The way in which your employees work should be closely connected to the goals of your mobile officing project. Odds are you’re implementing a mobile officing program because some of your employees are highly mobile. You recognize that mobility creates and requires a new office environment that is more commensurate with a dynamic work style. Once you determine how your employees work, you will be able to create the policies and procedures and mobile officing paradigm that best fits your unique culture.

A few topics that you should consider:

· Mobility usually cuts across departments.

Study the work patterns in each department. Don’t exclude anyone from the mobile officing program without first analyzing their work style.

· Levels of mobility vary within departments as well.

An accounting department, for example, may have many mobile accountants working at client sites as well as several researchers that remain relatively static.

· The psychology and patterns of mobility vary among mobile workers.

Sales people, for example, don’t often need or even want their own office. Typical salespeople may be out of the office for a few hours a day. Consultants, on the other hand, often expect their own large office. Consultants are typically out of the office for days at a time, returning only for meetings and mail.

· Often, organizations assume that teleworkers can always work from home and will never need to return to the office.

This is an erroneous assumption, as workers will need to return to the office for meetings, large print jobs, etc. They may even want to return to the office to remain connected to corporate culture. Your mobile officing program must accommodate them in their need to return to the office in order to keep their satisfaction high. However, supplying two desks, one at home and one at the office, is NOT a cost-efficient way to operate a business. A better idea is desk-sharing, which can reduce support costs per employee.

Continue to next step: Factoring in Your Unique Culture

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