Contract - May 2010 - (Page 70)

trends death of the office (as we know it) How virtual work is changing the modern workplace the What is driving the rise of virtual work? Globalization and the distribution of teams Companies are global, and their talent now resides across a network of oﬃces. As a result, it is no longer a given that the individuals working on a particular project are all located in the same physical place. Instead, it is much more likely that they are distributed across multiple places—necessitating virtual collaboration. Attraction of talent Competition for talent is only increasing. And while large talent pools in the traditional markets continue to thrive, they are not large enough to satisfy demand. Furthermore, companies are realizing that the talent they want doesn’t always—or exclusively—reside in the physical geographies in which they have oﬃces. Remote and ﬂexible work programs enable organizations to hire talent where they ﬁnd it. Retention of talent Seeking—much less achieving—work/life balance is becoming a thing of the past. Instead, individuals are asking for more ﬂexibility in managing and moving ﬂuidly between both. (A Georgetown University law study found that 80 percent of the workforce would work more ﬂexibility if they didn’t think it would harm their careers.) This translates to greater ﬂexibility in how people work, where people work, and when they work. The rise of the independent contractor By 2019, 40 percent of the U.S. workforce will be independent contractors, up from 26 percent today. And these aren’t just the traditional “tempora ” workers. These are knowledge workers—experts in their ﬁelds— hired to ﬁll unique roles for short periods of time and/or supplement and support full-time high performance teams. Virtual tools enable these individuals to be connected without necessarily being physically present. The cost of travel Organizations are signiﬁcantly decreasing their T&E costs by making virtual collaboration the norm rather than the exception. Cisco estimates that the use of TelePresence helped its employees avoid travel for nearly 17,500 meetings in the ﬁrst year and half of its deployment, an estimated savings to the company of nearly $90 million. Environmental sustainability Today, individuals and organizations are more aware of their carbon footprint than they ever have been. Virtual work, when managed properly, can signiﬁcantly decrease an organization’s environmental impact. V By Georgia Collins, director, DEGW North America “Virtual” in the computational sense of the term, literally means “created, simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or computer network.” By this deﬁnition, virtual work is nothing new; computers have facilitated our work for many years now. So what is diﬀerent about virtual work today? The diﬀerence is two-fold: First, the computers we use that enable virtual work are no longer tethered to a desk—or even the oﬃce building in which the desk sits. Virtual work enables mobility within and outside the oﬃce “box.” Second, the rise of computer networks means that computers are no longer just facilitating individual virtual work, they are facilitating virtual collaboration. They are enabling people to meaningfully connect across geographies and time zones in ways that actually enhance individual and group productivity. This of course begs the question: What is the value of physical place when practically eve thing can be done outside of the oﬃce? What technologies are supporting it? Social Media Social media is not just for college students. Gartner predicts that by 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the prima vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users. 70 contract may 2010 www.contractdesign.com http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - May 2010

Contract - May 2010
Contents
Editor's Note
Industry
Exhibition
Focus: On the Bench
Focus: Collaborative Workshop
Green: How to Get Certified
Practice: A Change for the Better
Trends: The Death of the Office (as we know it)
Domesticating the Workplace
Prepare for Impact
Off Campus
Bold and Buzzy
Luxe & Lean
Vital Mission
Social Verdict
Design in the Fourth Dimension
Picture This
Designers Rate
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - May 2010