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."