The Cubicle Crucible: Breaking Out of the Office Gauntlet

Once upon a time, in a business park far far away, a company’s employees would relish the rare day that they could “work remotely”, “VPN in” or “be out of pocket for the day”.  These poor souls were often shackled to their desks by inferior technology and a management structure that believed that work from home meant daytime TV and snarfing bon-bons while collecting a check.

Of course, no real fairytale happens under the oppression of fluorescent lights and thankfully, those poorly lit dark times are becoming a part of the past.

The advent of things like online “cloud” software, web-based collaboration tools and more powerful and portable technology is slowly, but surely, turning the traditional office into a ghost town.  Within creative fields especially, organizations are finding that letting employees define their own work spaces that meet their professional and interpersonal needs is sending efficiencies, productivity and profits soaring.  The hardest part?  Having management take a deep breath, hitch up their big boy or girl pants and give up the idea that the team has to be physically together to make a project successful.

Here, let me throw out some bullet points to drive this all home:

• Truly fast-moving and innovative companies are tossing the costly traditional office in favor of a blend of virtual staff arrangements, co-working facilities and turnkey conference rooms.
• The green movement is pushing companies to lessen their carbon footprint.  Nothing says “hug a tree” like cutting down on commuting and travel and reusing old spaces.
• There are a lot of collaborative software packages out there that let people work together without actually having to be in the same room.  Dropbox, Basecamp, Skype and their ilk enable you to take that conference call anywhere you happen to be at the moment.

It would stand to reason that as companies are cutting costs and struggling to increase efficiency, they might be looking at new ways to employ people.  Well, they are.  Remote contractors/freelancers who are specialists are being called upon more and more to integrate with existing teams, use the software available to them, do the job and then ride off into the sunset. 

*Shameless Plug Incoming* 

Companies like Talent Tap are proving to be a invaluable resource for companies looking to do staff augmentation with outside talent.  A recruiter finds a specialist with the right skills and you use them for as much as you need. It’s hassle-free for the harried manager:  it’s all the talent without any of the HR headaches.