Distributed Workforces Are A Fact Of Life

by Chris O'Donnell / Nov 14

Today’s knowledge worker increasingly expects workplace flexibility as a standard part of the employment contract. It may be explicit, or it may just be implied. However the days of everybody being in the office at 8 AM are gone, and they are not coming back. Ordering the entire distributed workforce back to the office in most situations will probably result is an immediate wave of resignations, and reduced productivity from the rest as they spend their time looking for jobs. Neither is likely to be good for ROI. And if it is, that probably points to a serious recruiting issue at your company!

If we accept that distributed workforces are a fact of life, then measuring the return is no different than measuring the return on any other employee. Employees are paid to do a job. Whether it is sales or writing code, mature companies probably already have standards in place to measure those issues. The distributed employees shouldn’t be under different standards just because they work from home or coffee shops. It comes down to being results focused, not activity focused. If your sales rep has a $1 million quota, and he regularly meets or exceed it, should you really care how he spends every minute of his day?

Company wide, there are several areas where companies can look for returns associated with a distributed workforce. Although there are quantitative benefits available, I think a lot of the ROI associated with a nomadic workforce is more qualitative in nature.

Fixed Costs: Digital nomads don’t consume office space, parking places, HVAC or any other expense associated with every employee being in the same place at the same time. Office consolidations and closings due to the growth of nomadic employees can certainly be quantified.

Salary: Can you pay nomadic employees less? Certainly a home based employee in Omaha NE will probably be satisfied with less salary than somebody doing the same job in San Fransisco. It’s a simple cost of living issue. Also, the lifestyle benefits for nomadic employees (no commute, being home for dinner, ability to make the school play at 6 PM, etc) are clearly valuable to employees. Given two otherwise identical jobs, I think many of us would happily take 5% less in salary to be a digital nomad versus enduring the commute and office lifestyle for the same work.

Turnover: Are digital nomads less likely to change jobs? Studies have shown that work location flexibility is an important factor in job satisfaction, and satisfied employees are less likely to jump ship.

Personal productivity: Are digital nomads less likely to take a sick day? Personally, I don’t think I have ever called in sick when working from home. If I’m well enough to sit on the couch and watch TV, I’m well enough to sit in front of the computer and at least keep up with my email. It might not be my most productive day, but it’s not a total loss either. Also, a recent HR World article suggests that telecommuters are more productive than their office bound coworkers. This is due to less distractions, meetings, and less commute related stress. The same article also reports that flex time workers (which is a step in the direction of a digital nomad) exhibit healthier lifestyles. It probably doesn’t matter if you sleep in or exercise during the time you would be commuting if you went to the office. Either is healthier than sitting in traffic!

In summary, the question to ask is “Are we as a company better off today” and then look to both quantitative and qualitative factors for supporting data. Some of it will certainly be traceable to your distributed workforce. However, the distributed workforce is not really optional anymore, and it’s going to continue to become even less optional.

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