Tony Gasson

Amsterdam

Vice President EMEA, WebEx Communications

Your article on mobile working rightly points out that growth in the use of mobile phones, email and instant messaging has led to an ‘always on’ culture where, if we are not careful, we could find ourselves on call 24/7. Five years ago, the distinction between the office and home was absolute. Your weekend was your weekend and customers and colleagues would not have dreamt of calling you outside working hours. These days business associates and clients have a channel to reach you in your leisure time.

Remote working should give employees a choice of where they work and more control over their time. If we are to embrace these advantages effectively then the onus is on us to be disciplined enough to create an optimum balance between work and leisure. To prevent flexible workers becoming permanent slaves we need to ensure that workers have the tools to be extremely productive and interactive during the day, so that at the end of play they can power down and put their feet up. Setting simple parameters can also help; buy a separate mobile for work, leave your desk regularly to stretch and refocus, and ensure you leave the work environment at lunchtime to recharge batteries.

Whether it’s the chance to skip the infuriating traffic jams of the M25, or to simply reduce the daily cost of doing business, there are advantages to mobile working; the key is to ensure that we set ourselves a healthy balance.