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Telecommuting’s Tribulations
DOL: Telecommuting Holds Vast Potential
Five Steps to Better Telecommuting Programs
Manage the Process to Reap the Benefits
For more information on Telecommuting
Surveys
suggest that telecommuting programs are losing favor with some
employers concerned about managing employees from afar. With proper
care and management, however, these programs can be successful.
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Are telecommuting programs on
their way out? Viewed alone, data from several surveys would seem
to point in that direction. Consider the following statistics:
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-- Sixty-five
percent of companies surveyed by CareerEngine.com say they plan to
hire fewer telecommuters; 21% plan to phase out telecommuting
altogether.
-- One-third of
the executives polled by the American Management Association (AMA)
say they would prefer not to deal with the issue of telecommuting;
six out of ten say their employees are not asking for it.
-- Studies
by the Boston College Center for Work and Family and the University
of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom reveal that many
telecommuters are plagued by stress, feelings of guilt, and
frustration.
These are
inauspicious findings for a phenomenon that was supposed to
revolutionize how and where work gets done. Was telecommuting just
a passing fad, or do these numbers reflect a concept that just needs
a little retooling? A report by the Department of Labor (DOL)
indicates that telecommuting is still a viable work option, if
employers are willing to take more control.
Telecommuting’s Tribulations
The negative
publicity and survey data related to telecommuting are not
altogether surprising. In the past, employers rushed to implement
telecommuting programs, urged on by claims that telecommuting would
help them attract and retain employees, increase productivity, and
reduce costs.
Unfortunately, the success of telecommuting depends heavily on
applying it to the right position, the right employee, and the right
supervisor. Many organizations simply jumped on the telecommuting
bandwagon without first developing a comprehensive, well-thought-out
telecommuting strategy. The result? Failing programs, resentful
managers, and frustrated telecommuters.
DOL: Telecommuting Holds Vast Potential
Still, the DOL
suggests that employers should not be too quick to abandon or forgo
telecommuting programs. A new DOL report on telecommuting, Telework
and the New Workplace of the 21st Century, released in December
2000, argues that telecommuting has unlimited potential if employers
understand it and manage it properly. The report cites the ability
of telecommuting programs to help balance employees’ work and family
demands, promote diversity, and increase worker productivity. The
report therefore concludes that with proper management, the benefits
of telecommuting can outweigh its costs.
Employers
may be heeding the DOL’s advice. Despite the gloomy projections of
the CareerEngine.com and AMA surveys, the number of telecommuters is
on the rise. According to the International Telework Association
and Council (ITAC), there are 16.5 million regularly employed
workers in the United States who telecommute at least one day per
month. Slightly more than 17% of these began telecommuting in the
past year. Just over nine million workers telecommute at least one
full day per week. The ITAC projects that there will be 30 million
telecommuters in the United States by the end of 2004 and nearly 40
million by 2010.
Five Steps to Better Telecommuting Programs
So, if
telecommuting is here to stay, what can you do to implement and
manage an effective program? Consider the following five
suggestions to make your program run more smoothly:
1.
Designate jobs for telecommuting.
Many employers
make the mistake of approaching telecommuting with a “wait and see”
attitude and neglect to identify in advance what jobs are well
suited for working away from the office. This approach is flawed
for two reasons.
First, not
every job lends itself to telecommuting, and sometimes the ones that
work best are the least obvious. For example, the DOL says that
telecommuting is best suited to jobs that are information-based,
portable, and predictable or that demand a high degree of privacy
and concentration. The ITAC further suggests that you should
analyze the job activity, not the job title, to determine
suitability. The key, it says, is to find jobs with at least a
portion of the work that can be done as well, or better, away from
the office. Telecommuting can take advantage of technology and get
the employee away from the distractions and interruptions in the
typical work environment.
Second, if
you do not identify jobs up front, you put the burden on your
employees and managers to guess which jobs are eligible for the
program. That approach signals that your plan is disorganized, or
worse, that you are not committed to the program.
2.
Choose the right employees.
Just as not
every position is right for telecommuting, neither is every person.
The most successful telecommuters typically are motivated
self-starters, able to work without much supervision, and capable of
handling the stresses of isolation and the blurred boundaries
between work and home life. According to the study carried out by
researchers at the U.K.’s University of Central Lancashire,
telecommuters who need the emotional support and camaraderie
typically found at the office often end up suffering from poor
concentration, sleeping problems, worry, and stress
3. Get
management support at all levels.
Too many
telecommuting programs fail because senior executives and managers
do not really support them. Often, programs do not have the
necessary “buy-in” from the people who have to approve and manage
the telecommuting process because the programs were developed as
knee-jerk reactions to media reports or competitor practices or as
quick-fixes for retention problems.
In addition, some
supervisors reject telecommuting because it does not fit with their
managerial style. Managers who are uncomfortable losing physical
proximity to their employees can sabotage the program by ignoring
the basic tenets of the telecommuting arrangement on issues such as
meeting times, work hours, and technical support. Nothing is more
frustrating to a telecommuter than a boss who repeatedly schedules
meetings for telecommuting days and then either expects the worker
to come in or says the worker’s presence is not needed. In the
first case, the telecommuter feels that the supervisor is not
honoring the agreement; and in the second, the worker feels
unimportant and replaceable.
To gain
management support, employers should involve supervisors in every
aspect of the telecommuting program. Managers should be required to
help determine which jobs are well suited for telecommuting
positions and which employees should be eligible. In addition,
managers should be evaluated on their ability to supervise
telecommuters. In turn, HR and upper management should recognize
and publicize telecommuting success stories to show company-wide
support for the program.
4.
Provide training to supervisors, telecommuters, and on-site
employees.
Telecommuting is
a big adjustment for most everyone. Supervisors need to adopt new
management styles, telecommuters have to adapt to new work
environments, and on-site employees must cope with changing cultures
and new ways of working. The best way for these three groups to
make this transition successfully is with the help of training.
A major component
of the training should include an explanation (and written
provision) of the organization’s telecommuting policy. This policy
should outline the company’s positions on eligibility, work hours,
equipment provision, technical support, performance measurements,
family care, recordkeeping, ownership of physical and intellectual
property, requirements for in-office appearances, and termination of
the program.
By providing all
employees—telecommuters and non-telecommuters—with explanations of
their telecommuting policies, employers can prevent many of the
questions and resentments that arise when telecommuting is
introduced. For example, speculation that workers are using their
time at home to be with their children can be stopped before it
starts by clearly stating the company’s policy that alternative
child care arrangements must be in place during the agreed upon work
hours. At the same time, grievances about any inability to reach
telecommuters during the office workday can be alleviated by sharing
the telecommuters’ work schedules with employees and setting up
regular times and channels for communication.
5. Make
telecommuting an integral part of the workplace.
To succeed,
telecommuting must become an accepted, integral part of the
workplace. It must be considered whenever business objectives and
human resource strategies are discussed. As new lines of business,
products, services, or initiatives are introduced, HR professionals
should determine what new positions will be needed and how many of
them will be suitable for telecommuting.
Finally, HR and
IT professionals should look for new technologies that may make
telecommuting easier. The development of instant messaging
capabilities is one example of a relatively simple, widespread
technology that can enhance the telecommuting experience. By
providing the ability to hold real-time conversations on the
computer, instant messaging can help employees at home and in the
office connect with one another in a way that formal telephone
conversations or time-lapse e-mails do not.
Manage the Process to Reap the Benefits
These are
just a few steps that you can take to enhance the value of your
telecommuting pro-grams. Given the potential benefits, you can
still reap a meaningful payoff from telecommuting if you follow
these tips, take control, and actively manage the process.
For more information
on Telecommuting
AMA/ITAC
Survey on Telework, available on the AMA Web site at
www.amanet.org/research/pdfs/itac_sumary.pdf
Telework
and the New Workplace of the 21st Century, available on the DOL Web
site at
www.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/telework/main.htm
Telecommuting information and resources, available on the ITAC Web
site at
www.telecommute.org |
Personnel
Policy Service, Inc.
