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I don't think so. Telecommuting hasn't taken off in the way people predicted it would in movies like Back to the Future. Some people do it but for the most part it hasn't happened.
I think the eventual die off of the baby boomer generation will change the apprehension surrounding telecommuting. In my personal experience older people (born pre-1970) seem to have more hangups with telecommuting and flexible scheduling.
The infrastructure is in place now for most non-customer facing 'office work' to be completed remotely. Now we are left with the hard part, changing human attitudes.
I worked for one company that just had to be located in downtown Boston. None of the work required being in Boston versus a suburb. It was basically for shallow reasons, the company leadership believed being located in Boston proper gave them more prestige than being located in a suburb of Boston.
I think the eventual die off of the baby boomer generation will change the apprehension surrounding telecommuting. In my personal experience older people (born pre-1970) seem to have more hangups with telecommuting and flexible scheduling.
The infrastructure is in place now for most non-customer facing 'office work' to be completed remotely. Now we are left with the hard part, changing human attitudes.
Yeah, us old coots! I don't know what in the h*ll you're talking about! Born pre-1970? For God's sake, that's a large part of the workforce. Someone born in 1969 still has 22 years left to work, to collect full retirement. Memph, above, a college student said he likes to study in a group. While my spouse fits into your old coot category, he did find telecommuting awkward at times. Plus, there's such a thing as face time with your co-workers, which was one of Marissa Meyer's issues. I don't know anyone who's opposed to flexible scheduling. And for the record, DH still does some work from home, he just found he couldn't do all of it from home.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 04-19-2014 at 10:55 AM..
Reason: math error
It was publicly traded and the two CEOs in power during my tenure both lived in the suburbs.
Ah, okay. Owners living in the city is often times a reason for opening a business in the city. Sounds like they preferred the prestige of being in Boston than they did being in the suburb of Boston.
Yeah, us old coots! I don't know what in the h*ll you're talking about! Born pre-1970? For God's sake, that's a large part of the workforce. Someone born in 1969 still has 27 years left to work, to collect full retirement. Memph, above, a college student said he likes to study in a group. While my spouse fits into your old coot category, he did find telecommuting awkward at times. Plus, there's such a thing as face time with your co-workers, which was one of Marissa Meyer's issues. I don't know anyone who's opposed to flexible scheduling. And for the record, DH still does some work from home, he just found he couldn't do all of it from home.
I wouldn't want to do everything from home either but I guess I have just been very unlucky, in that two of my last three employers were dead set against allowing any work from home time whatsoever. For the record I work in back office functions with no client facing duties and my work products are primarily electronic documents. The recurring theme from those employers seemed to be very old fashioned management philosophies which were not shared by the younger and middle-aged staff.
Ah, okay. Owners living in the city is often times a reason for opening a business in the city. Sounds like they preferred the prestige of being in Boston than they did being in the suburb of Boston.
What you say makes sense. My two subsequent employers were privately held in the suburbs and the offices were located within one or two towns distance from the owner's residence.
I worked for a virtual company, mostly from home for three years. Only about 10 of my coworkers were local. I went stir crazy.
OP your premise is a little off. First the per capita environmental effect is lowr in cities, since things are concentrated. Housing affordability in cities is mostly about zoning and local policy, not size. If it was only size then LA's metro would be moe expensive than San Francisco's. Condos in downtown Oakland are 10% cheaper than downtown LA. Maybe.
In general we aren't building the type of housing required for current trends: home for multigenerational families, homes for childless singles and couples, family sized homes in walkable communities. This drives up the price for people looking for those amenities.
There are many small cities located throughout America that are ripe for a 21st-Century lifestyle. Many have excellent walkable downtowns with interesting storefronts and architecture. Mixed use and warehouse space could be reclaimed and repurposed by upgrading it with energy-efficient building products, utilizing solar, geothermal and other green technologies as well as incorporating rooftop living and garden spaces. Community gardens, walking and bike trails, and interesting greenscapes can be used to promote a low-carbon lifestyle and an opportunity for local organic sustainable sourcing. Restaurants and markets selling a variety of fresh healthy foods along with small venue arts and entertainment options could help to create a very desirable micro community.
I personally think that college towns may be ahead of the game in this regard due to already having the market for the things mentioned in the post above. There are other cities that have it to some degree, but have parts of the city that need improvement and are just waiting for revitalization.
Also, I'd say that cities in the Interior Northeast, Midwest and select Southern and Western cities, in the 50-500,000 fits this the most.
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