Have you ever stopped to contemplate how productive you are in the office? Do you ever get eight hours of work done? Six hours? One full hour? If you’re anything like most 9 – 5 office goers, your answer to these questions was a resounding, “NO.”
In his TEDxMidwest lecture on office space productivity, workplace mastermind Jason Fried pulls back the curtain on aspects of traditional offices that effectively annihilate any chance at real productivity. Comparing the entryway of an office building to a Cuisinart, Fried notes as soon as we step inside our offices, any chance that we had at having a truly fruitful work day has just … been … shredded.
All the cubicles, ringing phones and meeting invites are just a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Offices only seem like havens of production, what with their fancy IT equipment, business casual dress requirements, and omnipresent background buzz (READ: phones, fluorescent lighting, and Xerox machines). Looks really can be deceiving. Today’s office spaces are filled to the brim (thanks management!) with things intended to facilitate productivity, but fall very short of this goal.
Mr. Fried really isn’t telling us anything we don’t already know, or that hasn’t been in front of us all along. Jason is merely opening our eyes to a new way of thinking – a workplace paradigm shift.
Now, if you’re reading this you are probably acquainted with the benefits of non-traditional workspaces. Remote offices, shared offices, and home offices (whichever is your method of choice) are the modern workforce’s prescription for the plague that is otherwise known as office non-productivity. But, as is the case with anything that seems too good to be true, each comes with its own set of challenges.
Enter virtual office space. In response to the growing need for productive workspaces, arrives the efficiency-boosting/distraction-minimizing practice of virtual officing. Imagine maintaining all the benefits of working remotely, but having someone else manage all of the distractions: telecom (creating/maintaining your professional phone number), incoming/outgoing communication (via professional receptionists), your impressive address (global office locations at your disposal) and much more. We’re talking one-stop shops for all things “office.”
In essence, a virtual office helps take everything off of your plate so you can concentrate on bringing home the bacon.
