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The Tide Is High . . .
It's About How, Not Where in the 'New Oasis'
Digital nomads
defining mobility
Wireless communication is changing the way that people live and work, according to an April 10, 2008, special report by The Economist magazine. It's also changing the way that we relate to places ... and each other.
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 The Economist took a recent 'deep dive' on workplace trends, reporting in depth on the emergence of "digital nomads," workers across multiple age groups who operate 100% on the paradigm that work is about how, not where. Companies large and small support thousands of "techno-Bedouins" in the "new oases" of mobility.
It sounds a lot like our "Workplace Flows to the Mainstream" metaphor. The tide is high in the estuary, and the desert spring is brimming over in the oasis.
Either way, the adoption levels have reached an all-time historical high for organizations and people. About half of the world's population subscribes to mobile-phone services, or roughly 3.3-billion people globally, The Economist also reported in its April 10 workplace focus, for example.
Plus, the magazine also demonstrated how strong majorities of every age group - except for people over 65 years old - regularly use PDA's or mobile phones for email, texting, photography, videos, internet access, or instant message. Even among those so-called Traditionalists, usage rates have reached or exceeded 33% of the total population of the 'geezer' segment.
It's more proof that mobility isn't confined to youth.
"Even the older workers are becoming nomadic," The Economist conceded. Still, it acknowledged, Millennials are "forcing employers to compete for new talent by letting younger employees work wherever they please."
The near exclusion of the term "Millennial" from The Economist's lengthy workplace essay is noteworthy, though. The report instead focused on university communities where students learn through virtual and social collaboration, then carry that style into their careers, often landing inside companies that already practice the same model.
Taking the broader view espoused by Ken Ashley of C&W, however, it's also worth noting that "the four generations in the workplace all view work and the workplace differently, but each generation is valuable to the organization," as CoreNet Global Knowledge Center manager Jennie Lazarus, MLIS, reported during the recent San Diego Global Summit focusing on the War for Talent.
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