Esther sighed as she started her mornings work as an IT specialist for a well-known software company. Telecommuting or teleworking (working from home via the technology of computers and the internet) had seemed like a good idea when she had her second child and the cost of childcare prohibited sending two children to the local nursery while she worked. However, three years later, she had one child attending school and another going to preschool five mornings a week and, with the offer of extended care from her mother-in-law, she could work from at least 9.004.00 p.m. every working day. Working flexible hours from her home office for a few hours a day when her mother-in-law (who lived nearby) took over childcare in the mornings, or when the children were asleep at night, had suited Esther very well over the past few years. However, Esther was now ready to explore other options that still provided her with the flexibility to work from home but also offered her stimulation and the possibility for some socializing. After all, she didnt just work for moneyshe missed the company of her work colleagues and was also losing out on the opportunity to share ideas and contribute more than she had been able to over the past few years. She was aware, too, that she was working below her potential and could have applied for other jobs and gained promotion if she had not been working at home. Esthers concerns are often reported by telecommuters, who say that social isolation and loneliness are significant drawbacks to working away from the main work environment. (Montreuil and Lippel, 2003). Researchers have found that just being seen to be present in the office, a phenomenon known as passive face time, can create positive traits associations that could potentially affect how people are evaluated and whether they are promoted (Elsbach and Cable, 2012). A large telecommuting trial in a Chinese firm found that over half of those who tried working from home elected to return to the office, giving social isolation and missing out on promotion as the main reason for their decision (Bloom et al., 2013). In Australia, an increasing concern is for both employers and employees to achieve worklife balance (or work life fit according to Deloitte). There is increasing evidence that employees are experiencing conflict between work and home life demands (Skinner et al., 2012), particularly those with caring responsibilities. This situation is likely to lead to tensions between family and personal relationships unless some kind of full- or part-time teleworking arrangement can be made as per the example of Esther and her employer. The problem was that the company Esther worked for prior to having children had now moved to Singapore, so she did not have the option of physically re-joining the organization locally. When the company had moved to Singapore the telecommuting arrangement had still been possible for Esther as it did not affect her role and she was able to continue her job with the support of the necessary technology, Skype meetings and bi-annual face-to-face meetings. In fact, the company had been keen to support virtual work arrangements for Esther and others they employed on an international basis, as they were keen to keep down their overhead costs for items such as air conditioning, lighting, furniture and so on, and they believed that their virtual workers were highly productive. Esther liked her work but she was concerned about continuing to work alone at home all day and every day. Further, her manager had indicated that if and when she was ready, he was willing to expand her role to include some aspects of business development that would also require customer interaction. Esther liked this idea, as an expanded role would result in more money, be more interesting and help to develop her future career prospects. The challenge was how to keep her current job while gaining the social aspects she wanted and the necessary office space she would require to hold meetings if she took the opportunity on offer. Having undertaken an online search, Esther decided to explore one of the local co-working spaces in the central business district of Perth, Western Australia. She checked out the Spacecubed website, referred to as a coworking, collaboration and innovation workspace. She arranged to meet with one of the managers and found out that Spacecubed was created in March 2012 and, by December 2012, had already signed up 260 members. In fact, Spacecubed was so successful that a second site opened up only one year after it had begun operating. Members actively took part in the design of the original workspace, which is built around the concept of bringing the outside in. This required lots of plants and partitions with internal windows to provide an outdoor feel. As per its website, Spacecubed has been designed to support Entrepreneurs and Innovators who want to get their ideas off the ground. It offers a range of work spaces, meeting rooms, events and opportunities for members to get their idea into action (Spacecubed, 2013). Members share ideas through start-up weekends, where new ideas are promoted, and through crowdsourcing (obtaining ideas from external sources) and by working alongside each other and sharing ideas. These processes are being recognized as so effective that some larger organizationsprivate and not-for-profit and governmentare also using the creative spaces that Spacecubed provides. According to Spacecubeds founder and managing director, Brodie McCulloch, examples include: 1 Private sectorone large resources contracting company has brought some of its innovation projects team into Spacecubed, where different staff rotate work on high-impact projects. The intention behind this is that the members of the team will bring what they learn from being located in the creative space back into the larger organization, thus commencing a cultural shift over time. 2 Large not-for-profit organizationsare using Spacecubed to encourage their staff to interact with other industries and sectors within a creative environment, with the aim of enhancing staff members professional development and inspiration in new directions. 3 Government agenciesare utilizing Spacecubed to try and overcome an identified lack of innovation that is inherent within government culture. Specifically, local, state and federal government agencies have been using Spacecubed to introduce new ways of thinking and new processes that enable employees to approach problem solving in a more creative and innovative way than before. In her research, Esther found that community co-working spaces are being created more frequently, as more and more people work from home. For example, in the United States it is estimated that 3.3 million people considered the home as their primary place of work in 2012up by 79.7% from 1.8 million in 2005 (Global Workplace Analytics, 2013). The number of American adults engaging in at least occasional telecommuting was estimated at 34 million in 2009, and forecast to reach 63 million by 2016 (Forrester Research, 2009). Esther decided to join Spacecubed for six months initially to determine whether it would meet her needs. Six months later, she signed up with Spacecubed for a further year. She has been delighted with the benefits of her membership and the opportunities it offers. She has met many new friends and even some collaborators through events such as the free monthly breakfasts, seminars, workshops and lunchtime yoga sessions. Having taken on the new, expanded business-development role, she now has a range of meeting spaces/rooms, fully equipped with smart boards, WiFi and more, where she can take clients. Esther has also been able to use reciprocal co-working spaces situated in Melbourne and Sydney as she expands her client base. She still works at home occasionally, but most days she really enjoys the stimulation of communicating and meeting with others at the Spacecubed sites, and cannot imagine returning to the lonely times when she had previously worked at home every day. Discussion questions

1 Emerging employment relationships, such as Esthers, have resulted in a move away from traditional workplaces many new and different forms of employment such as teleworking. However, teleworking can result in problems for virtual workers due to human needs not being met. What problems can you identify and what do you think virtual employers could do to address them?

2 In your opinion, would it be possible for organizations to create their own co-working spaces within traditional organizations? If yes, what do you think some of the challenges would be to encourage people to use them?

3 By signing up with Spacecubed, Esther resolved the work issues she faced such as isolation. In what other ways could organizations help their telecommuting workers (such as Esther) from feeling excluded and isolated even though they are not physically coming into work every day?Type or paste question here