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Being Available 24/7 ROCKS!!

Apr 18, 2011 » by Jody

Whenever we talk about a ROWE people exclaim to us “but I don’t want to be available 24/7!”

Let me take a moment to welcome everyone again to 2011.

Back in the 1950s, the boss sat in his office with his secretary outside his door. S/he used something called ‘while you were out’ pink slips to take phone messages.

S/he had a typewriter and used carbon paper to make copies.

There was no voicemail.

There was no internet.

There was no email.

There was no texting, IM-ing or communicating outside of ‘office hours’.

Work happened from 9-5 period.

Then, everyone went home. And work stopped. There was no way to contact anyone until 9am the next morning.

Ahhhhhh the good old days.

It’s time to face reality.

In 2011, we are a physical AND a virtual self. We can be contacted via voicemail and email 24/7.

Our physical self may be ‘unplugged’, but our virtual self is always active for the customer to reach out to us and leave a message.

24/7.

You didn’t know it, but you already ARE available 24/7.

However, you have the choice of WHEN TO RESPOND.

That’s the beauty of the 24/7 workplace. You are in control of technology.  You are in control of your life 24/7. You decide when to RESPOND.

You are not working 24/7, you are LIVING 24/7.

So, if someone says ‘I don’t want to be available 24/7, welcome them to 2011.

Explain the beauty of having a virtual self.

Explain the beauty of having the opportunity to respond to the customer using common sense and not being bound by the clock, or the rules of the 1950’s workplace.

Grocery shop at 10am on a Tuesday and then respond to the customer.

Take a nap on a Thursday afternoon, and then respond to the customer.

Volunteer at your child’s school on Monday morning and then respond to the customer.

Go to a meeting at 2pm on a Friday and then respond to the customer.

Do some laundry on Saturday morning and then respond via email to the customer. Then sit on your deck and sip iced tea. Then respond to the customer. Then run errands Monday morning.

The 24/7 workplace ROCKS! Get it?

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  • Vicki Cryer

    We all work for money,take time out,for yourself….relax…we have a life?

  • KellyK

    I think this is a hugely important point. We already have 24/7 availability, and it’s control that’s missing. The current traditional environment is the worst of both worlds. You have a block of hours where you’re expected to be present and working, and people also have the opportunity to contact you during “off” hours. You often have all the limits and constraints of both systems, and none of the freedoms of either.

    In the old 9-5, you had a block where you were stuck at work and available to be contacted for work stuff, and a block where you were free. In a ROWE, you’re always available to be contacted, but you’re also free to decide what to deal with when. In a lot of current work environments, you don’t have the freedom to go grocery shopping during a slow period mid-day, but you still have the expectation that you’ll reply to e-mails at 6 PM.

    I think the biggest thing that has to go is the assumption of an instant response–during “work hours” or not. 24/7 availability only becomes a trap when people assume that because you *can* get back to them any time, that they’re owed an instant response. It’s because of that expectation that people feel the need to check their e-mail every hour (or every ten minutes) or to drop what they’re doing at any time to respond.

    • Cali

      Wow – you’ve hit it perfectly, KellyK. The point is that the customer *will* be served (customer satisfaction goes up in a ROWE) – but it doesn’t have to be at the expense of people giving up their lives and going against what their common sense tells them to do.

  • http://www.ProcrastinatingWriters.com jennifer

    This is my DREAM LIFE!! I am now working hard to make it a reality!

    • Cali

      Go, Jennifer! The dream will be a reality…and you’ll love it.

  • http://blog.conmergence.com Ed Dodds

    The other salient thing about having a virtual self is that it doesn’t have to be geo-locked. Here in Nashville there have been real strides in fostering an environment to promote tech-flavored entrepreneurialism (Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Jumpstart Foundry — God love ‘em). But the key ingredient they cannot seem to get past is that while the world moves to “the cloud” the butt remains in the cube. Likewise, we have national supercomputing assets which many have to drive to in order to use — THIS IS INSANE. Why do we insist on hamstringing ourselves with counterintuitive and noncompetitive practices in a time when the economy could SO BENEFIT free freeing up all of our assets from anywhere they can be accessed?

  • http://catalyst.cat.alyst.org/ C. A. Hurst

    Great post! Great comments!

  • Richard Diver

    And this is why it is going to be critical to invest in training that helps people with real life skills such as professional self control – setting realistic expectations, sticking to commitments and allowing others to take responsibility.