As someone who has two start-ups under his belt and is leading a business at Citrix, how do you feel about the adoption of teleworking?

I feel like enabling teleworking in your business is very practical when trying to attract top talent to your company. Teleworking does not just encompass working from home, but also includes working away from the main hub, in satellite offices. Whether an employee is working from the main office, satellite offices or from home, I don’t want location to ever hinder me from bringing on a great employee. This is one of the reasons why Citrix has offices all over the world, to bring talent in from all over the world.

Do you telework/workshift yourself?

In my role as GM, I travel quite a bit and by default am constantly workshifting, working from other offices, coffee shops, airports and home. However, working at Citrix, I feel like we have all the tools we need to allow me to be productive no matter where I am.

Do you encourage your employees to telework/workshift as well?

I think it depends on the role and the person, but we have plenty of workshifting that happens in my team. In fact, half of my direct reports do not work from our main office in Raleigh. I want to build the best team I can and I feel that if you are uncompromising on teleworking, you may lose the opportunity to hire the best employees.

What are the major trends you are seeing in how we work today?

It is very clear that as we begin to adopt more and more mobile tools like smart phones, tablets and apps that we are becoming a more mobile workforce. Almost every company enables workshifting in one way or another. Think about how often people will check their emails from home in the morning before heading into the office, or from home after work. It is becoming a lot harder to separate work and life, and rather than try to reign your employees into the office, it is better to just focus on ensuring employees can be productive from anywhere. Brett , Senior Vice President and GM of Citrix’s Online Services Division addresses this really well in his recent blog post on How Workstyles are Changing.

Has the shift in work styles affected how you are setting up ShareFile’s new office?

It has. With the lines between work and life blurring, we are trying to bring them into harmony. If work is blending into your personal life when you are checking emails at 8:00 p.m., then we think it’s also important to blend more fun things into the office. With this in mind we are making our office a more interesting environment to be in, with the addition of a rooftop yoga studio, racquetball courts and a juice bar to name a few. I don’t feel like you need to be at your desk to be productive, and I want our office to reflect that.

With the holiday season upon us, work often competes with a variety of  other activities. Time spent in the office means less time for family or participating in  holiday activities. Work can also easily be pushed aside in the office  due to a more relaxed atmosphere, making it difficult to actually  complete important tasks. The good news is that the juggling act between work and play doesn’t have to keep you from getting in the holiday spirit.

Instead of worrying about how to get work done during the extra hustle and bustle of the holidays, why not simply step away from the office this season. Workshifting (i.e. working remotely) gives you the flexibility to do the work you need to do, when you need to do it – even if it’s en route to a family gathering, or in between playing with the kids on their holiday vacation.

Carve out time for the holidays while still getting work done. When you prioritize your tasks and aren’t tied to a specific time slot in your office, you will often find that work can be accomplished more quickly. The boost in productivity will give you the extra time needed for whatever you choose to do this holiday season.

Here at ShareFile, we workshift regularly to stay sane all year long (and even more so during the holidays!). Citrix makes it easy to do just that with awesome products like GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC and of course, ShareFile.

Let us know how you stay sane during the holidays by commenting below!

Here are 5 reasons why you shouldn’t come into work when you’re sick: It costs companies a lot of money. Employers lose twice as much in productivity for employees who come in to work sick. According to the study referenced earlier, it can cost somewhere between $25 billion to $40 billion in direct and indirect costs.

You’ll infect other people. You’re most contagious in the first two or three days of a cold. So if you’ve got the sniffles but still come in to work, you’re more likely to infect people than 5 days later when you’re pretty much getting over your infection. The more people you infect, the more your company loses productivity and gains costs.

You won’t be that productive. It’s incredibly difficult to get anything done when you have a horrible headache and you’re blowing your nose every 5 minutes.  Not to mention that a lot of cold medication can cause weird side effects that hurt your concentration.

You’ll get better faster if you rest. Pushing yourself when you’re sick is a good way to keep a cold around a lot longer.

You’re grossing everyone out. Sorry it’s true, nobody wants to hang out with you when you’re spreading flu germs everywhere. If you show up sick, expect to be avoided like the plague you’re carrying.

What if you want to stay home but you still need to get some work done? Workshifting is a business trend that encourages people to work from anywhere, anytime, on any device. It is also a great way to handle being sick.

Productivity isn’t limited to sitting in an office if you have the right resources. You can finish up that important end-of-quarter presentation while you enjoy some hot tea with honey. Need to attend a meeting? You can still attend without ever changing out of your comfy PJs. So as you prepare for the flu season, stock up on tissues and see how Citrix products can help you take care of business and yourself.

*Study source

*Workshifting.com