According to Office of the Future: 2020 there are 6 skills professionals will need to prepare for success in a future of increasing ability to work from anywhere:
- Analysis: Analyzing information and exercising good judgment
- Collaboration: Establishing rapport and facilitating team building
- Technical aptitude: Selecting the best technical tools and using them effectively
- Intuition: Identifying and adapting to the needs and work styles of others
- Ongoing education: Engaging in continual learning
- Negotiation: Participating in business discussions that produce positive results

While I find this to be interesting, I don't know that I'd call these skills, but categories of skills. To me, we need to much more concrete about the specific skills people need to have (or develop), in order to be as objective as possible when determining how much flexibility employees should or should not be allowed in choosing their work environment. We've done some reasearch on this topic in Sun's iWork program which I'll write about in a future post.

Anyway, back to the current topic.

While workers tend to desire flexibility in their work location to gain a greater work/life balance, one of the data points of the Office of the Future: 2020 report is that "greater control over where and how people work won’t necessarily translate into more free time. Forty-two percent of executives polled said they believe employees will be working more hours in the next 10 to 15 years." My own personal experience moving from a fixed office to part-time work from home 4 years ago, then full-time work from home 3 years ago (and sobering thought for those who believe teleworking will give help shift the balance back to time for "life") makes me believe they are correct. Or at least that the meaning of work/life balance will continue to morph.