Sitting here on Columbus Day and working, as I always have, has made me think about all the holidays I have had to work and how conference calls have helped make them happen. It seems over the past ten years especially, the pressure to produce more with less in the American work place has made it normal to work on holidays. And it seems there are fewer and fewer holidays that we celebrate. So how do you keep up with work expectations and still make time for family and friends on the holidays. It isn’t the only answer certainly, but conference calls have save more than one holiday for me.
Here you are, it is Columbus Day and you have planned to take a personal day or floating holiday to spend with your family because the company you work for doesn’t recognize Columbus Day as a paid company holiday. And just as you are heading out of the door on the Friday before the holiday you are asked to hold a meeting to discuss a very important topic that is time sensitive and must happen on Monday, your day off. How can you manage to keep everyone happy and still keep your day off? Why a conference call of course! The beauty of technology world we live in is the ability to conduct business from just about anywhere. As long as you can get a signal on your cell phone and an internet connection, most people can continue to do all of their job functions without missing a beat. And a conference call allows you to put that technology to work and conduct a group meeting from a distance without sacrificing anything. With a conference call you can meeting with your group just as you would in person and use a web conference to further enhance your meeting with pictures as well.
So, enjoy your holidays. Even when something comes up that requires you to meeting with a group of people you can still have your meeting without physically having the need to go to your office by using a conference call.