While I have been writing about the the rat and maze behavior in cubicle farms, there are companies which are transporting themselves into another reality altogether.
Working remotely was a distant dream for most of us just a few years ago, but economic pressures have driven corporations to embrace this as a solution to narrowing profit margins and pressure from foreign competition.
Frank Martin, of Varifrank, writes about Homesourcing as a possible alternative to Outsourcing.
Rather than companies “outsourcing” their work to far off parts of the world, they are learning that it’s often just as cheap if not cheaper to allow their employees to work remotely rather than coming to an office.
He gives us an example:
In my cul-de-sac, half of the 8 homes in it now have people working from home during the day, all for different companies, all former “cube farmers” like myself.
He goes on to discuss the personal ramifications of Homesourcing: no commuting, gas tanks get filled every other month, 7 more hours a week of personal time.
He touches on the wider implications: less oil to import, less highway construction, economic expansion in remote locations, with remote workers bringing in money without the burden of industrial pollution.
He says this trend would save fuel and could make the conversion to hydrogen or hybrid vehicles a matter of much less urgency.
I think it’s possible that we could become self-sufficient in terms of fossil fuels. Now that would cause some changes on the international scene.
Read his post, Changing the world – one cable modem at a time. It will give you something to think about for days. Frank is a pleasure to read.
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