Krauskopf said sure, why not. As long as they get more power boards (there was a persistent shortage of power-points during the day).
“When I got up this morning, it was raining,” he continued. “Which wasn’t great.
“But the future of work is you’ll get the ability to choose where you work. So, if I wanted to, I could choose not to work outside today.
“The other thing I liked was the learning event we did.”
Over lunch, half a dozen speakers got up to share their knowledge. One spoke on the 10 apps he used to travel the world. Another on how companies could boost their productivity through outsourcing. Yet another spoke on the history of co-working.
“The future of work is going to include constant learning,” Krauskopf said. “Anybody who dishes out a job without a good dose of learning is going to find themselves without a job to dish out. It’s very important for any company wanting to stay ahead to keep challenging their people.”
That’s all well and good. But for a wage-slave like me trying to convince their boss to let them work more flexibly, surely the sticking point is productivity.
My editor thinks I did alright.
“In terms of producing content, there was no problem at all,” Melinda Oliver says. “But I lost the ability to bounce ideas and questions off you.”
I got two news pieces done by 11am, scheduled a heap of social media updates, sent a few emails back and forth with people across Private Media, and pursued my usual, neurotic refreshing of our website to see if it’s working as it should.
I don’t think I’ve been noticeably less productive today than I normally am.
Mind you, I made mistakes I don’t normally make. In my highly distracted state, I called and left a message for Nick Xenophon by accident after reading the wrong number on a press release. I was also rather unobservant when it came to proof reading our test email – thankfully the eagle-eyes back in the office spotted what I missed.
It was hard to concentrate outside. With so many things going on around me, it took an enormous amount of willpower to keep ploughing on through my busy morning workload. I’ve no doubt the quality of my writing (and proofreading) suffered somewhat as a result.
The experience certainly made me appreciate highly controlled, indoor environments. With few distractions, it’s easier to focus on the work. The Melbourne CBD is nothing if not busy.
But as Krauskopf says, when the revolution comes, we won’t have to work outside if we don’t want to.
The great outdoors do have one thing going for them. As one of my colleagues for a day said, at least outside, you can smoke without leaving your desk.
Myriam Robin is a reporter for SmartCompany and its sister site LeadingCompany. She has degrees in economics, international studies and journalism. She likes writing about businesses taking risks and doing new things.
