Everything is 2.0 – Web 2.0, library 2.0, marketing 2.0, PR 2.0 etc It’s affecting our lives in so many ways! And some of us are flourishing in it. I know many people that are excited about the new role of Community Manager that has evolved. I could hear the passion in Thomas Knoll’s (Seesmic’s community manager) voice when he told me how excited he is to have the opportunity to work in this capacity!
So my question is if the realm of marketing and public relations is being changed by customer influence, does this affect how employees work? Can a community manager work remotely? Should a company consider this compromise? Is it practical?
I consider some of the newly evolving positions as totally web 2.0. The persona is one of an independent self starter that’s project oriented – or at least that’s what they’re advertising for!
I have been working remotely since 2006 & have established myself online professionally & personally. But it’s a compromise on both sides & requires a lot of trust. But the whole concept of the community manager position requires that anyway. We are the voice of the brand as we move amongst the customers.
There are a number of us that are remote warriors. We firmly believe that we efficiently & effectively accomplish our jobs! We love working in this style.
Working remotely offers the following positives that I don’t think companies are realizing:
– higher productivity
– higher job satisfaction & happier employee
– lower cost of living – I can work for a lower wage from MN & provide high quality service
– onsite time is maximized & relationships are built – my home office visits are invaluable
– huge spectrum of talent to draw on – requiring onsite limits it to those able to relocate
– the community manager position is a web 2.0 position & there are many advantages to be off site
on the Facebook Community Manager Group Mark Woodward referred to it as ‘crucial freedoms’
I definitely agree. How many meetings do you go to? How many are necessary? Do interruptions at the office affect your multitasking? Do you sometimes wish you could tune it out? (I can turn off my chat aggregator or Twitterstream). At my previous job when I was onsite there were times when I worked from home in order to be able to focus.
There are downsides:
- I miss my coworkers sometimes – but then I use old technology (telephone)
- Sometimes it’s hard to hear when there are many in the room at a con call
- if wiki’s or collaborative doc tools aren’t used – it generates a lot of email
My role has extended to a worldwide presence as I mentor and now am partnering with friends who have businesses in Texas, the UK & Singapore. Web 2.0 tools has reduced the limitations geography used to place on us. In Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae he comments on the trend of ‘Outsourcing’:
It’s not just possible to find someone to make/code/do something for you quickly & cheaply; it is now easy. The means of production of physical goods and intellectual property is no longer based on geography but is based on talent & efficiency instead.
So a note to employers: Where is your talent located at? and is it more efficient to compromise & allow them to work remotely with periodic home office visits? Think of the commute time that many of your employees have – are they using that time productively? Web 2.0 is an experiment in many ways, why not in this way too?
What do you think? I’d like to hear form both sides (and yes, also my fellow remote warriors! :) tell me the pro’s & con’s ).
I’ve encountered many folks that told me they could never work remotely. I’m starting to think that in the future this may hurt their employability, as opposed to their willingness to relocate helping it now. What if, for example, there IS no office to relocate to?
I suppose these people can gravitate towards the huge companies… They’ll always have a physical office. Me? I like the nimble little startups, playing outside with my kids at 2pm, and working at midnight.
Wouldn’t it be beneficial to at least be located in the same city? I would think that working with the Marketing department could really optimize the image the company would like to display to the public and make sure the message is consistent throughout the organization. This could also tie in to new product development where I would think that face to face contact might help. I guess this can be done over the web, but I would think weekly meetings would make jobs easier for both sides. I have been following your blog for a short while now and am loving the social media thing. Keep up the great work.
I am new to your blog and reading it is like visiting one of those all-you-can-eat buffets…do I START!? In other words, thanks for the incredible wealth of information.
I work remotely, with periodic home office visits, and it has worked out wonderfully (though I’m with you on the crowded conference call challenges–is it socially permissible to shout “SPEAK UP”?). We’re a new company, and the concept of community management is new to many involved. However, work/life balance and integration are core subjects in our neck of the woods, so having remote workers in some of our key positions has changed from a leap of faith into a great source of material for our future articles and blogs.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
At my company, we work from home one day a week. I often get more day in that day than two or three at the office, and the quality of the work is higher. Distractions at the office are just too often.
Thanks Adam – it’s great for you to be with your kids when they’re little!
Chris – I agree that that would be ideal. I’ve chosen to work in this field & there aren’t any major companies near that are utilizing it. Most need SEO & a web master but beyond that… And it’s really rural here.
I have a weekly standing call with my manager. So I agree with the weekly connecting.
Thanks Viviana! I really appreciate your kind words. This area seems to have a need for info. I’m glad to hear that your company is testing the waters & setting an example for others! Keep us informed. It is about balancing things.
Thanks Alan – I’ve been there too. The onsite interruptions are continual. Do you foresee the one day/week expanding?
Considering where gas prices are headed it may not be possible to avoid telecommuting as employees increasingly cannot afford long commutes. And with technology like VOIP, chat and built-in video on computer monitors, you can get face to face a lot more easily than in the past. This will only improve as time goes by and connection speeds improve. As it is now if you use a Mac you can do a three person video conference with the software included with every computer.
Also the advent of doing everything in the browser via SaaS means you are not tethered to a specific device- everything is accessible everywhere.
The futurist in me thinks that working remotely, at least part of the time, will become the norm rather than a novelty. I can imagine businesses realizing that its easy to sustain a business with less office space to heat and cool by creating a telecommuting workforce and having a physical location that is pared down to a few shared offices and a meeting room.
Its all about working remotely. I’m a big fan. I haven’t really had an office job before, so I may have a biased opinion. The flexibility is great and working at all hours is fun! There is definitely a push for this as companies are going “green.” Next Up: Virtual Conferences.
Hey Martin,
You Mac users make it tempting – I may get one yet. I keep hearing about all their great features & it sounds like it would help my working remotely.
And Jim,
I learn so much from webinars. I attend about one a week. And I’ve attended a few web expos. They’re great for exploring lots of topics. It’s all here – a person just needs to know where to look and be ready to absorb it!
Jim’s comment “The flexibility is great and working at all hours is fun!” made me realize that one drawback for me is that I work too many hours.
When I was onsite I sometimes worked 12 hr days (admin) but then flexed my time to accommodate that. But when I work at home now I tend to work longer (well I don’t have an hour commute either).
But is this a bad thing for the employer?
I work as a Community Manager (in Australia) on a 3/2day office/home split and I find this is a fantastic compromise.
I do feel that being in the office at least some part of the week enables me to connect slightly better with the team, but I do feel I get a lot more work done at home not to mention saving time commuting. I can also multi-task when stuck in long conference calls!
I don’t think remote working is for everyone, but it makes me a happy employee and I’m more likely to jump online outside hours to deal with issues which means it’s great for my employer too.
Hi Connie,
I too am new here and so far loving all your advice. As far as working remotely goes…as someone starting out as a community manager in a start up, it’s helpful to be in the office to keep up to date on the latest changes. I also think that I would get off-task and lonely working from home all the time. That said, in the future I think it would be nice to have a day or two a week working from home as being in the office does provide distractions in the form of coworkers looking for opinions on how something sounds or just chatting in the background in Spanish (we’re in Chile) while I’m trying to read something in English – overload for my brain!
I was hired a few months ago to manage an online community for CIO’s by Microsoft. I’m working full time from CT and commuting to Seattle once a month.
I do get lonely at times, but the amount of productivity I can squeeze in every day is incredible.
It’s taken a lot more time than ususal as a new employee to get oriented and build credibilty, but hey.. that’s life!
Ideally, I’d be in Seattle, but the team (and MS) has been incredibly flexible and willing to make the situation work.
I think orgs are going to have to remain flexible in their approach when it comes to recruting talent who live in different parts of the world.
Hi Connie I just found your blog and think it is fantastic.
I have been working remotely in online communities for over eleven years. I never had a problem finding employers that would let me work remotely until the last two years. Now it seems that everyone wants me to relocate.
I have never worked from an office since I began my career in online communities and I honestly can not understand why employers feel the need to require online community managers to be in the office full time.
I often accomplish twice the work in a day that my co-workers who are in an office accomplish. The work is high quality as well.
I think one of the draw backs to working at home is that most people who are used to working in an office are not used to communicating the way we have to communicate. They can walk over to someone’s desk to ask them a question, they have the reminder of their co-worker’s presence to encourage them to respond to requests. In other words they are not used to communicating via phone, IM, email or other means of communication that is not face to face.
The other drawback as you and someone else mentioned above is the tendency to become a work-aholic. With my office being in my home, it is very easy to find myself sitting at my desk and working when I shouldn’t be.
I do understand that there are people who abuse the work at home environment. I have worked with some and it is very apparent, at least to me, when that is going on. I honestly think that these few make it rougher on the rest of us who love to work remotely and do an awesome job when we do. It makes employers not want to hire remotely.
In my opinion the benefits for the employer outweigh the lack of an office presence. It saves the employer money and depending on what state they are in could get them green credits on their taxes for having remote employees.
The monetary savings for the employee are substantial as well. I save on fuel costs, car maintenance, clothing (I still maintain a business wardrobe but it doesn’t get the wear it would if I were going into an office daily) parking and toll fees, etc. Granted my power bill is higher and I pay for the highest speed internet available and unlimited phone service, but I still save money in the long run.
If anyone out there happens to be looking for a dedicated and experienced remote community manager, please let me know ;-)