The way I interpret Microsoft’s campaign for Office 365 is as good as telling everyone ‘Hey, we’ve got you covered everywhere so you never have a reason not to work.’
Being connected is great. It brings so much to the table by increasing our productivity and the means to get things done in a manner that best suits us. The bane of such connectivity is delusional employers, led by equally distasteful companies that make unnecessary and unwarranted demands on their staffs.
Working remotely doesn’t have to be this way. It’s not about receiving calls at odd hours while lying on the bed in your deep slumber. It’s not about invading your family time when you missed the moment your kid scored the goal and wide grin on his face, just because your boss called you on the phone for some trivial issue.
Producing such marketing materials will only condition employers to contact their people, and the staffs will eventually be accustomed to such practices. It’s not a healthy trend we are looking at, and this needs to be changed. Fortunately, not everyone is as short-sighted as the peeps over at Microsoft.
A year ago I wrote about working from home, the benefits and the kind of impact we can have in the economy. Since then, it has been slow to catch on even though many people are advocating and pushing for it. It takes time and commitment to make such a leap, and changes will only come if the leaders see them through.
37signals has their own version of #WorkCanWait. Life 365 against Office 365. I have always respect for companies that respect their workers well and 37signals is one of those. It’s not just their product, it’s about their vision, their culture and the people they hire.
For them to debunk such thoughts that 24/7/365 workforce is the way to spend our lifestyle is an affirmation. A firm nod from a company that has over 75% of its staff strength working remotely that marketing the product using such tactic is not the greatest idea.
I look forward to the day when employers and their staffs come to the understanding of what’s expected of them when working remotely. Moving on, we need more companies to comprehend this concept, to know and act on what must be done to make it more accessible for everyone.