When I was a corporate CIO, we began experimenting with an office anywhere approach. We had combined this with a new collaborative environment in our physical office. So … after a year in, how was it working? Here are a couple of quotes from 2 of our staff.

I feel like I have the best of all worlds… I can come into our open area at work when I need to meet with staff or someone in particular. I can hole away in my home office to do solitary work, and I am in fact, in my home office most of the time. My home office is a quiet environment (most of the time) and I can actually think and work. While there, I feel totally connected just by having my Lync window up showing all my team’s status colors. I think the work-life balance benefits of this arrangement are incredible and I feel empowered knowing that I don’t have to “show up” in the collaborative area just to be seen.

And another.

I enjoy telecommuting because I have the option of staying away from the masses, the drive byes, and the side conversations if I wish.  My favorite days are those where I have few meetings and I can actually do work.  Unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often so I have to find other ways to get real work done or to just think/strategize.

Now, as a consultant, I work from home a lot but from lots of other locations as well. I happen to enjoy the freedom. I know others don’t however.

So, what do you think? Are you an anywhere office kind of person?