Web Worker Daily

The second wave of H1N1 swine flu is here. Vaccine’s in short supply, so we need alternate strategies for coping with the pandemic, the consequences of which could include a lack of Internet bandwidth capacity if large numbers of workers opt for staying home and telecommuting via the web, according to a new report prepared by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, Simon reported on a couple of interesting studies looking at the use of collaboration technologies in the workplace, Forrester’s “The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009” and Frost & Sullivan’s “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration.” Both reports have great stories to tell about the current state of collaboration technology acceptance within corporations. However, both reports skim over what is perhaps the key element in driving online collaboration within an organization: Corporate culture.

It is not enough to just deploy the latest collaboration tools, whether that is Microsoft SharePoint; Office Communications Server; Google Apps; a corporate VoIP telephony system; mobile devices like the BlackBerry or iPhone; or the latest online collaboration tool reviewed on WebWorkerDaily. The challenge is getting people using them — and for that you need a collaborative corporate culture.
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Source: U. S. Department of Transportation http://www.climate.dot.gov/about/transportations-role/overview.html

Transportation is the second-largest source of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, accounting for 28 percent of the total. As web workers, many of us can choose where we work, and how we get there.

I’ve been lucky enough to have a career that’s allowed me to live and work in places where I don’t need a car. There are many such places, even in North America, where being car-less is possible and desirable. (Of course, in most of Europe, it’s much easier.) Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I reported on the surprisingly low numbers of American information workers using collaborative technology (just one in four uses IM at work, for example). Another study, released today, shows why businesses should be adopting these tools: Businesses that invest in advanced collaborative technology perform better, and they net a good rate of return on their investment.

The Frost & Sullivan report, “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration,” sponsored by Verizon and Cisco, surveyed 3,662 decision-makers in organizations in 10 countries. It found that 44 percent of organizations had deployed collaborative tools (VoIP, document sharing, videoconferencing and IM). The study found that as businesses invest more in these technologies, their return gets proportionally greater. Read the rest of this entry »

While many employers are encouraging employees to work from home in order to cut the business’ energy costs, web workers also have some options to reduce their energy usage and costs. October is Energy Awareness Month, so let’s take a look at some of the steps you can take to reduce your own energy usage. Read the rest of this entry »

News of a possible H1N1 virus, or “Swine Flu,” pandemic is causing many commercial firms and government agencies to examine their Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans so business can soldier on during the crisis. The threat of an H1N1 outbreak is even prompting the United States Centers for Disease Control to recommend that small businesses have telework and business continuity plans in place.

This could place even organizations with well developed telecommuting programs in a challenging position, because a major virus outbreak may mean that their remote worker needs exceed their current capacity.

On the flip side, there are organizations that are far from telecommuting-friendly, which face even more challenges because they aren’t set up for remote working. In order to keep their business running in such a crisis they are going to need to buy or build an infrastructure to meet a new model of working.

At WebWorkerDaily, we get a chance to review some of the best office productivity, social media, online collaboration, project management, and Web 2.0 tools that in a worst case scenario — like a pandemic outbreak — can help an organization maintain some semblance of operations and communications, even though its employees and contractors are working from home during the crisis.

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Even though corporate telecommuters can leave the sterile cloth walls of their cubicles, they can’t escape the long arm of the conference call. This means that corporations launching a telecommuting program need to carefully consider how their remote workers will communicate via telephone. There are several choices:

• VoIP
• Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS)
• Mobile
• Hybrid

It’s important that remote workers have a business line that rings separately from their home phone. This post is going to look at these options for corporate telecommuters.

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Many large corporations, and even Federal government agencies, are increasingly interested in launching telecommuting programs as a tool for reducing overhead and for employee retention. However, such programs aren’t turnkey affairs. They require infrastructure, planning and strategy in order to be successful.

This post is going to look at some of the organizational considerations for building, launching and supporting a successful remote work program. While some of these points may seem obvious for the seasoned web workers in our audience, they do need to be factored into the overall corporate decision-making process when implementing an employee telecommuting program. Read the rest of this entry »