The Virtual Workplace

Foreword by Scott McNealy The authors have produced an extraordinarily useful book on the numerous facets of the complex teleworking phenomenon. Although their pro-telework position is clear (and persuasively justified), their discussion of each element is thoughtful, balanced, and carefully referenced. Their conceptual paradigm offers a very helpful way to organize and synthesize the vast and growing literature on teleworking, and they have employed it to masterful effect. They have succeeded in producing a work that is equally valuable and relevant to organizations, individual employees, public planners, and academic scholars no small feat. Patricia L. Mokhtarian, University of California, Davis, US At TELUS, teleworking has become an important part of our operating framework. Thousands of our team members telework on a part-time basis and hundreds of our team members telework on a full-time basis. The individual, environmental, social and financial benefits achieved through telework are compelling and real. This book by the Haskayne School of Business offers comprehensive insights that will help TELUS and hopefully many other enterprises to fully realize the great benefits of telework. Josh Blair, TELUS, Canada The first integrative analysis of the virtual workplace s many contributions to sustainable development: a must read for strategists in firms and governments. Ans Kolk, University of Amsterdam Business School, The Netherlands This book is a great reference for senior executives looking to implement telework to enhance their business. As the leading provider of managed IP communications services in North America, MegaPath supports the telework programs of hundreds of companies with IT remote access VPN services. This book addresses the many challenges these companies have faced and the benefits they have derived from telework programs. Greg Davis, MegaPath, US Employees, organizations and society alike should grow the virtual workplace, as the multiple, tangible benefits of telework for each of these three stakeholders largely outweigh the costs. To help stakeholders benefit from the virtual workplace, the authors analyze four key issues: telework adoption, implementation, tracking and impacts. They develop the comprehensive EOS framework to examine both the interaction among employees, organizations and society, and the linkages among telework impacts, tracking, implementation and adoption. Unique features of the book include an integrative framework for increasing telework adoption; practical tips specific to each stakeholder on how best to implement and measure telework; and an analysis of original survey data exploring the virtual workplace adoption decision. Readership for this book includes academic experts on telecommuting, policymakers involved in transportation, human resource or environmental policies, and managers and employees considering telework.

An instant #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller and USA Today bestseller! The remote work revolution has been rapidly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations as big as Twitter have learned their employees didn't need an office to get great results, and employees are using the flexibility of remote work to live where they want, ditch their commutes and live a work-life integration that works for them. Remote work is here to stay, and the companies that do it well will have a clear competitive advantage in the future. As founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, a 100 percent remote organization with 170 employees who work from home, Robert Glazer has discovered that with the right principles, tactics and tools for managing remote employees, many businesses can excel in a virtual world. In this highly actionable book, Glazer shares how he and his team built a remote organization that has been recognized with dozens of awards for its industry performance and company culture. "A timely, practical, and highly informative guide to effective techniques for remote work; of benefit to practitioners or students of business. Highly recommended."—Library Journal, STARRED review How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace shares insights from the remote employee, manager and leader perspectives, offering a blueprint any person can use to make remote work successful, productive and fulfilling. Learn how to leverage the flexibility of remote work, be more productive while working at home, avoid burnout, lead a team of virtual employees and build an organization that sets the gold standard for virtual work. The remote work revolution is here—the leaders who will build the future are the ones who can lead top performing virtual teams. Learn how to build a world-class organization—office no longer required.

The Virtual Workplace explores the forces that are driving the virtual workplace and the consequential issues and problems that will influence it: social issues, legal concerns and performance compensations.

The recent pandemic has clarified the overwhelming connection between the workplace and technology. With thousands of employees suddenly forced to work at home, a large segment of the workforce quickly received crash courses in videoconferencing and other technologies, and society as a whole took a step back to redefine what employment actually means. The virtual workplace is the blending of brick-and-mortar physical places of business with the advanced technologies that now make it possible for workers to perform their duties outside of the office. Trying to regulate in this area requires the application of decades old employment laws to a context never even contemplated by the legislatures that wrote those rules. This book explores the emerging issues of virtual work—defining employment, litigating claims, aggregating cases, unionizing workers, and preventing harassment—and provides clarity to these areas, synthesizing the current case law, statutory rules, and academic literature to provide guidance to workers and companies operating in the technology sector.

An instant #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller and USA Today bestseller! The remote work revolution has been rapidly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations as big as Twitter have learned their employees didn't need an office to get great results, and employees are using the flexibility of remote work to live where they want, ditch their commutes and live a work-life integration that works for them. Remote work is here to stay, and the companies that do it well will have a clear competitive advantage in the future. As founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, a 100 percent remote organization with 170 employees who work from home, Robert Glazer has discovered that with the right principles, tactics and tools for managing remote employees, many businesses can excel in a virtual world. In this highly actionable book, Glazer shares how he and his team built a remote organization that has been recognized with dozens of awards for its industry performance and company culture. "A timely, practical, and highly informative guide to effective techniques for remote work; of benefit to practitioners or students of business. Highly recommended."—Library Journal, STARRED review How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace shares insights from the remote employee, manager and leader perspectives, offering a blueprint any person can use to make remote work successful, productive and fulfilling. Learn how to leverage the flexibility of remote work, be more productive while working at home, avoid burnout, lead a team of virtual employees and build an organization that sets the gold standard for virtual work. The remote work revolution is here—the leaders who will build the future are the ones who can lead top performing virtual teams. Learn how to build a world-class organization—office no longer required.

The virtual workplace is a world where networks of people engage in work, but are not bound by the traditional limitations of time and space. It is a growing reality for many companies. This book provides a clear picture of the work skills and competencies they will need to operate successfully.

This book explores the structure, growth and effectiveness of virtual communities in computer-mediated environments. In spite of initial enthusiasm, much uncertainty remains about the prospects of virtual teams and the technology that supports their collaboration. This book seeks to confront these issues and offers a unique insight into the realities of virtual working. An essential resource for academics working in the fields of management science and organizational learning, this study will also be of interest to managers, practitioners and the wider open source software community as a whole.

Remote working is the new reality, and transactional work – provided by freelancers, contract employees or consultants – has increased exponentially. It is forecast that as much as half the labor force will be working independently and virtually by 2020.Most organizations are still grappling with how to effectively manage their virtual staff and how to effectively support and motivate them – an increasingly urgent task as more Millennials join the workforce, bringing changed attitudes to work satisfaction. This book, the fruit of the author’s three decades of experience planning and implementing remote working environments, provides expert guidance for anyone planning a shift to remote working, managing teams of teleworkers, or themselves working in a virtual team.Working Virtually is for the executive leading changes in an enterprise that is preparing for virtual work or seeking to improve current performance. It offers tools to assess readiness, advice on creating appropriate reward policies, and strategies to adapt performance management processes to be more team-driven and technology leveraged. Working Virtually is written to and for the virtual leader who wants to establish high performing virtual teams. It provides an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of managing a virtual team, offering a wealth of advice on creating the conditions for collaboration, motivating team members, and identifying and defusing problems.Working Virtually is for the professional who works remotely from home, on the road, or in an office with remote colleagues. It is for anyone who wants to succeed in this new work environment by developing skills and networks to create a sustained and satisfying career path.With this new edition providing a 360° view of the roles and objectives of all stakeholders in the virtual workspace, this book uniquely provides readers with a rounded picture of the policies, processes, work habits, and commitments needed to achieve the shared goal of high performance remote teams.