

If you want to mix in a nap because you’re feeling unproductive after work, who cares? As long as you make it up later in the evening after dinner. Shouldn’t management want you to work when you’re most productive?

I worked from home for a week this year, and I had far and away my most productive week of the year. Not only was I significantly less distracted (I still worked 7:30am-4:30pm mind you), but I also answer e-mails and did additional work in the evenings.

Why?

Because I wasn’t burned out from the day. When I felt tired during the day, I’d go for a walk, go to the fridge, check the mail, etc. At the office I’d be expected to sit and stare at my computer while feeling unproductive. What does that accomplish?

It’s like a good coach. You have to know your players. To get the best out of one guy you might have to yell, to get the best out of another you might just need to pat him on the butt. Perhaps it’s the same way in the office. Let employees earn (and/or prove) what the best working environment to work in.

I agree that there are times when you need group work, but can’t you do that via Google Wave? A Doc? A Wiki? A few cell phones? Maybe not quite the substitute for sitting around a conference room, but certainly not impossible either.

The reason more companies don’t go into this type of lifestyle is as you mentioned above, that employers need to have a trust in their employees and if not, get rid of them.

However, I still love to work in an office when I need to plow out some work. Working in groups to figure out a problem is something that I miss when I’m working at home. Creativity is often found working through a new idea in groups, so where does that go? You cannot completely simulate that via the internet.

As much as I think workshifting is great, there still has to be some interaction for things to function at tip-top-shape.
.-= Ryan´s last blog ..A Light Bulb Moment =-.

Yea I just repeated everything you wrote, but would like to add extra emphasis on the awesomeness of the idea. That’s all.
.-= Jackie Adkins´s last blog ..1+1=Analogous Friday! =-.