Industry news

Gartner: Virtual offices make sense

Virtual office deployment can make "good business sense", according to one analyst.

Gartner predicts that 41.4 million corporate workers worldwide will spend at least one day a week teleworking this year – despite resistance to the trend from those that prefer face-to-face interaction.

The analyst is urging organisations to create formal plans to establish and sustain virtual office arrangements to make this successful.

It believes that though virtual offices may vary in format, the most common types involve an individual who works from home at least once a week and has work space available at the office for the remaining days.

Andrew Walker, research director for the firm's CIO research group, said that most enterprises do not have a "formal plan" and usually support the concept on an "ad hoc basis" at manager discretion.

"Such informal arrangements don't realize the advantages of recruitment branding and a well-planned transition," he added.

"A more formal approach demonstrates to new recruits that the enterprise is willing to make a long-term commitment to work/life balance, which is key to employee satisfaction and retention."

Gartner claims to provide advice and insight to support the decision makers of the IT world.