What is activity based working?
In this blog i will explain the growing concept of anywhere working,
I used to love writing about this topic. Before getting into digital marketing I used to advise and speak on remote working and in particular activity based working.
So what is activity based working? Its quite a unique and yet simple concept that effectively means working from wherever suits best for the task you are completing.
I will explain further, but first lets look at how traditional working environments have been running for the last few decades to understand the changes.
A traditional office  was born very much out of the industrial revolution. We went to the factory to do the work, quite simple. Offices were the same, you had a place of work and that was the only place to do the work.
As offices evolved everybody had a desk and a computer and still we all commuted each and every day to the office.
Sure there were changes and with the introduction of the "open plan office" things were slowly progressing.
However with all the technology we have today is the office the best place to always be working from?
We can access pretty much everything in the office with the right technology in place as if we were sitting at our desks today. So this raises two questions, is the office the right place to work from right now? And longer term is everybody owning a desk the most cost effective solution for your business?
Introducing Activity Based Working or ABW for short. The concept is this: With the right technology is place, nobody has ownership of a full time desk. You work from wherever you need too and are measured on output and not on presenteeism. There are many examples of companies adopting this type of working and with huge success.
It of course requires masses of trust, but where implemented has in fact had some really surprising results in that more work gets done, less sick time, employees stay longer and overall moral is higher.
It's not really that much of a surprise if you think about it. Other things to come out of these studies are the fact that in some cases an office is still required and there are roles where attending the office is still needed. There are also areas of business where being together can really reap some positive results. Sure there are software services for remote meetings and presentations but I personally still think there are some instances where you cannot beat being in the same room as people.
Its really all about choice and sensible decisions. There are without a doubt examples where people can get so much more work done from home or a 3rd space such as a coffee shop.
I could go on and on with this subject matter and may post other follow up blogs on this subject.
However if this is of interest to you consider listening to this old podcast I did with some friends of mine over in the USA DJ Waldow and Nick Westergaard. It was recorded in 2013 when i worked at a technology company I was fortunate enough to get invited on their show and sit alongside so real heroes of mine in the marketing world . I hope you enjoy it. https://worktalkshow.com/david-shaw-on-defining-work/
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Author- Speaker - Consultant. Passionate about all things digital.