In
wake of terrible tragedy in New York and at Pentagon, perhaps we need to reevaluate way we handle and position our workforce. The World Trade Center was a huge target containing a congregation of thousands of individuals and hundreds of companies. In such a situation, in many cities, idea of implementing a telecommuting strategy to decentralize workforce would not only save lives, but also reduce hit taken by many companies.--- Never again! ---
I recently spoke about this current national situation with heads of several companies with which I've worked. All of them replied in a way that made me realize that they were more concerned about safety of their employees and future of their companies than their current income potential or stock dividends.
One of big concerns raised by these company chiefs was that they were not sure how their sales force would operate under these conditions. Face-to-face meetings with current and potential clients were cancelled and, for most part, not rescheduled. Many of clients, however, were comfortable at setting up video-conferencing systems to support a minimal face-to-face meeting and most of "sales calls" went on without a hitch. Basically, a way was found to resolve issue and American business continued.
According to one company in New York, there was no way that they would work in such a tower again, nor would they recruit anyone to do so. They feel that era of American glory through skyscrapers is over, but they must continue their business, only in safer corridors.
--- Decentralize Work Force ---
I've visited World Trade Center on numerous occasions and periodically visit my office in mid-town. Each block has more people than entire county in which I lived in Colorado. This massive congregation of people is a wonderful site, however, in wake of this maniacal attack, it is also a devastation waiting to happen.
Within World Trade Center, there were in excess of 50,000 people. Not only does such an attack destroy lives of thousands more, but it also affects economy in one, sharp blow. By decentralizing workforce, we are not only making an attempt to save lives, but we are also making an attempt to save economy from future blows of this magnitude.
Additionally, a decentralized workforce would support a means of allowing face-to-face client calls within locale of individuals. This will reduce flight costs and time spent travelling as well as enhance safety of individual employees.
Of course, this will place added responsibilities on individual employees. In some cases, for example, software developers would have to make customer support calls and essentially become sales people. Perhaps idea of a jack-of-all-trades might make a comeback and support American business in different ways.
--- Implementing a Telecommuting Policy ---
Currently, many companies have cast telecommuting aside. They claim loss of production, lack of discipline, and other such reasons. It is, however, responsibility of organizations themselves to implement checks and balances to ensure that workers are producing as expected, just as occurs within a physical office environment.
