There has been a lot of talk lately about what the office of the future is going to look like, mostly around work-life effectiveness.  This week alone I’ve read a Toronto Star article  on how IBM is allowing their employees to say goodbye to the office and work remotely, heard a great business case for how Best Buy has created a “results only work environment” in their corporate office and saw a TV news clip on how men are starting to question if taking parental leave is affecting their career advancement opportunities.

The Toronto Star article talks about IBM offering alternative workspaces to reduce the company’s carbon footprint - less real estate - less heat, electricity, less commuting, etc. = less costs - and offers their employees the opportunity to work remotely whether that be from home, the cottage or at their favourite local coffee shop, as long as the work gets done. The workplace has been reformed from productivity being measured by how many hours you spend in the office as it was 5-10 years ago, to what gets done. IBM has reduced their workspace by 40% - consolidating three offices into two. Gone are the days when employees “own” a piece of the office real estate. At IBM you now book your space as needed.

This is part of the business case for flexibility in the workplace, but the up side to this is higher employee engagement numbers and lower numbers in staff turnover. Best Buy’s “results only work environment,”  which measures what gets done, has actually increased their productivity by 35% and decreased staff turnover by 3.2%.

The TV clip made me yell at my TV “are you kidding me, women have been saying this for years,” but I guess I should just be thankful that the question is now being raised by a different demographic who will hopefully be more successful on getting results.

Catalyst 2004 research Women & Men in U.S. Corporate Leadership: Same Workplace, Different Realities? shows that both men and women find it difficult to balance work and life, particularly in demanding professional positions. This is no longer an issue of women struggling to balance work and child care, it is a quality of life issue for everyone.

The workplace has changed dynamically over the past few years. Technology has us all connected 24-7. The expanding global economy has employees working different times during the day to connect with their peers in different time zones. It is probably time to look at how we work and how we can change the environment and business models to help us all be more efficient, productive and inclusive.

Organizations like Deliotte are providing opportunities for career path flexibility allowing employees to rap up or rap down their careers depending on their life demands at the time, with no ramifications to their career advancement opportunities.

So, what can you do to help you organization better understand the benefits of a work-life effectiveness strategy? Do your research. Ask your human resources department for help. Is lack of flexible work arrangements one of the reasons given for leaving a company on exit interviews? Staff turnover is very expensive to a company and this may be one area that will help support your case. Benchmark what other companies are doing and what benefits they have garnered from this new approach.

Are you ready for this new work environment? How could you redesign your work life? You would have to feed into process improvements - reduce or redesign work that adds little value, prioritize and manage your time more effectively, be a more effective team player and be very proactive in your communication. There are ups and downs to both approaches and I think we all need to think about how we can best fit into to this shift to a better work-life effectiveness.