Virtual Office Resource

The scene: it’s cold and blowing outside and the car has a slight layer of ice on the windshield. The rush hour traffic adds time to your commute and the available lunch stops around the office aren’t appetizing enough to brave the frigid winds. Sounds like a great time to get to the office, doesn’t it? But, what if your office was actually just down the stairs and your car didn’t have to actually move?

The concept of the virtual office is not necessarily new, but it has taken a while for some companies to get on board with the concept. It’s a scary thing to think that your employees will produce the amount of work you want them to produce in the amount of time they need to produce it without your physical oversight. How do you know they aren’t just sitting in front of the television, watching their favorite Netflix series and calling it “research” on their timesheet?

The honest answer is that most of the time you don’t know that this isn’t happening – until the individual is unable to produce the desired results. Then he or she can choose between the flexibility of the virtual office and no job at all. It’s the appropriate ultimatum for those situations where you don’t want to monitor every single minute of your employee’s day, but you have to be able to trust that they can get the work done in the allotted amount of time while also enjoying the flexibility afforded with the virtual office.

Still, for the majority of companies that have embraced the concept of the virtual office, it’s not an all-in situation. They are instead supporting individuals who prefer to work from home either due to location, job type or even physical limitations that may make commuting to the traditional office environment a challenge. According to Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs in a recent CNN Money report, a growing number of companies are adopting the all-in strategy, completing eliminating the physical company headquarters. 

There’s definitely a strong business case for not having an office. The elimination of significant overhead is a perk for any business. The organization can also recruit professionals from anywhere in the world if location isn’t an obstacle. Plus, employee performance is based solely on outcomes, which makes it much easier to assess and measure. The perception of busy is much harder to fake if no one sees your workspace.

Not all individuals are well-equipped to work remotely, however. It is important to assess personalities and ensure the professional can thrive in a virtual office. If not, you’ll do more damage than good.