Hi there, my name is Nigel Ballard, originally from the UK, then a period living in France where I learned how to spot the good bread from the bad bread; seriously this is important stuff! Now I call Portland Oregon home to my family and 101 pound dog called Bowlie. His name is obscure but is a reference to a certain group. An Intel one-size-apparently-fits-all cap to the first person who tells me exactly what, and no using search engines!

So what's my day job at intel? Federal Marketing Manager and that means what exactly? Devising marketing campaigns, and programs with our friends and partners, working with the media, thinking up new ways to get the message across and generally making sure that people inside the beltway know where Intel is headed, what new innovations we have and helping people decode our somewhat confusing product lineup. Did I just type that?

Isn't sales like marketing you ask? No no and thrice no. Sales people are always trying to sell you something whereas marketing people are just trying to inform you of what's available. The difference is pretty big. So the bottom line is, Trust, me, I'm in marketing!

I thought I'd start the blog ball rolling by talking about a subject close to my heart on both a personal and professional level, and that is Teleworking. Telewhat?

Teleworking is the ability to work from a location other than a fixed office. Of course there are many variations to this theme and not everybody is eligible or capable of working remotely. If you work with secret documents then you should probably be working from a secure location which isn't the back deck of your house sipping a mint julep. If you're a truck driver or a school teacher then of course ‘presence' is normally required to perform the work task. Though, I bet there are remote teachers somewhere out there, Australia seems to ring a bell.

So what about the rest of us? Well, examine your own job, do you seem to commute into an office each day, sit at a computer screen and tap away at the keyboard till 5pm then commute back home again where you catch up on personal Emails on a computer that looks remarkably like the one you sat at all day in the office? Are bells ringing? I like to think of that as the old work paradigm where management assumed someone was slacking unless they could stand behind them breathing down their neck. But as one Robert Allen Zimmerman put it, the times my friend, are most definitely changing!

To get your brain around the new work paradigm, you need to think of a couple of things, one is something I said last year and the latter is from someone in Government.

"In the 21st century, fewer workers will be content to drive 60 minutes from one computer screen to another"

And "Telework is about performance, not presence"

With me, not with me?

I'm one of those people who thinks better with a pen and piece of paper to scribble on, a bit of a list maker truth be told. And so in the style of those movies where the woman is going to break up with the guy and makes a list of his good and his bad points, lets scribble what's in it for the employer AND lest we forget, you the employee. Life, after all, she is a two way street, and the only good contract is the one where both parties benefit in my book.

Telework is good for the employer because:

22% increase in employee productivity (International Telework Association and Council)

20% decrease in employee turnover (International Telework Association and Council)

60% decrease in employee absenteeism (International Telework Association and Council)

Reduces real estate costs

Reduces heating and air conditioning costs

Ensures business continuity in the event of an emergency (Pandemic, RDD etc.)

Better work/life balance (both parties benefit here)

Telework is good for the employee because:

Greatly reduced wear and tear on personal vehicle

Reduced gas expenditure

Reduced wear and tear on local streets, saves maintenance for county

Reduces chance of a home burglary (house is occupied more)

Tax advantages for apportioning part of home at an office

Altogether a greener way to work

You're safer at home in the event of an emergency (Pandemic, RDD etc.)

Employees tend feel more trusted and valued

If widely adopted it would significantly reduce morning and evening congestion on the roads.

Better work/life balance (both parties benefit here)

Is there a downside? One for sure. Isolation. Some people will happily put up with all the smog and high gas prices for the social interaction work environment provides. As in most things in life, including baseball caps, one size does not fit all.

I should add that at Intel I'm pleased to say we do indeed eat our own dog food. All sales and marketing folk get issued a laptop; we're trained how to use and secure it, how to operate the VPN (Virtual Private Network) and other security measures, enabling us to securely connect even if we're using the free Wi-Fi in a random coffee shop. We're a very fluid bunch of people, with multiple offices and factories across many time zones and in numerous countries, we have to be flexible. Work is wherever you happen to be!

OK, I've started the ball rolling, do you already Telework and love or hate it? Would you donate a major organ for the chance to Telework or is the notion of Teleworking anathema to you. Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers Nigel