The Vicinity Concept (or WIV-C) is a style of work that bridges working at home and working on-site. Primarily it’s working in the same area as your office. The advantages are it gives workers the flexibility to work in a comfortable environment of their choice, while being close enough to the office in case of an emergency or on-site meetings are required.
As an example, let’s look at how the Vicinity Concept might look for a typical office professional.
Meet Milind; he’s a 15-plus year IT professional. He just got off the metro and is heading to work. But why is he not entering his office building? Looks like he is heading straight to a park close-by.
Working at home is one popular solution
Information Technology Professionals like Milind are in high demand and are difficult to hire and retain unless employers provide better benefits. Say, like work from home benefit – if employees can do their job from home, this is much better than working in a constraint environment with less access to fresh air and space. But this concept has stagnated lately.
But there are problems too
The big problem companies have is that during an IT emergency, it is easier to work when on-site. Also, face to face meetings at work has its advantages compared to say skype meetings. So, most companies are hesitant to provide the work from home benefit.
The Vicinity Concept provides a middle ground
But, is there a middle ground? Milind thought about this – can we work in the vicinity of the workplace. Say at a park close-by or say at a coffee house or a breakfast joint? And we could walk along the road – we never know when and where that next big idea hits.
He negotiated this idea with his client and convinced his management. Now he is more productive by working in a more conducive environment, where ideas would easily flow. So, instead of walking into the building, he goes to work next door at the park. He could easily walk into the building for any work-emergency or impromptu meetings.
He may stop at by the coffee house at will.
He just got a message from his manager. He will be at her office in only 5 minutes.
If he decides to take a short walk close-by, he could. It is a quality time helps him solidify any ideas lingering in his mind.
It is lunchtime; He stopped by a place for a good meal. This enables him to find a healthy snack, rather than gulping down some fast food at work. We are talking about a higher quality of life.
During inclement weather, or if he gets a message from his client for any reason, being closeby has its advantages.
The Vicinity Concept provides a middle ground between traditional on-site working and working at home that is popular with newer workers. Vicinity Concept gives employees the freedom to chose a comfortable work environment of their choice while keeping them close to a central location if the need to bring a people together arrises.
