But there is one downside to working from home: in the course of our current investigation of new work forms at ETH, many people have mentioned feeling even more acutely that they must be constantly available. This is no new topic, but it’s one I now consider especially critical, as with many of us working from home, the boundaries between work and private life for each individual and even the entire team are becoming blurred. Clear rules for being allowed to be offline are imperative here.
Halving the number of business trips
And what about business trips? Well, now we know we can do without them! Videoconferences are functioning better and better; personal closeness and informal communication can be achieved in a virtual environment. But no doubt some people will have found that misunderstandings and conflict are harder to recognise and resolve. And those chance encounters at large business events, which may later prove to be groundbreaking, are hard or almost impossible to imagine in a virtual scenario.
So right now my conclusion is this: although we can’t give up travel altogether, we can probably make do with a lot less. How about establishing a new climate target based on halving the number of business trips? Those who have little to gain from hanging around in airports and planes will be happy. Others will lose a coveted status symbol – but then George Clooney’s quest for ten million frequent flyer miles in Up in the air is rather sad. In future, a far more critical assessment must be made as to whether a business trip is really necessary. And this should be based on facts rather than motivated by self-interest. But it certainly won’t be easy.
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