How Flexible Are Your Hours As a Tech Professional?

With the onslaught of smarter smart phones, tablets, netbooks and services and software such as Skype jobs across all industries, especially IT are becoming more flexible than ever before. Nowadays, there are so many people that work remotely, it seems as though the days of the brick and mortar office is limited as virtual offices are growing in popularity as a way to bring in the best possible talent (regardless of location) as well as an easy way to save on overhead. We asked more than 300 IT professionals about the flexibility of their hours and only 21% said they’re required to work set hours in an office while the other 79% said that they have the flexibility to work at home, on the go, or can set their own hours as long as they meet their deadlines. So what does this mean for the future of the IT industry? Will tech professionals soon ALL be working remotely or will that need to be in the same room together ever truly go away? While we are in no way surprised by these results of this poll, we predict that even more professionals (regardless of industry) will have the flexibility that IT pros have had over the years, as we move into the era of the tablet. But as these technologies emerge there are some downfalls to the flexibility. 1. Because IT pros can work anytime, from anywhere they can end up working more hours, than if they had a traditional 9 to 5 gig. 2. Lack of social interaction with coworkers can cause workers to work in a vacuum and rob them of the concept of teamwork which is a crucial requirement of most jobs these days. 3. Lack of productivity can also be a result of increased flexibility at work. Because you’re able to work whenever, wherever, some workers will ultimately not be able to deliver as some people simply thrive in an environment where they feel the pressure to deliver. While many companies started embracing this flexibility during the recession in an effort to cut costs while at the same time offer employees the benefit of telecommuting, even more organizations will be jumping on board. But, beware if you’re a telecommuter, if you don’t deliver from home, you might have to start physically delivering yourself to the office.