Page 13 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

x � IntroduCtIon

` whAt Is A moBIle workForCe?

The first question we faced was to ask ourselves what exactly a mo-
bile workforce is. That definition has evolved in our minds since we
started. This description has been a good starting point:

Mobile workers are those who work at least 10 hours per week away from
home and from their main place of work, on business trips, in the field
traveling or on customer premises and use online computer connections
when doing so. 2

This 10-year-old definition still seems basically accurate. For now,
we suggest defining the mobile workforce as follows:

Mobile workers are available and accountable anywhere and anytime.
The mobile workforce may be located at home or on the road, or it may
simply be moving within your own corporate settings. Mobile workers
perform critical jobs for an organization, using secure Internet connec-
tions, collaborating from near to as far as anywhere on the globe you can
imagine, using the most appropriate hardware and software needed to
get the work done. The most effective mobile workforces have the support
and leadership of management, who provide both the technological and
organizational tools to assure success.

Actually, of course, the mobile workforce extends beyond Earth.
Consider astronauts, perhaps the iconic mobile workforce, operating
out of space shuttles and space stations to be a part of this virtual
community of people who are no longer constrained by a physical
location or even the bonds of gravity.
We will reconsider the definition of a mobile workforce as we pro-
ceed through the book. Is it location that defines mobility? Is it electronic
communication? Is it a strategy, a way of thinking, or how people act?
Managing the Mobile Workforce provides executives, managers, and
members of the mobile workforce with a holistic approach to hiring,