the end of leisure? - Teleshopping at work - Statistical Data Included - Brief Article

American Demographics, July, 2000 by Alison Stein Wellner

If marketers want to reach consumers during the majority of their waking hours, they may now have to contend with a new gatekeeper: the boss.

As the lines between work and home blur, more of us are ringing up sales from our desks.

jorian Clarke lives in her office. Literally. When her Internet research and Web design company, SpectraCom, outgrew its office space nearly two years ago, Clarke purchased a 30,000-square-foot building in Milwaukee and moved in. Her 65 employees didn't need all that space, so Clarke and her husband transformed the fifth floor into living quarters. "There are days where I never even leave the building," she says.

Clarke is an extreme example of how work and the rest of life are blending together. If we're not living at the office, we're working from home - or in the car or from a hotel room. Corporate America's need to react quickly to ever-changing business environments has transformed our idea of work and leisure. Vacation? That's the time-off we manage to squeeze in during the business boondoggles to the Caribbean, or the hours not spent checking in via e-mail or cell phone. Today's average married couple labor a staggering 717 hours more each year than a working duo in 1969. The tools that were supposed to free us from the shackles of our desks have bound us to our jobs in ways unimaginable just a decade ago. "They are electronic umbilical cords to the workplace," says Joanne B. Ciulla, author of The Working Life: The Promise and Betrayal of Modern Work.

Does this mean an end to leisure? Not exactly. But it does signal a change in our idea of freedom from the job. Once described as the ability to "get away" from the physical office, workplace independence is now defined by our ability to create flexible work schedules that revolve around our daily lives. It's a shift that carries huge implications for marketers and how they target their consumers. Just a few years ago, for example, employees handled personal shopping chores before or after traditional work hours. Today, as the lines between work and home blur and online shopping becomes more convenient, more of us are ringing up sales from our desks. Rather than trying to isolate hours of the day that are completely free from work or slog through hours totally devoid of leisure, we're melding the two together.

All of this comes with Corporate America's blessing. Companies have come to demand greater productivity from employees, even as they struggle to hold onto workers in today's tight labor market. For some businesses, the answer to achieving those productivity gains - without losing workers - is to help employees manage life from the cubicle. In 1999, 19 percent of the total population had Internet access at work, compared with just 7 percent in 1996, according to Statistical Research, Inc. And, some employers have taken this a step further by helping workers send flowers to grandma or change the oil in the family sedan. What does this mean for marketers? If you want to reach consumers during the majority of their waking hours, you may now have to contend with a new gatekeeper: the boss. "Employers are looking for ways to keep people more involved with work and available for work," says Roger Herman, a strategic business futurist in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Engaging workers is key. Some companies have created employer-sponsored workplace portals and consortiums to help employees better manage their lives. Employers like Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen, for example, have hired companies such as Circles, a work/life concierge company based in Boston. At www.circles.com, employees of participating firms can shop from a variety of prescreened e-tailers and even have a Circles staffer to assist with everything from day-care screening to travel arrangements. Employees don't pay a dime for the concierge service because it's an employment benefit, similar to health insurance.

It's a benefit Kathy A. Fields uses regularly. The 34-year-old Boston lawyer works hectic and late hours, a schedule that leaves little time for personal chores. In January, her firm, Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP, signed up with Circles. Since then, Fields has used the concierge service to renew her passport, repair her garbage disposal, and schedule doctor's appointments. When her family comes to visit this August, Fields will have an itinerary waiting. Fields asked Circles to check into schedules of baseball games, art exhibits, the theatre, and concerts. Circles sent her the information and even suggested a couple of additional options. "The service saves me as much in time, as it does in aggravation," she says. "It makes the job so much easier."

Concierge service companies typically aggregate their buying power among airlines, cleaning, and even flower delivery services, so they can negotiate competitive prices on behalf of consumers. For example, Circles, with 1.5 million current "members," is projected to become the third largest purchaser of flowers in the United States by year's end. Participating stores like the idea because it presents them as a prescreened choice. "Consumers' bandwidth is so minimal, they can't keep up with 70 brands," says Kathy Sherbrooke, Circles' co-founder.