The “Work From Home” Generation

ReadWriteWeb:

For decades in American households the most dreaded morning sound was that of an alarm clock. Sometime between 6 and 7am a beep or radio music signaled that it was time to get up and head to work.

But in the early 21st century two things have begun to change. First, the alarm clock is going off a little bit later. And second, instead of putting on suits and driving to work, people are heading to the basement in their pajamas and turning on their personal computers.

These are the early days of the new Work From Home generation.

With the invention of modern laptops, ubiqity of broadband Internet access, and advances in communication software, there is no longer a need to be in the office. At least not everyday.

Thousands of companies are rolling out work from home policies and hundreds of thousands of people are starting to take advantage of them. What are the pros and cons of working from home? In this post we take a close look, as well as discuss what lies ahead for this new, rapidly growing generation.

There are certainly challenges to working from home, but the benefits out-weigh them for many people. More companies and people are beginning to discover that working from home does more good than bad, as it introduces flexibility into people’s schedule without impacting their productivity. The bottom line is that things get done and people are happier.

In terms of innovation and the technologies that are likely to evolve to help support work from home environments, there are several areas. We have previously written about basic software for virtual teams, as well as how to assemble an online office.

But there is still certainly a lot of room for better tools for the at home workforce. From better brainstorming tools to video conferencing there are opportunities to innovate to make virtual collaboration smooth and painless.

Photo by MSDesigns.

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