Riding a train or bus every day? That time is valuable

By Doug Cooper, Intel of Canada

The solution to Canada’s productivity gap with the United States may be riding on public transit. More people are taking the bus or subway to work but Intel Canada’s Commuter Survey reveals that only 11 per cent of organizations empower their mass transit-riding workers with laptops or other alternatives that turn transit time into productive time. Commuters are 12 per cent of the workforce and the number is quickly growing. They spend about 240 hours a year commuting, and this is time that communications and collaboration technology can make productive if they are knowledge workers.

Between 1990 and 2000, according to Statistics Canada, the percentage of knowledge workers grew from 21 to 25 per cent and that figure is undoubtedly higher today. In many organizations, they are the greatest expense and the most important success factor, so anything that makes this group more productive benefits the organization. Increasingly, that means giving them tools to communicate and collaborate. At Intel, our research told us that at any given time, our knowledge workers participated in three to 10 project teams. It was clear that anything that streamlined their interactions would make them more productive. We learned the route to success is: classify, equip and measure.

Right tools for the job
Not all knowledge workers have the same needs, so a classification system assesses factors such as the complexity of the daily work and the degree of interaction with others. Some people perform fairly routine work and do little in the way of collaboration, while others might need to supplement their individual expertise with that of others. So how is that individual’s work getting done? A basic BlackBerry could be one person’s ideal productivity solution while desktop videoconferencing and a virtual whiteboard might be optimal for someone else. Once managers understand how knowledge workers operate throughout the day, they can equip them with the right tools.

A good measure of how well an organization has equipped its knowledge workers might be teleconferencing. How many companies still require someone to book teleconference hours in advance with a human operator? A Web-based booking tool makes things a little easier and more spontaneous, but the goal should be complete availability and mobility. At Intel, we have given employees their own personal audio bridges that allow immediate use of all teleconferencing functionality. Paired with a Web-based document repository and conference-room booking tool, the system is designed to improve a common knowledge worker behaviour.

When it comes to measurement, managers may need to get more comfortable with evaluating performance by outcomes instead of inputs, worrying less about tallying face time or counting up meetings and rather looking at what was achieved with the tools at hand. Are the collaboration tools being used? Is travel time going down while results are going up? Knowledge workers thrive in a marketplace of ideas; they bring value to others and they expect value from others. Organizations that enable quick, effortless communication for knowledge workers can only benefit from their interactions.

Right environment
Managers should lead by example, first by learning and using collaboration tools themselves and then by creating circumstances where their knowledge workers can see them in action. And don’t be offended if it doesn’t work for everyone right away. If people want daily updates, for example, make them available in a document repository or on a blog; if meetings are crucial to their work, allow some meetings to be virtual—not always face to face. There are many ways for organizations to equip the workforce and improve the quality and consistency of their work: provide scripts for employees who deal with customer support issues, automate their repetitive processes and support them with intelligent systems that push information to them when they need it. Ultimately, however, success will depend on management’s understanding of how knowledge work is done in their organization and the effectiveness of their training and support.

Increased productivity is great for organizations and for Canada, but employees win as well. The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity in Toronto said closing the “prosperity gap” of economic potential between Canada and the United States would give the average household nearly $12,000 more in disposable income. The links between productivity and prosperity are clearly understood and so are the technological solutions that can forge them. The next step is to make it happen.