{"id":20695,"date":"2016-11-18T17:59:58","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T18:09:59","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T23:09:59","slug":"slacking-a-new-way-to-win","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win?"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE DEBATE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teleworking and telecommuting have long been heralded as magical cures to the ailments of pollution, lost time and other ills of commuter culture, but concerns over communications inefficiency, decreased project and team continuity and questionable employee productivity have caused many employers to pause. Marissa Mayer famously banned a preexisting teleworking program soon after taking the helm as CEO of Yahoo! Inc, emphasizing that people are \u201cmore collaborative and innovative when they\u2019re together.\u201d[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

ENTER SLACK<\/strong><\/p>\n

While these risks of historic telework arrangements are real, several companies are actively building platforms that seek to capture its tremendous benefits while sidestepping potential costs. An innovative leader in this space is Slack, a cloud-based communication and collaboration Software as a Service (SAAS) platform, which employs a freemium pricing model and has attracted millions of ardent followers. And the model seems to be working \u2013 as of last month Slack had 1.25M+ paid users, 5.8M weekly active users and 33,000 paying teams, which amounts to $100M in annual recurring revenues.<\/p>\n

Fortune 100 companies aren\u2019t the only major organizations using Slack.\u00a0 The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory staff use of the software to help coordinate projects, both within and across shifts. Slack\u2019s website highlights that \u201ca lot can happen during a shift. Slack allows staff coming on to track and search the communications that have occurred during the day.\u201d[ii]<\/a> This applies to a globally distributed workforce as well. By organizing each conversation subset as a unique \u201cchannel\u201d that is easy to join and leave, or share files or search for previous communications, or to pass specific information to individuals, subgroups or the entire team – Slack enables workers to elect to receive only information that is relevant to them. This keeps their efforts focused on critical tasks and helps them avoid \u2018clutter\u2019 so they can quickly synch up with the projects\u2019 latest developments when their day begins.<\/p>\n

CORPORATE HQ’S DISAPPEARING? PLANNING FOR CHANGE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kristin Bellstrom goes so far as to predict that 2017 will see a Fortune 100 company shifting to a completely distributed workplace, offloading the overhead costs of large office spaces without losing workflow continuity.[iii]<\/a> While perhaps extreme, the mere idea that corporate headquarters as we know them may soon disappear is fascinating. A world without physical HQs would free up a tremendous amount of office space, reduce traffic congestion, practically destroy the Otis Spunkmeyer muffin market, etc\u2026 but those are topics\u00a0for another post.<\/p>\n

Before making such a transition however, large firms must be sure how the new model will benefit corporate operations. Global Workplace Analytics is a firm dedicated to addressing such concerns and \u201cconducts primary and secondary research on how new ways of working can impact people, planet and profits.\u201d[iv]<\/a> Their research has shown significant increases in telecommuting, including a more than 100% increase in employees working from home (excluding those who are self-employed) over roughly the last decade. Strikingly, that increase is comprised in part by a nearly 425% increase in Telework by Federal Government employees.<\/p>\n

RISKY BUSINESS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite surging interest and some clear successes, not all companies or employees are so enamored by the benefits of teleworking. Data security, for example, remains a risk of great concern to companies, employees and stakeholders. With so much information being shared across, controlling for data security is no easy task. This risk compounds in cases where employees access work communications and files from personally owned devices.<\/p>\n

Also of concern is the impact our modern \u201calways-on\u201d work mentality is having on employee work\/life balance, and the subsequent impact on morale and performance. With instant access to every communication, resisting the urge to engage while out of the office can be excruciating or temperamentally impossible. As it now stands, 31 percent of men and 19 percent of women \u201callow work to interrupt time with family and friends.\u201d[v]<\/a><\/p>\n

WHERE THERE’S A WILL… THERE’S SLACK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Companies considering a transition to a distributed work location model will need to establish healthy cultural norms that encourage healthy work-life balance. Platform providers such as Slack can help by providing time limits, off-hours message queuing and other technical supports for such efforts. \u00a0Having already partnered with IBM to leverage Watson\u2019s capabilities to better understand and predict user needs,[vi]<\/a> Slack is in position to help companies successfully transition to flexible working arrangements while avoiding many related pitfalls \u2013 a significant win for all involved.<\/p>\n

Next time you hear that someone is “Slacking,” it might not be a bad thing!<\/p>\n

Word Count: 737. Just like the Airplane.<\/p>\n

\n

[i]<\/a> Tkaczyk, Christopher. \u201cMarissa Mayer breaks her silence on Yahoo\u2019s telecommuting policy.\u201d Fortune.com, April 19, 2013. http:\/\/fortune.com\/2013\/04\/19\/marissa-mayer-breaks-her-silence-on-yahoos-telecommuting-policy\/<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a>Balakrishnan, Anita. \u201cIt will be years before Slack goes public, CEO Stewart Butterfield says\u201d. CNBC.com, October 26, 2016 http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2016\/10\/26\/it-will-be-years-before-slack-goes-public-ceo-stewart-butterfield-says.html<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> Bellstrom, Kristen. \u201cPrediction: Big Companies will Start Giving up Officers in 2017\u201d Fortune.com, November 15, 2016. \u00a0http:\/\/fortune.com\/2016\/11\/15\/work-remote-from-home\/?iid=sr-link5<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[v]<\/a> Staff. \u201cWork Life Fit Linked ot Employee Engagement, Motivation and Job Satisfaction\u201d American Psychological Association, September 3, 2015. http:\/\/www.apa.org\/news\/press\/releases\/2015\/09\/work-life-fit.aspx<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[vi]<\/a> Walchuck, Zach. \u201cEasy Slack integration for Watson Conversation.\u201d IBM Watson blog, October 28, 2016. https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/blogs\/watson\/2016\/10\/easy-slack-integration-watson-conversation\/<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Slacking” takes on new meaning as companies get serious about the distributed workplace. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2079,"featured_media":20741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[2861,2862,2860,1113,55,2859,2858],"class_list":["post-20695","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-fortune-100","category-messaging","category-slack","category-technology","category-telecommuting","category-telework"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/digitization-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nSlacking \u2013 A new way to win? - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win? - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Slacking" takes on new meaning as companies get serious about the distributed workplace.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-18T23:09:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Slack-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"315\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/\",\"name\":\"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win? - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Slack-logo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-18T22:59:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-18T23:09:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Slack-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Slack-logo.png\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":315},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win? - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win? - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"\"Slacking\" takes on new meaning as companies get serious about the distributed workplace.","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","article_modified_time":"2016-11-18T23:09:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":315,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Slack-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/","name":"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win? - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Slack-logo.png","datePublished":"2016-11-18T22:59:58+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-18T23:09:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Slack-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Slack-logo.png","width":1100,"height":315},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/slacking-a-new-way-to-win\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Slacking \u2013 A new way to win?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/20695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2079"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/20695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}