The Virtual Office: Great Way to Let Your Team Go Green

Hiring managers at marketing companies often battle with the notion of allowing their team members to tele-commute, or, work from a virtual office (at home). 

And some believe that if (their) team members are not working from the same physical location as they are based - and not visible to them – then (the team members) won’t be nearly as productive as if they were within earshot.

In the marketing world, typically it is the individual revenue contributor (the sales executive or “hunter”) that is most often afforded the virtual office setup.  The argument goes that because he or she will be travelling 50-60 percent the time to meet client-prospects and close deals, a virtual office set-up makes sense.  And often, certain professionals in the market research space, such as statistical analysts and modelers, are virtual-office based.

True, there are some roles where a virtual office set-up for your headcount may be a non-starter, especially if team members spend a disproportionate amount of time in client-facing situations.  However, one of the biggest steps a marketing company can take to go green is in making virtual office options more readily available to team members. 

Many of us live in large metropolitan areas.  I happen to live in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., second only to Los Angeles for the-worst highway traffic in the nation.  (Yippee!!!) In my region, a lack of reliable commuter rail transportation to the exurbs (outer suburbs) and virtual office options often prevent top marketing executive talent, living in one part of the region, from commuting to work in another part.  And even though Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland are just 40 miles apart, a highway commute between the two, during peak-travel times, can take upwards of 2-1/2 hours! 

Determining if a virtual office option is right for you, your company, and your headcount is probably one of the-most important management decisions you can make, and perhaps one of the-most important elements of your marketing company’s go-green strategy.

Here are two easy steps you and your marketing company may consider to optimize virtual officing:

• Invest in reliable tele-commuting technology.  Options for video-enabled technology are increasing while prices are decreasing, making it easy for you and your talent to be virtually face-to-face. Consider the viability of professional-grade tools such as those offered by Tandberg.  On a shoestring budget?  Check out Ojo or the low-cost, high-quality video-enabled options offered by Packet8 Virtual Office.
• When you (literally) need to be face-to-face with your talent, or they need to be client-facing, pay for monthly commuter train passes, or help subsidize the cost of the fares they purchase.  A rail commuter is better-rested, more effective on the job, uses the time on the train to extend productivity, and helps you help your company reduce its carbon footprint.

I’ve been in a virtual office set-up for nearly 14 years.  And I can attest that I am more-productive on the job (and work longer) than I was when I had to commute to work.  And the added time virtual officing allows me to be with my friends and family?  Priceless. 

But, at the end of the day, if recruiting, hiring, and retaining talented green-marketers isn’t enough of a draw to sell virtual officing to c-level management at your marketing company, ask them to consider the bottom-line:

Nationwide, the price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline is selling between $3.39 $3.66 $3.89 to just over four dollars $4.49.  What might the price-per-gallon be this summer?  Perhaps as high as five dollars a gallon.