The cost of maintaining office space is more than just rent, these days: statistics suggest that workflow is also a major casualty. Before the internet, communication and collaboration necessitated employees working together in the same place at the same time. But now, the workplace is becoming obsolete as the de facto way of working together.
Atlassian, the well-respected enterprise software company, has created a great infographic quantifying the inefficiencies of forcing everyone to work together. Atlassian has done this to promote their remote collaboration software, Confluence, but the points are well-taken: employees do not always need to physically be together to get everything done at the highest level. In fact, 10x Management’s model is built upon this realization: our freelancers are optimized for productivity, and giving them control over their space and time is the primary ingredient. The rituals of unnecessary emailing and endless meetings are additionally confounded by the distractions and boredom that naturally occur from incarcerating human beings in a place they wouldn’t ordinarily choose to be.
We believe the future of work includes giving professionals control over their space and time to maximize their own quality of life and, consequently, their performance and productivity. We recently looked at the damning evidence against the now-standard “open office plan” favored by tech companies these days. We also shared David Fried’s compelling TED Talk about Why Work Doesn’t Happen At Work. In The 4-Day Work Week, we looked at stats that suggest giving employees a 4-day work week can actually increase their output and longevity, and in Powered By Happiness: Working From Wherevs, we saw how major corporations are recognizing the value of letting employees work from wherever they want, thanks to digital tools for communication, collaboration, and management.