A recent Wired article touted the advantages of working from home for the employee, employer and even the environment. Plus, with gas prices where they are, we can include your pocketbook on that list. Let’s face it – no distractions, no need to put on make-up, and the ability to throw in a load of laundry in between conference calls. What’s not to love?
However, we are social creatures, and home office walls can close in just as quickly as cubical walls. So an inventive group of young professionals began the Jellies – organized groups of remote workers who
meet once or twice a week at a coffee house, café or someone’s studio apartment (pretty much any place with Wi-Fi and plenty of seating) to work with other professionals in the same situation. These groups, located all over the world, provide the perks of working outside of the office plus the ability to socialize, vent and bounce ideas off of one another.
What a fabulous idea! Even for us office-workers who need a change of scenery to get those creative juices flowing, this seems like an ideal venue.
What I want to know is why aren’t there more women doing this? If you check out the video on the site, the majority of people who “Jelly” are men. Yet women are stereotypically the more social gender, the communicators. Jellying seems well suited to our work style, so why are we folding laundry for our “break” and not grabbing a latte and croissant while chatting it up with a fellow Jelly?
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Unfortunately it`s been my experience that the men basically talk over and around a woman in a place like that. Some men think, what they have to say is more important and that the women couldn`t possibly have a grasp on their conversation. It`s sad. We do have important things to say and we are knowledgeable.