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The world economy is facing a “workquake”.
The corporate, bureaucratic world is dismantling;
the internet is offering a “no place
like home” trend. In the flurry of
activities that follow this “workquake”,
there is an emerging development –
the work-from-home movement – that
is gathering momentum.
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This trend is not just a reaction to loss of jobs
but often, one of empowerment. According to surveys
and reports, workers are looking for more control over
their lives. Baby boomers in their forties and fifties,
parents with small children, the physically challenged
and ordinary workers want autonomy over their lives
and their careers, which they hope would eventually
translate to a higher quality of life.
The internet has made this trend possible by offering
more ways to do business at home than the telephone
ever could. According to research firm International
Data Corp, only a quarter of the home office households
in USA had internet access in 1996. By 1999, more than
65 per cent of American households were hooked up, and
in 2000, more than 24 million Americans work from home.
Small and home office workers are expected to spend
US$78.8 (S$134.38) billion on technology in 2002.
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| Some multi-national companies have adapted to this new
work practice. IBM Canada enjoyed 50 per cent jump in
productivity, and US$35 (S$61) million savings in office
rental when it allowed its workers to work from home full-time.
Similarly, Nortel Networks saw staff turnover decrease
by 24 per cent, workers’ productivity up by 24 per
cent, and a 10 per cent increase in customer satisfaction.
They also saved US$15 (S$26) million in office rental.
This worldwide phenomenon that has seen a growing number
of people living in cities around the world joining
the home business set has also migrated to Singapore.
In the last few years Singapore government has been
encouraging companies to adopt more flexible work practices
including hiring part-timers, and open-collar workers*.
Studies including The Manpower and Community Development
and Sports’ Case Study Series 3/2001 found that
the practice of flexi-work arrangements increased productivity.
To spur companies to take on more family-friendly practices,
the Singapore government is offering grants to assist
companies to implement work-life practices. The government
is also allowing offices to be set up at home under
the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Home-Office
Scheme.
Far East Organization’s Central supports this
work-life practice. Bringing this concept to a different
level by introducing the first-of-its-kind purpose-built
SOHO (Small Office Home Office) to Singapore.
Owners of SOHO at Central need not apply for special
permits to work and live or just for the exclusive use
of either purpose.
The SOHO units are designed with these dual purposes
in mind: flexible layout that allows for the creative
partitioning for office and home uses.
“SOHO has captured the imagination of the market
with its pioneering new live, work and play concept.
And the market’s response to SOHO@Central shows
the readiness and sophistication of the Singapore market
in adopting the new work-life concept that has taken
on in a big way in major cosmopolitan cities such as
New York, London and Beijing,” commented Mr Chia
Boon Kuah, Far East Organization’s Deputy Chief
Operating Officer of Retail & Lifestyle Concepts
Business Group and Director of Sales & Regional
Marketing.
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| *Open-collar workers is one of the terms
used to call work-from-home workers. Others included
homepreneurs, home-office workers, teleworkers,
and telecommuters.
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