Flexible Work Styles in the Corporate Research Center
By Katherine Baker
The changing role of the corporate librarian has been the topic of much discussion in recent years. These changes are, of course, largely the result of technological changes in the tools we use to accomplish our tasks. For example, online resources have replaced hard copy materials, thus changing the librarian's required skill set and type of services offered. But in addition to modifying the corporate librarian's roles and responsibilities, recent technological changes have also obviated the need for rigid work styles. This article explores the reasons why today's corporate research center is appropriate for those seeking flexible work arrangements, and provides insight into the benefits of flexible work arrangements in other industries.
A career as a librarian in a corporate research center is well suited for those who are looking for flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting because most of the resources used today are available electronically. Some of these resources include the following:
Brokerage research
Company web sites
Government filings
Intranet web sites for information within a company
Proprietary databases containing reports by industry analysts
Anyone who has remote Internet access and subscriptions to proprietary web sites can use the resources mentioned above from a home office or any remote location.
Receiving and Answering Requests: A Telecommuter's Perspective
The methods by which requests for research are submitted and answered have also changed over the past several years. In the past, a client in need of research called the research center to submit a request. The librarian was therefore required to be in the center in order to accept the request. Now, in many companies, a librarian's phone can be programmed to forward all calls automatically to a phone outside the company. So the client in need of research can call the research center, and the librarian can answer the call from his or her home office. Also, many requests are now submitted via e-mail, and so can be received and answered from anywhere.
As recently as a few years ago, to answer a research request a librarian typically determined the appropriate source, located the book or document on the shelf, photocopied a few pages, and then faxed them to the client. Or, if a client requested an entire book, the librarian would send it through the mail. Now, however, most resources can be downloaded from the Internet and sent via e-mail in PDF, HTML, or Word format. The disadvantage of downloading PDF files from the Internet over an analog phone line, however, is the slow speed of data transfer. Installing an ISDN line in one's home office is an alternative to the analog phone line, although it is of course more costly.
Increasingly, clients of corporate research centers require only a graph, table, or brief summary to answer their information needs. Many clients no longer have the time or inclination to read through a large document, and are satisfied with receiving the information graphically. These graphics can often be extracted from the online document, and sent to the client electronically (pasted into an e-mail message). Again, a remote office environment is perfectly suited to requests that do not involve delivery of large, hard copy documents.
Job Sharing
In addition to telecommuting, flexible work arrangements such as job sharing are becoming more prevalent in corporate research centers. It is the nature of many research requests that they can be answered within a day, or in two days. The work week can therefore be divided in half if two librarians wish to job-share. If there are requests that remain unfinished at the end of a librarian's shift, those requests can be passed on for completion to the librarian who covers the next part of the week. In most cases, this type of arrangement demands that both librarians have some subject matter expertise in the client's subject area. Job sharing requires excellent communication between the two librarians, so that no requests go unfinished; it also requires close communication between the librarians and the client, so that the client knows the status of the request, and who is working on it.
Flexible Work Arrangements and Job Performance
The effects that flexible work arrangements have on job satisfaction and business results have been studied by Flexible Resources, Inc., a leading staffing and consulting firm located in the Northeast and California, and Families and Work Institute, located in New York. A June 9, 1999 Business Wire article ("Surveys Reveal How Flexibility Enhances Job Performance") describes how Flexible Resources, Inc. conducted parallel research asking people in flexible jobs to evaluate their job performance. In a separate survey, their managers were asked what they thought. The survey involved just over 200 working women employed in flexible jobs in marketing, finance, human resources, sales and other professions, in the LA, Boston, and New York metropolitan regions. The results below show the respondents' assessments of their own job performance:
A full 90 percent said they were "the same or more" results-oriented in their current flexible job than in a previous, non-flexible work arrangement.
Eighty percent said they are now "the same or more" motivated.
Eighty-four percent said they are now "the same or more" loyal to their employer.
Eighty-six percent said they are now "the same or more" focused.
Flexible Resources, Inc. conducted a parallel survey with more than 50 managers who employ people in flexible positions. Some of their responses include the following:
Fifty-six percent of employers said the flexible employee was "more productive per hour" than comparable staff working a full-time conventional schedule.
One hundred percent of employers said the flexible employee was "the same as" or "more" experienced, focused, productive and motivated than those employed full-time.In 1998 the Families and Work Institute (www.familiesandwork.org) published the "Business Work-Life Study." It is one of the most comprehensive studies of how U.S. companies are responding to the work-life needs of the nation's changing workforce. Funded by several large corporations, this report surveys a representative sample of 1,057 for-profit and not-for-profit companies with 100 or more employees. One of their findings is that only 18 percent of companies offering flexible work arrangements perceive the costs of their investments in these policies as outweighing the benefits, while 36 percent perceive these programs as cost-neutral, and 46 percent perceive a positive return on their investments. The study also finds that the mere fact that so many companies provide programmatic assistance and supportive work environments indicates that many company executives are aware that meeting the needs of employees not only helps these employees and their families, but also benefits the bottom line.
As these studies have shown, there is a demonstrated connection between a balanced life and a more effective employee. Given the abundance of resources available online and a librarian's skill at using them, as well as the changing nature of research requests, corporate research centers can now encourage their employees to adopt flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting and job sharing. There are indeed occasions when it is advantageous to have a person physically present in the center, for example to loan books or to discourage theft of expensive materials. However, research librarians need not spend all their working hours in the research center. The technological changes that have required us to modify our skills and responsibilities also serve to help us lead more balanced and productive lives.
Katherine G. Baker is a research librarian at Lucent Technologies in New Jersey. She may reached at kgbaker@lucent.com.
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