Page 50 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

discovering a new workforce paradigm � 29

I’m able to take advantage of the very best resources from wherever they
might live. The whole technology that really supports our being mobile
and my personally being mobile is what makes my life a whole lot easier.
▶

An Interview with Sharon Allen, Chairman of the Board,
Deloitte LLP
We sat down (virtually) with Sharon Allen to discuss the
mobile workforce. With the highest percentage of regular
telecommuters on Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Places to
Work, we were aware that Deloitte knew something many
much smaller companies don’t—that flexible work environ-
ments are both good business and good for the people who
work there. What we didn’t know was whether the “good for
the people who work there” was just lip service or a serious
matter for Deloitte. After just a few minutes it was clear that
Sharon was passionate about the people part, too.
“The whole notion of focusing on individuals and indi-
viduals’ competencies and how individuals can succeed is
core to our culture,” she told us. “It is all about people.” The
mobile workforce “is a competitive advantage. . . . It has
improved the work satisfaction, productivity, and our work-
force’s feeling about their ability to have more engagement
with what they are doing and more control over what they
are doing.”
But it is not, she emphasized, about working less hard.
“Sometimes people get the perception that if you’re working
on any kind of a flexible arrangement or even telecommut-
ing that you are really not working as hard. It is important
to be clear that that is not the case. You may be working
less by choice—a flexible work arrangement that actually
has [fewer] hours—but it doesn’t mean you are working less
hard. I think it is very important we always keep that in mind