During this post-recession, a US survey compared the amount of work produced by those who stay at home to those who physically go to the office every day. For example, of the 5,299 people that were included in the survey, only 35 percent actually did the total of 8 hours a day, when working from home. The rest averaged their clocked time in anything between 1 to 7 hours a day. This however is a very narrow-minded critique of the telecommuter. While such tick-tocking of time is important when measuring productivity in the office, the amount of work completed while at home, not the number of active hours, determines a telecommuter’s success. Oddly enough, this survey also focused on the fact that 1/3rd of these telecommuters stay in their pajamas during the day though why that has any connection to their productivity is beyond a college student such as myself.
Thanks to the Internet as well as blossoming new technology, the entire idea of working has evolved, or degraded depending on your point of view. Some with a more antiquated look prefer the human contact, the dressing-up, and the personal touch, which brings in those extra clients to add to their ever growing repertoire of productivity. In certain instances, it can be agreed that e-mails just lack the expression and sincerity that a proper lunch meeting could provide. In contrast, others of the younger generation, or those who are simply in need of cash due to the unforgiving economy, disagree: if you can make money without getting out of bed, what’s wrong? It’s a personal as well as professional choice to enjoy a different working environment.
Though, you could look at the two different sides like one cohesive cycle. The worker bees dress up in their yellow/black stripes and fly about to gather pollen a.k.a. information using physical contact and professional smiles, getting their own feelers in the pot. The drones, those who stay connected to the hive (Internet), use that information pooled in the honey jar to create the money which is then pushed back into the economy to start the circle all over again. Not a perfect analogy but biology was always a good example to follow, especially when considering consumerism. At this point in commercial time, even a small business cannot thrive without adding their little feelers to the hive. However, in that same instance, those corporate owners with the personal touch, giving faces to the faceless, add quality and character to a company, providing that extra boost in this cutthroat economy of blossoming and withering businesses. In conclusion, a combination of both telecommuters and worker bees will pave the way in what will eventually become the future of the money-making world. Show me the Honey!!
