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New AIG CEO Expands Definition of 'Work From Home' -- to Croatia
It's the year 2009. Bloggers often work from home and, increasingly, lawyers are seeking out flexible arrangements that will allow them to work from home, too. BlackBerrys, iPhones, laptops, inexpensive fax and copy machines, forwarded telephone numbers and high-speed Internet access make working remotely easier than ever. The introduction of young lawyers -- who have grown up working and communicating with people electronically -- into the workforce should also be pushing the legal world closer to a "practice anywhere" model.
Yet every day there are reminders that the professional world is not quite ready to embrace the "work from home" movement completely. The most recent is the flap over new AIG CEO's working vacation in Croatia just days after starting in his new role. The CEO, Robert Benmosche, swears he is working hard in his "palatial villa with 12 bathrooms and his vineyards on the Peljesac Peninsula" (where he says "every bathroom is like a piece of art," according to Reuters), but nobody believes him.
"People criticize me for being on vacation. I actually started work
a week before I was actually supposed to," Robert Benmosche told
Reuters in an interview. "I do have conference calls every day, I have
all my information sent here. I can work here as well as in the office
in New York."
Benmosche said that he regularly keeps up with AIG business via
telephone and the Internet, helped by the villa's array of satellite
technology, and had three conference calls scheduled for Wednesday.
So for all of you non-believers who would cast a suspicious eye on Benmosche working in his "flip-flops, khaki shorts and a green polo shirt," here is the video proof:
Legal Blog Watch guest blogger Bruce Carton is editor of Securities Docket, an online publication that tracks securities litigation and enforcement developments on a global basis.
Posted by Bruce Carton on August 28, 2009 at 04:17 PM | Permalink
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