Multiple locations – the future of the corporate world
Vel Marie Santillan 27th Mar 2017
With the advent of technology, people have the option to work at home. You don’t need to drive yourself to the office or even suffer through someone else’s body odor in a public vehicle. Gone are the days when you need to wake up early just to compensate for travel time. All you need to do is wake up, pull yourself out of your bed, take a quick shower, wear your comfortable pajamas, sit in your self-designated work station, and start your tasks for the day!
Isn’t that fantastic? You don’t even need to comply with antiquated dress code policies that drag your style. Telecommute is the way to go!
If you’re the adventurous type, you can travel to Sao Paolo and enjoy the city’s colourful street dancing in the afternoon. Later in the evening, you can still send your workload via email while sipping a glass of margharita (take note: just a sip). Maybe you’re even paid to travel around the world. A lot of people in the world want your job. Hold on to it as tight as you can.
While telecommuting and working on field is exciting, the management aspect of it seems pretty wobbly. For one, there’s a tendency for you to forget the tasks (or even the people in your team) at hand simply because you don’t see your team that often. Spontaneous communications is lost. Logistic arrangements is bothersome. But the biggest concern of it all is GENERAL SUPERVISION.
If you’re a micromanager, this concern gives you wrinkles underneath your eyes. Even if you aren’t, supervising a team situated in multiple locations is a burden you need to handle on your own. The internet helps the entire world in connecting people of different cultures from different parts of the world. But more often than not, it can also bring miscommunication.
The most typical issue managers of teams with multiple locations have is attendance fraud. Maybe you’ve had an issue like this. Isn’t this annoying? With popular social media having features that actually pinpoint where you are right now, isn’t it high time online attendance monitors work that way as well?
Credit: Modified photo from Rutchel Inson | Business people