Once upon a time, employees around the world convened to a centralized location to work. In this traditional attendance paradigm, workers typically wake up and get ready for work. They leave home and use some form of transportation, be it cars, trains, and/or buses. The traditional paradigm of work attendance required some form of transportation, time, money, and a Channeled Attention Span. For those of us who have sat in traffic or used public transportation, we are all too familiar with the sea of zombie faces asleep at the wake of the day. Similar to how following the same fitness routine can lessen the impact of a workout on one’s body, an unchangeable work routine diminishes worker productivity. The traditional attendance paradigm can dull human creativity. In today's global economy driven by innovation, profit, and the need to be environmentally mindful, companies like Cisco increasingly adopt virtual office systems.
Cisco's Virtual Office offers multiple benefits to companies, employees, and the environment. Increased productivity, enhanced work-life balance, and reduced carbon impact are just a few touted by end users and organizations. As a worker, the most significant benefit I can imagine from using CVO is the opportunity to broaden what I previously mentioned as Channeled Attention Span to spur creativity. CVO allows for the greatest degree of flexibility for each worker, for each unique mode of working. While some of us arrive at our most brilliant idea in the kitchen while cooking breakfast, others may do so while in the bathroom. Ideas arise spontaneously, nurtured by the right environment of randomness. Perhaps while cooking breakfast in the kitchen (even if it means throwing last night’s dinner in the microwave), one sees a monarch butterfly in the window that inspires an idea for a software program.
Creativity translates to innovation, which means the potential for profit. Profit carries the opportunity for increased quality of life for many, such as greater dividends for shareholders and tax revenues for governments. Companies such as Google offer alternative work attendance paradigms in and out of the office. The common driving force behind these initiatives is providing an environment that inspires creativity.
Babysitting my two young nephews has made me realize that adults are not too different from children. We both need nurturing. We are both easily distracted and entertained. While the baby is entertained by the sound of a furious rattle, the adult is entertained by big and bold spectacles of light, noise, and size. Consider the question of why many adults love Vegas or rubberneck when a stupendous multi-vehicle accident occurs. By the same token, children are highly creative. In devising games. In devising imaginary friends. In devising reasons to get candy or ice cream. We as adults are also highly creative. The difference is that the traditional work attendance paradigm dulled our powers of creativity. Alternative systems like Cisco’s Virtual Office can bring us back to the child in all of us.
