I think we may be a bit at cross purposes here.
I’m not referring to tele-working. I’m talking about flexible working. There’s a difference. I can assure you I don’t have any romantic notions of tele-working or remote working as a labouring paradise. And there are very real problems of isolation and lack of collegiality.
There’s a fundamental question about the nature of the labour contract underneath this. Is it a rigid exchange of money for time? Or is it an agreement about specific outcomes in return for money?
I appreciate that there is the *potential* for increased pressure, stress and indeed exploitation if you take the latter approach. But that is also the case in a money for time exchange. A lot depends on the parties involved and the power relations involved – we’re into the democratization of the workplace here, which is another discussion altogether.
Done properly, I think a results approach can have benefits for all concerned.
Going back to your points about the intensification of the work and the pressure to work late – that’s a potential issue in any workplace and under any arrangement. It’s not exclusive to tele-working.
A question for you though. If work is not about ‘happiness’ what is it about?
As I said above – flexibility as a perk, or as a lever to force people to be constantly ‘on’ isn’t flexibility.
And thanks for the book recommendation, I’ll check it out.