The traditional work ethic implied work was static. A person went to the same place to work each day, had the same duties, had the same boss, and had the same customers. The Brand U workplace can be at home or in an automobile. Duties change depending on customer requirements of the moment.
Brand U work is no longer constrained by time and place. For example, work geography is changing dramatically and quickly. Your workplace was once the office tower or plant site. Physical and legal limits defined business, team, and plant boundaries. Most communication was face-to-face. In just a few years, the Brand U workplace has become global and virtual.
A Brand U language is emerging on how we’ll work. We’ll be hoteling while visiting customers or we’ll be telecommuting with virtual teams. In the former, we’ll be road warriors, electronically tethered to the office with a laptop computer, wireless modem, cellular phone, e-mail, and an 800 number. Our office is a hotel room or automobile. The rationale is it’s better to be in the customer’s office than our own.
Many corporate environments such as operations, maintenance, security, and information services never sleep. Microsoft employees, commonly work 60 or more hours a week and work 90 or more hours a week prior to a software launch. People are always available to handle every day customer concerns, not what we’d think are life or death situations.