The Evolving Workplace

This week's issue of Time focused on a series of articles about the future of work. Now that employment has been uprooted, dispersed or terminated altogether by the economic crisis, a new wave of job standards is taking shape. Time cites examples of the cubicle life slowly disappearing, along with the company ladder, and reason to believe they will only continue to do so in the future.

Working from home (also known as telecommuting) has already become a company trend. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a whopping 20.7 million people who work at home at least once a week. This represented 15% of the nation's non-agricultural workforce. However, that percentage was roughly the same since 2001. The cubicle workplace was still the average American job.

That's about to drastically change as companies begin to hire more and more telecommuters in order to save. According to Time, telecommuting can save up to 20% on real estate costs and 10% on payroll.

Accountability will become less about the ability to show up on time everyday to work under the watch of a supervisor. Instead, work will be measured as several completed tasks in the boss' e-mail inbox at 5 o'clock.

For the most part, this seems like a win-win for everybody. Employers save money while employees get freedom in the form of more time with family, less traffic, and a less stressful working environment. But I imagine this will require workers to muster much more self-discipline and motivation at home. After all, there's nobody to watch the work in progress; all that matters is that it's finished at the end of the day. Mixing work with leisure without immediate consequence now becomes possible.

On the other hand, opening up to potential employees who can work from virtually anywhere creates a more competitive market. So handing in sloppy work from home is probably not the best idea, even in local businesses that usually see less job competition.

If we think markets are competitive now, then we're in for an unpleasant surprise:

The only reason to go to work, I think, is to do work. It's too expensive a trip if all you want to do is hang out. Work will mean managing a tribe, creating a movement and operating in teams to change the world. Anything less is going to be outsourced to someone a lot cheaper and a lot less privileged than you or me," writes Seth Godin of Time Magazine.

Along with telecommuting is a much more recent change in work style: the death of the company ladder. Workers are increasingly opting to work for less time (and at home) rather than consistently moving up the ladder—which doesn't always mean less pay. They are more likely to move within a company, assuming multiple positions with varying amounts of commitment.

The result? Still to come for the most part. But flexibility tends to make workers happier. Minimal risk to job security and later advancement? Even better. The opportunity to continue working for the same company when it would be otherwise impossible means this is a change to look forward to in my book.