每年一次， Community Options的领导人们会从35个分部所在地汇聚在一起，展开交流。这家非营利机构经营着各种创业企业，为残疾人士创造就业机会并提供住房。

    这个机构的首席财务总监在最近举行的峰会上叹息，由于客户订单给库存管理带来的难度，该机构在新不伦瑞克省新泽西花店里的鲜花很多都白白浪费了。

    Community Options的成员企业Daily Plan It的某个平面设计师将他的话听在了耳里，心想他们可以用这些未售出的枯花来制造干花。Daily Plan It出租共享办公空间，并提供文件粉碎之类的支持服务。因此，Community Options如今推出了一条干花生产线，由残疾人士包装和出售香花。

    “完全是因为人们聚在一起才想出了这个主意，”总部位于新泽西州普林斯顿的Community Options创始人和首席执行官罗伯特•斯塔克说。“因为人们可以彼此启发。”

    当今世界充满了视频会议、云计算和在线共享工作区，来自任何地方的人们都能够彼此协作，就像坐在彼此相邻的工作间里，这种图景并不难想象。

    远程办公的确减少了污染，提高了工作效率，也帮雇主削减了租用办公室的成本，同时还提高了员工的留用率和忠诚度。但无论远程技术有多么先进，没有了面对面的接触，总会有某种缺憾。

    事实上，一份新的报告发现，远程办公人员的数量在2010年出现了下降的趋势，这是近十年前开始收集相关数据以来首次出现这种情况。无可否认，远程办公带来了巨大的利益，但众多机构同时发现，虚拟协作也有其局限性。

    “我们已经尝试了云技术，感觉很不错。我们也尝试了在线语音通话服务Skype，四五个人可以同时进行视频聊天。但它跟（面对面交流）并不是一码事，”Community Options的斯塔克说。除了举办年度峰会以外，他每个季度还在每个地区举办1次见面活动。“思想的协作和交互没办法通过相互发送电子邮件来实现。”

有时当面交流比便利性更重要

    人力资源协会WorldatWork在今年早些时候发布的报告中发现，2010年每月在家办公1天以上的人数已经下降到了2,620万，而在2008年，这个数字还高达3,370万。然而，即便出现了下降趋势，远程办公人员还是占了成年劳动人口的20%。

    Once a year, leaders of Community Options come together from its 35 locations for a retreat. The nonprofit organization runs a variety of entrepreneurial ventures that create job opportunities and provide housing for people with disabilities.

    At the most recent summit, the chief financial officer was bemoaning the wasted flowers at the organization's New Brunswick, N.J. floral store, due to the inevitable difficulty in managing inventory to meet customer orders.

    Listening in, a graphic designer from Community Options' Daily Plan It, which rents shared office space and provides support services such as document shredding, thought they could use the dead, unsold flowers to create potpourri. As a result, Community Options is now launching a line of potpourri, which will be packaged and sold by people with disabilities.

    "It's all because a group of people got together and came up with this idea," says Robert Stack, founder and chief executive of Princeton, N.J.-based Community Options. "People play off each other."

    In a world of video conferencing, cloud computing, and shared online workspaces, it's easy to imagine that people can work together from anywhere, just as if they were sitting in the cubicle next door.

    It's true that telework reduces pollution, improves productivity, and cuts real estate costs for employers while increasing retention and employee loyalty. But no matter how advanced the technology, something is lost when face-to-face contact disappears.

    Indeed, a new report found that the number of teleworkers declined in 2010 for the first time since data collection began nearly a decade ago. While there's no denying that telecommuting can provide tremendous benefits, organizations are finding that virtual collaboration has its limits.

    "We've tried the cloud stuff; it's good. We've tried the Skype where you have four or five people on the screen. It ain't the same thing," says Community Options' Stack, who holds quarterly in-person meetings for each region in addition to the annual summit. "Collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas doesn't happen by me sending you an email and you sending one back."

When face time trumps convenience

    WorldatWork, a human resources association, found that the number of people who telecommuted at least one day a month in 2010 dropped to 26.2 million, down from 33.7 million in 2008, in a report released earlier this year. Even with the drop, teleworkers represent 20% of the working adult population.

    WorldatWork认为，如今经济形势不稳定，人们担心，如果总是不露面，就有可能丢掉饭碗。WorldatWork工作和生活实践领导人罗斯•斯坦利说：“我们发现，最近的经济衰退期间，远程办公人数也减少了，但导致这个现象出现的更重要原因是人们心态的变化，而不是机构政策的改变。”

    诚然，根据WorldatWork的调查，在减少的远程工作人数中，略超过半数（54%）的人是因为过去几年失业率的上升；其余的则是因为员工害怕被解雇，以及雇主增加了独立承包商的使用等因素。

    该协会建议远程办公人员每季度至少造访总部一次。“必须提供适当的途径，帮助员工与同事重新建立联系，”斯坦利说。

    27岁的彼得•莱德对远程办公的局限性深有体会。他曾被得克萨斯州的某个网上学校聘用，管理1个销售团队，而他自己却常住犹他州。除了在得克萨斯州度过的最初1周，他主要依靠每季度1次的见面与下属和其他同事来保持联系。

    “首次与公司的各色人等打交道就得通过电话并是件容易的事，”莱德回忆说。“我会亲自出面，花上1周的时间四处救火，或尽力和人们会面，这样，我下次给他们打电话时，就与他们多少有了些交情。”

    他的团队在他的领导下将学校的利润增加了200%，但他觉得孤立无援，毫无成就感。他说：“我实在找不到归属感。”

远程办公融合员工人际交往

    金融服务公司CUNA互助组试图解决如何打造虚拟团队协作的难题。该公司向储蓄互助社提供金融服务，大约有70名员工在全国各地从事贷款人开发项目。据产品管理总监特丽•史密斯说，为了让员工彼此互相认识，团队使用了网络摄像头，并在工余鼓励小规模群体之间互相交流，分享圣诞节的回忆，交流彼此最喜爱的度假胜地这样的话题。

    史密斯说：“我们利用每个机会不断地将我们的团队联系起来。如果我们要举行小组会议，所有人都得打开摄像头，这样，就能和他人进行面对面的互动交流。”

    摄像头技术还能让发言的人看到其他人的脸，这样，当她看到疑惑的表情时，就可以停下来，作出解释。此外，遇到员工添丁加口或生日等活动，该团队还会向个人赠送曲奇花篮，或者通过摄像头齐唱唱生日快乐，以此来表示庆贺。

    WorldatWork argues that the uncertain economy has heightened employees' fears that they risk losing their job if they are not seen. "We found that teleworking went down during the most recent economic downturn, more due to a mindset than to an organization's change in policy," says Rose Stanley, work-life practice leader for WorldatWork.

    To be sure, a slight majority (54%) of the decline in remote workers is attributed to a rise in unemployment levels over the past few years, according to WorldatWork's survey; the remainder was attributed to factors such as employees' fear of retribution and increased use of independent contractors by employers.

    The association recommends that employees who work remotely visit their home office at least once a quarter. "You have to put in place ways for that employee to reconnect to their co-workers," Stanley says.

    Peter Wride, 27, understands well the limits of telecommuting. He was hired to manage a sales team for an online school based in Texas -- when he was based in Utah. Aside from an initial week in Texas, he relied on quarterly in-person meetings with his staff and other colleagues.

    "It became hard to deal with different people in the company who I was meeting for the first time over the phone," Wride recalls. "I'd show up in person and spend a week putting out fires or trying to meet people so the next time I had to call them, I had a bit of a relationship with them."

    Under his leadership, his team boosted profits at the school by 200%, but he felt cut off and unfulfilled by the work experience. "I really didn't feel that I was part of the team," he says.

Inserting community into telework: No simple feat

    CUNA Mutual Group is trying to solve the puzzle of how to build virtual teamwork. The company, which provides financial services to credit unions, has about 70 employees across the country working in its lender development program. To help everyone get to know one other, the team uses Web cameras and encourages breakout discussions among smaller groups on topics like a Christmas memory or favorite vacation spot, says Terri Smith, director of product management.

    "We take every opportunity to continue to connect our team. If we're doing a team meeting, we're all on webcams, so you're getting that face-to-face interaction," Smith says.

    The webcam technology also allows a presenter to see people's faces, so she can stop a presentation to address puzzled looks. The group has celebrated life events like a baby shower or birthday by sending the individual a cookie bouquet or having everyone sing happy birthday via webcam.

    而金融服务公司State Street Corp（STT）则正在努力维系一个更大规模的群体，即它的全球雇员。上周，这家金融服务公司推出了全球Flex员工网络（Flex Employee Network），公司的全球雇员自然也可以举行虚拟会议，比如讨论最佳的远程工作实践。这个项目属于该公司实现更灵活工作模式的新方案的一部分，这个方案还包括远程办公的技术支持，跟踪生产率的在线工具，而当远程办公人员来公司上班的时候，该方案还能为职员预定共享的办公空间。

    STT发现，远程办公人员很高兴自己拥有更多意外的契机和同事进行面对面的交流。Flex项目办公室的副总裁马亚•热尔曼对此解释说，因为当他们在办公室时，他们可能会被分配到某个办公区域，而此时坐在旁边的人，他们以前并不认识。但是，某个团队最近在同事的节庆日向他赠送礼物时猛然意识到，他们忘了让其他在家工作的同事参与进来。他们决心永远不再犯这样的错误。

    “关于虚拟团队和如何加强无形的纽带，我们学到了很多知识，”热尔曼说。“我们已经了解了很多的需求，它们将是我们2012工作的重心。”

有些工作无法在家完成

    那些在家工作三天的人在这三天内都效率极高，但当他们来到办公室时，他们更看重能否与同事进行现场互动。尽管如此，“某些工作确确实实无法在家完成。某些金融服务的工作需要利用只有在组织中存在的技术才能完成，”她说。

    斯坦利建议，当远程办公行不通时，雇主应该寻找其他的办法，以便员工能够照样拥有灵活度。例如，STT提供了五种灵活的工作安排：弹性时间（日常工作时间表是灵活的），弹性场所（工作地点是灵活的），压缩工作周，减少工时，工作分担（与搭档分担工作职责）。

    斯塔克赞同：“如果想为某个职位找到最佳人选，灵活性比金钱更重要。”

    译者：聂传炎

    State Street Corp. (STT) is trying to unite an even bigger group: its global work force. Last week, the financial services company launched a global Flex Employee Network with, naturally, virtual events for employees around the globe such as a talk about best practices in telework. The initiative is part of the company's new approach to flexible work, which includes technological support for telecommuters, online tools for tracking productivity, and the option to reserve shared office space for those days when virtual workers are on site.

    State Street has found that telecommuters enjoy having more moments of serendipitous in-person connection with colleagues because when they are in the office, they may be assigned a space next to someone they previously didn't know, says Maia Germain, vice president of the Flex Program Office. But when a team was recently giving a colleague a gift for a life event, they realized they forgot to pass the collection hat to the people who were working from home. They resolved never to make that mistake again.

    "We've learned a lot about virtual teams and connecting the intangible things," Germain says. "We've been able to come up with a lot of needs we'll be focusing on in 2012."

Some jobs cannot be done from home

    People who work three days at home are very productive on those days, but they value even more the ability to interact with colleagues in person when they come to the office. Nonetheless, "some of the jobs really, truly can't be done at home. Certain financial services roles can only be done with technology that only exists within the organization," she says.

    When telework isn't possible, employers should find other ways to be flexible with their workers, Stanley suggests. State Street, for instance, offers five types of flexible work arrangements: flex time (your daily work schedule is flexible), flex place (where you work is flexible), compressed workweeks, reduced hours, and job sharing (you split the job duties with a partner).

    Stark agrees: "Flexibility is worth more than money if you want to land the best person for a position."