GSA Joins NewWOW
Please welcome Kevin Powell, Director of Research, Office of Applied Science, U.S. General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, to our Network. Kevin's group works on projects in three key areas: sustainability practices and high performance building strategies, improved workplace effectiveness, and optimized building delivery, energy efficiency and operations.
Invitation to a "summer conversation"
"Given the obvious benefits of teams, I wonder why they're difficult to implement and maintain within corporations?" asks Jay Brand. He observes that although organizations encourage teamwork and collaboration, many people are "isolated 'road warriors' desiring more collaboration and community, pressured by deadlines to deliver lower quality work all by ourselves. Is this a 'role-of-place' issue, a work-group culture issue, or simply the result of no formal protocols to address it ?"
Jay invites others to discuss this issue. "I'd be interested in some dialogue on this--you know, a summer conversation." Add your thoughts at: http://www.newwow.net/members/node/719#comment-606
The world should invest in energy efficiency
Improving the world's energy efficiency will help stretch energy resources and slow the increase in carbon emissions, according to McKinsey analysts. Businesses and consumers could invest $170 billion a year from now until 2020, earning a 17 percent average internal rate of return. The article discusses many obstacles to such an investment plan including the fact that two-thirds of the investment opportunity is in developing countries. Many thanks to Renate Fruchter for sending us this link. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/584#comment-607
Cures for email addiction
Research by RescueTime finds that a typical sedentary information worker checks his/her email program more than 50 times, sends or receives 77 instant messages, and drops in on 40 websites over the course of a typical workday. Our summary of a New York Times article describes efforts by tech companies (IBM, Google, Intel, Microsoft) to battle information overload. Some workers even consider declaring "e-mail bankruptcy," where one simply deletes all unanswered messages and starts over.
http://www.newwow.net/members/node/735#comment-608
Office workers fear telecommuting backlash
Steelcase's Workplace Index Survey indicates that a majority of office workers fear telecommuting can hurt their career prospects. Sixty-four percent believe that working away from the office will hinder their chances for promotion due to the lack of contact with their employer. They also believe that their companies prefer them in the office to control their work environment (72%) and to prevent a decline in productivity (71%). http://www.newwow.net/members/node/25#comment-605
More news this week:
- Meeting the Demand for Sustainable Buildings. Renate also sent us a link to a one-day roundtable on sustainable buildings at Stanford. Details at: http://www.newwow.net/members/node/906
- US telecommuters double-taxed. Thirty-seven states maintain the right to tax American workers who telecommute to a company in their state from another says the Bureau of National Affairs. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/615#comment-609
- BofA's new telecommuting initiative. Bank of America, the largest bank in the US, announced a major telecommuting initiative called "My Work." http://www.newwow.net/members/node/615#comment-604
