It's been about two years since I posted on this blog that was way ahead in its' early days. In that last post back then I suggested that Regus, along with WeWork needed an affiliate model. Someone at Regus was obviously reading and listening as I just read how they are doing exactly that using a franchising model.
As a long time remote worker, I've watched things change, for the better. Between my local co-working membership and my Regus membership, I'm rarely trapped in the "coffee shop only" mode of finding a place to work. Having those options means I can get out of the house and work in a communal environment, or book a day office if I need some privacy.
Remote working, long a male dominated sector of the workplace world has seen changes. Back in the 00's I pioneered having women working for me from their homes on a consistent basis. One described working for Comunicano as her dream job as it gave her flexibility around her two young daughters. Over time we hired more and more people to work remotely, and some in my home. Eventually, all but one person was "remote" and that person was more of an office admin keeping track of the 20-30 people in the agency at any one time, and more importantly, looking after the business affairs as I was on the road as much as 285 days one year.
Now, as Zapier points out, working remote for women is much more commonplace, and just as we saw in the agency, more businesses are realizing how much more work they can get out of remote working women. Today, on my team at SkySwitch where I serve as the company's virtual CMO, two of my team now work from home two days a week, and have a flexible afternoon schedule that has them in the office in the morning and then going WFH from 4-6 pm to avoid traffic. In three months of working that way, productivity has been better and quality of work has only gotten better.
While some businesses resist, or just can't be virtual, having worked remotely, some or all of the time since my days in pro-sports, remote work, with the right players, can really be good for a business.
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