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 COLUMN
Mobile workers unite I'M AFRAID the old union guys got it right: The harder you work, the more the bosses expect from you.
I went to the launch of Microsoft's Tablet PC in San Francisco this month. Bob McDowell, Microsoft's vice president of business productivity, who lives on an island off Washington, was the event's emcee. McDowell told the audience that thanks to Microsoft and the high-tech industry, the dream of office automation was coming true. What was that dream, according to McDowell? Personal productivity. Excuse me, but I thought the dream of office automation was a shorter work week? You know, more time for the family? But of course, no one has ever left the office even five minutes early since the introduction of the PC. McDowell, it seems, rarely goes into Redmond. But he didn't tell us how many hours a week he works at home. Wireless mobility only makes it worse. Because the Tablet PC doesn't require a keyboard and has IEEE 802.11b built in, it will allow us to keep working while we're on the way to lunch, at lunch, and on the way back. Or on the ferry to Redmond. Microsoft is not the only one that keeps us on a treadmill. Cisco says in one of its latest voice-over IP announcements that "time savings is a primary benefit of IP communications." To me, saving time means I get more time for my hobbies (I'll never tell what they are), family, and friends. Time savings to Cisco, Microsoft, and other companies means more finished goods, so to speak. And if you don't finish the goods during the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. time slot, why, you can continue working in your car, at the stoplight, and at home after dinner. Words like productivity used to be reserved for the likes of the old Soviet Union. Worker productivity and five-year plans were all the rage. We won the Cold War but somehow lost our way. Sure, I believe in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, but we are people, not ants. McDowell extols the use of technology because, he says, "[I have] less and less time to do my work." Not true. He has the same amount of time he's always had. He is just required to do more work. And that's the crux of the matter. Our corporate employers have somehow convinced us that we have less time, not more work. As I said, the old union guys got it right. Happy Thanksgiving. Now, what's your take on office automation? Ephraim Schwartz is editor at large at InfoWorld. Contact him at ephraim_schwartz@infoworld.com. Click here for all of Ephraim Schwartz's past columns. SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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