The telecommuting profoundly changes the life of companies and their employees. For Prithwiraj Choudhury, teleworking specialist and teacher at Harvard Business School, this form of organization should be seen more as a “Work from anywhere”, which allows employees to relocate to the geographic area of their choice and not where their business is located.
In your opinion, we should not think of “work from home”, but “work from anywhere”?
“Work from home” offers flexibility in terms of time and generally allows employees to work from home a few days a week. But they have to go back to work in the office the rest of the week. Conversely, “work from anywhere” allows them to relocate to the geographic area of their choice and not where their business is located. It also allows companies to hire staff anywhere in the world without worrying about immigration issues and saving rent.
You feel that everyone should play the game, starting with the boss. Why ?
If top executives continue to work in the office, all middle managers will also go there to show their presence and interact with their superiors in person. In this case, the model fails.
Is the mix between telework and office work harmful?
Yes. The majority of employees must work remotely most of the time in order for the model to work. Otherwise, we end up with two categories of workers: those who telework, and those who are physically in the office. These two groups no longer have access to the same level of information and no longer interact socially.
Is innovation always possible within a team that works remotely?
If the company can hire anywhere internationally, skills and ideas also become international, that’s good for innovation. And interactions are done through instant messaging.
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