The difference between working from home and mobile working is not always that obvious but it is worth considering when deciding the type of work you wish to do.
Working from home
Essentially when you work from home you transplant a version of your office working environment into your home. For this you’ll no doubt need a computer connected to the internet, phone and most likely a printer. If you work exclusively from home the computer does not need to be a laptop. A desktop can provide you with everything you need and your phone does not necessarily need to be a mobile either. Whether running your own business or as an employe working from home can be really work for some. But for others, social contact and having others to motivate them in person is necessary to get the job done.
Mobile Working
Mobile working requires the use of mobile technologies to enable a highly mobile worker to get the job done. So for instance a mobile worker will need a mobile phone and laptop computer (or tablet equivalent) and will often have to forgo the luxury of printing. Instead they rely primarily on digital communication. A mobile worker will need some means of connecting to the internet whilst on the go. this may be through a smartphone (tethering) or by connecting a mobile broadband dongle into their laptop. The office environment therefore is shrunk into a few devices which hold all of the information a mobile worker needs to do his or her job. These devices need to be small and light enough to carry in a bag.
Why isn’t working from home mobile working?
If you are a mobile worker then there is a good chance that some or most of your job is carried out at home. However as you need to get about (often to visit customers or colleagues) then you will need to be able to carry on working wherever you happen to be.If you are working from home then it is reasonable to expect that whilst you are not at your place of work then you cannot get things done.
Does this matter?
I think this definition does matter as businesses of all size wake up to the fact that being truly mobile benefits the business and the person doing the work. Setting up a phone line and computer in someones house may save of office overheads but is just geographically distributing the office and not making best use of modern technology. Mobile working (like working from home) is not something everyone can or will want to do. But for those people that enjoy being able to be flexible and go where the work demands then there has been no better time to be doing it.
What do you think?
Please leave a comment below if you have a different view on working from home vs mobile working as I’d love to hear what you think.
2 Responses
I have worked for the same company now for over 7 years. I recently passed an series of Insurance adjusters exams and was offered the position of working from home. I do like the fact that I do not have to travel in this city of construction and choking traffic. It saves tremendously on gas and car maintenance bills. Human interaction now that I am working from home (not mobile working) is something that I miss. Another aspect is vertical movement seems to be a bit more difficult if your not in the office. Seems I am more out of touch with the events of the company since I am no longer in the office. You know the casual conversations that you get when your in the office. This leads me to feel left out of side projects and improvement opportunities. I do like the fact that I can roll out of bed to work some early A.M. overtime and then go on about my day. It has its upsides and downs. I too want to hear more from others who work from home and not necessarily mobile workers.
HI KG,
It is interesting how many people who work from an office do not consider some of the downsides to remote working. As you point out it you can end up feeling a little bit marginalised. You can miss out on those ‘water cooler’ moments which keep you in the loop and help you spot opportunities early. Have you considered using technology to address some of these short comings? I’ve looked into using Google Hangouts to try and create a virtual ‘water cooler’ for the team I work with but I’ve come up against some issues with getting it to work for everybody.
I think that as more folk work this way businesses will have to embrace a wider variety of communication mediums (such as hangouts) so that the serendipitous moments continue to happen even though people are spread all over the country / world.