Telecommuting isn't rocket science - Or is it? Demographics Expert Weighs In

TORONTO - April 28, 2014 - PRLog -- Toronto, ON What seems as common sense in an increasingly techie world once was, in fact, the domain of a rocket scientist. As reported by Mashable (http://mashable.com/2014/04/10/the-telecommuting-dream-is-dead/ ), a NASA employee coined the term ‘telecommuting’ in the 1970s when he envisioned a world where the freeways were unclogged by stressed out workers inching their ways to an office each day. But as economist Linda Nazareth explains in her new book, Economorphics: The Trends Turning Today into Tomorrow (http://www.relentlesseconomics.com/economorphics/), what was once little more than a musing is now creating challenges for business and workers.

When writer and demographics expert Linda Nazareth set out to examine the trends most likely to influence the world in the coming decades, the transformation of the workplace as we know quickly stood out. “Technology makes telecommuting a possibility, but it is also something of a Pandora’s Box in an economic sense. Technological and demographic changes have fundamentally altered the world of ‘work’.”

But what of the claims coming from companies such as Yahoo, that speed and quality are sacrificed when people work at home? According to Nazareth, it’s a claim that the research hasn’t borne out. “While there’s a great deal more to be understood about the impacts of telecommuting on business success, so far studies are indicating that working remotely at least part of the time results in improved productivity and efficiency. But not having your workers around you all the time means a sea of change for business, and there is not yet a consensus that it is the correct way to go.”

But while the idea of a fragmented workforce may not work for every industry or every individual, Linda is quick to point out that we’re unlikely to see a complete reversal of this trend. “In an era of cost containment, it makes sense for companies to increasingly use freelancers and contract-based workers and to use technology to let people work from wherever they want.  Still, it is a challenge to both workers and companies to make those kinds of situations work.  A lot is at stake – downtowns have been built up with shiny new office buildings but will there ultimately be workers to fill them?” asks Nazareth.

The shift towards reconceptualising ‘the workplace’ is just one of twelve trends that Nazareth identifies in Economorphics (http://www.relentlesseconomics.com/economorphics/) for their transformative power over the demographic landscape of the global economy.

For more information on Linda and her new book visithttp://www.relentlesseconomics.com/economorphics/

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