Team Partners Telecommunications

Working 9 to 5; what a way to make a living!

Posted on Sep 27, 2018  | Tags: phone systems

Dolly Parton was so right when she used “9 to 5” as a catch-phrase for a predictable work life. It defines a life style which transcends class and pay grades. It’s also the social blight that’s so much a part of most people’s every day existence that it’s hardly mentioned. One just leaves home early in the morning and gets home late in the evening; unless, of course, you’re lucky and work flexitime, in which case you have an hour’s leeway, one way or the other. It’s not a life choice many people choose voluntarily.

Having said this, change is happening. We’d guess that the majority of those who read this would recognise the above scenario, but not fit in it. Most of us already have the freedom to plan our days to some extent, some maybe only visiting the office a couple of days a week. We know that between them the internet, Skype, Zoom and all those other clever Apps are going to allow us to do most of what we do now in the office from home, but is that what the future holds for us, is that the answer to the work / life balance? Are we all going to be able to walk across the landing from bedroom to office in the future?

Maybe. But then maybe not. Roll the clock forward by five or six years and there are a number of factors that may influence the shape that “work” takes in the future. Let’s first consider the environment we’ll be living in to see how that may have a bearing…

By 2025 there’s going to be about one billion more of us for a start, not all in the UK, granted, but at times it may feel like it. Have a look around the area you live in, all those new houses being built, mostly for families who’ll own a couple or three cars. Think of the traffic. One thing for certain is that commuting by road is going to get much more stressful, in fact travelling generally is going to be a hassle that will make us want to stay at home, or have an office within close reach.

Then there’s all that baby-boomer talent that’s going to be retiring, leaving a huge experience and knowledge gap behind them. Youngsters with the right credentials are going to be able to be exacting, even demanding, as they pick and choose the employers they’re prepared to work for and the terms they accept. And then there’s computers, tiny super-computers will be informing and influencing our lives in ways that we can hardly imagine.

These trends are going to bring huge challenges to employers. A recent publication claims that the day of the work/life balance is over and that the employee of the future will be instead be looking for a work/life blend in which high levels of flexibility will be key. To secure the talent they need employers will have to offer far more in the way of holidays and sabbaticals, hours to suit and something that already has its own acronym, results-only work environments (ROWE). Even for smaller companies the prediction is that workers will be operating from wherever they choose to be, across time zones and continents, with physical or virtual satellite offices that serve as places of employee interaction but not necessarily as an office to go to. As a result the shared office space concept already thriving in our towns and cities, mostly amongst the more creative type businesses, will prevail as companies manage their overheads. We’ve already mentioned Skype and Zoom, but these will develop into video calls that remain on at all times, creating a sort of virtual sociable ambiance.

And then there’s security. If ROWE was new to you, how about BYOD? Most of us now expect to be able to bring our own devices to work and to just plug into the company’s work systems. Ensuring the security of these is difficult enough when these devices are being brought to a central office, but with your workforce wherever they choose to be, the management and security of data and information will be quite a challenge. We’ve written about these BYOD challenges before, and they will only grow.

So, how can we help? Telecoms will be the one crucial element to all the above. Only with the right Telecoms in place will your business be able to remain at the forefront of your industry. Without it life and business will accelerate into the future, leaving you behind, no matter how good you are at what you do, and that’s not a threat, it’s a promise! Why not call us now to see how we can help?