HR Telecommuting: Solutions for the Human Side of Remote Work

With the US preparing for more weeks of bad weather, many employees are looking for ways to avoid it. The best alternative to driving in the bad weather is of course, telecommuting, but what other inherent benefits might an employer gain? Let’s take a look and maybe you can use some of these benefits to help further bolster your case to work remotely on bad weather days.

Reason #1 “Employee Safety”: Driving in hazardous conditions is not safe for anyone. Less cars on the road will lead to fewer accidents and fewer chances of your employees being injured on the way to or from work. Employers to highly value their employees’ safety are often times very willing to allow Telecommuting.

Reason #2 “Maintaining Operations”: Of course we know that when bad weather strikes, many employees dread the commute. The commute often times can be risky for employees and they may decide to just take a sick day instead of coming into work. Telecommuting allows an employer to maintain operations more efficiently when employees have the ability to work from home. In addition, the bad weather may totally prevent use of major highways and thoroughfares, in this instance, companies without Telecommuting arrangements have to shut down. Organizations with Telecommuting Programs are able to maintain their operations through the use of a distributed workforce. This is becoming more common in Business Continuity Plans, because companies are starting to see the value in having a network that can work anywhere.

Reason #3 “Retaining Top Talent”: Employers who allow their employees the flexibility to work remotely in during bad weather are seen as more flexible and are often times favored over employers who don’t offer such arrangements. When employees are considering a new job, one of the top questions asked, is often times concerning the employer’s stance on flexibility. Study after study has shown that employers who are more flexible simply have higher retention rates than those who are not.

Reason #4 “Presenteeism- Not good for Business”: The definition of Presenteeism is when employees who are sick and should stay home, feel guilty and come to work anyways. They generally infect a dozen other people and suddenly the “office-flu bug” is running rampant. Employees who have the ability to telecommute, can work from home, preventing the spread of their germs and remaining productive.

Reason #5 “The Children Factor”: Bad weather often times mean no school for kids; however, just because the schools are off doesn’t mean work is off. While many employees have to take sick days in order to stay home and watch their kids, Telecommuting enabled employees can stay home and complete their work. How far back does one employee missing put their team? For many teams, it takes a few days to get back on track, but remotely enable employees can remain productive and projects can remain on schedule.

As many of you have probably encountered bad weather days, consider allowing your employees to telecommute during these days and you will be sure to capitalize on some added benefits. Want to work remotely during bad weather days, but don’t know how to get started? Contact me directly and I will give you some great statistics and research to approach your manager or senior management.

Brandon Dempsey
SuiteCommute
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

A new study released yesterday by Robert Half International revealed that many top executives of the largest 1000 companies in the US, believe that retaining Top Talent is one of their biggest worries. According to this study, which interviewed 150 senior executives for the top 1000, 39% of the respondents indicated that this was their biggest concern and 22% indicated that hiring new employees was their largest concern. This study further bolsters the cause that companies of all sizes need to be expanding their telecommuting programs.

Already, thousands of organizations are turning to Remote Work as a way of retaining and attracting Top Talent. A deeper look into the benefits of Remote Work for the employees and employer reveals these reasons. First, when you remove the geographical boundaries of hiring, your talent pool suddenly grows to as large as possible. This means that you can truly find the best applicant possible, not just the best applicant within a 20 mile radius. Furthermore, when organizations allow Telecommuting or work from home, applications and interest for the position grow exponentially. Many applicants are willing to even take less in pay, just to be able to have that flexibility. This is a huge for companies now, who need more people, but may not have enough capital for the type of talent they would normally higher.

Second, study after study shows that employers who allow Remote Work have a much more dedicated workforce. This means that turnover becomes less of a problem. Take for example KPOnCall, a nurse triage call center recently featured in SHRM’s “Staffing Management” Winter 2008 issue. Through the development of their Remote Work program they reduced turnover from 23% down to 3%, and went from struggling to find nurses and applicants to sustain their 500-600% growth each year, to having a waiting list of 70 nurses currently.

Today’s employees are simply looking for more flexibility with their job. Many employees are willing to put in more work and dedication to the organization, but they are looking for the same in return.

Want to learn more? Contact me directly.

Brandon Dempsey
SuiteCommute
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

In a radio address last Saturday, President-Elect Barack Obama stated, “As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption.” This push to redo our technology infrastructure will continue to make mobile applications and access easier and considerably more prevalent. In the age we live information is key. Access to that information is essential to every business. The faster and more broad that access, the more companies can collaborate and operate with a Remote work model.

This of course comes at a time when Congress is pushing “inclusive” legislation over “exclusive.” By this I mean that under the bills being presented all Federal Employees are eligible for Telework unless proven otherwise. This is radically different than legislation stating “who” would be eligible, as that would be much more limiting. With Congress’s support Telecommuting could become the norm for many government agencies. That mandate coupled with Obama’s IT infrastructure investments will certainly make a large impact to government employees and managers.

For more information on Telecommuting or Remote Work, please contact me directly.

Brandon Dempsey
SuiteCommute
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

I attended a webinar today hosted by FierceCIO. It was pretty basic, Telecommuting is good for these reasons… Managers are afraid for these reasons… A lot of the same stuff that I consider to be common knowledge in the Remote Work and Telecommuting arena. For this post I’m going to take some time to properly explain what was presented and then challenge the industry.

What I did find interesting, though, where some new statistics provided by Chris Neal, a knowledgeable telecom and high-tech industry analyst and consultant. During his part of the presentation he discussed a recent survey his firm conducted with 144 IT decision makers from companies with more than 1000 employees. What he found was that the most common fear of IT decision makers – network security. There seemed to be a lot of fear concerning how remote users access the internal network. In addition, his research found that the most common reasons companies were looking to Remote Work were to “Increase Worker Productivity (42%)”, “Enhanced Employee Availability (23%)”, and “Increased Collaboration (16%)”.

Chris then finished with some additional stats that pretty much equally supported the fact that Remote Work is growing and IT professionals are constantly looking for ways to increase network security both on-site and now in people’s homes.

Next to present was the General Manager of Telework Exchange, Cindy Auten. She gave another basic presentation on Telework, citing government and a few private company examples. Good information, but basic nonetheless.

It seems that every seminar, webinar, presentation, etc. I attend about Remote Work or Telecommuting just covers the REASONS why people should do it. They all seem to miss the “How.” It is my belief that enough people now know about Telecommuting and its benefits, but what they want to know is HOW to make it successful in their organization. It is important to note that I do not believe in any one way of managing or working remotely, but I do support a combination of best practices.

I think it is critically important for companies considering Remote Work or Telecommuting programs to consider how a work model like this will fit into their own work processes and culture. Without successful integration, I believe your program is doomed to fail. Even if it succeeds at first, without the proper documented and trained support, your Remote Work program will eventually fail as the knowledge of work processes is lost in the second or third generation of Remote Workers.

Interested in a presentation that outlines the “How-to” of creating a Remote Work or Telecommuting Program? Email me below and I’ll send you a copy of one of my latest presentations on this topic. This presentation will serve as a Diagnostic Tool of sorts that will help you either evaluate your current program or assess what needs to be done to create a new one.

Brandon Dempsey
SuiteCommute
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

10. Determine strategic reasons- (Internal and External Drivers)
9. Research statistics and examples of similar organizations
8. Solicit senior leadership support and “Champion”
7. Set specific and measurable goals for initiative
6. Explore what business functions are capable
5. Assess current technology infrastructure
4. Conduct manager and employee focus groups
3. Create formal policies, procedures, and training
2. Train a group of managers and employees for Pilot Program
1. Launch Pilot program- monitor and address problems

10. Determining Strategic Reasons

When evaluating your program you first need to look at what overall strategic initiatives you are looking to meet with the formation of a formal program. These strategic initiatives are often referred to as Internal and External Factors.  For more on this read my post on Internal and External Factors.

9. Research statistics and examples of similar organizations

Take a look at our Telecommuting Statistics page and do some online research to see what other companies similar to yours are reporting with their Telecommuting and Remote Work Programs. Use this information to build a business case for your program. This will also help your organization to determine what additional factors you may want to consider.

8. Solicit senior leadership support and “Champion”

Organizations often times overlook this critical step. Telecommuting and Remote Work plans that don’t have the support of someone seen as “Senior Leadership” in the company are often times thus not supported by the employees. Employees often see this lack of support as a black mark for them and their role in the company if they support the initiative. Announcing this support will go a long way to employees supporting and succeeding with the new initiative.

7. Set specific and measurable goals for initiative

This is where you take the Internal and External Factors from above and draft your own goals and measurements of success. Using examples from other companies in your industry and information on how your company operates, set some goals for what you would like your Telecommuting or Remote Work program to achieve. These goals will then become the measures of success for the program. For instance, let’s say you want to improve your ability to retain Top Talent. Looking at statistics you will see that Telecommuting programs often times reduce turnover by 15-55% collectively. Using this information you set a goal of reducing overhead by 30%. Use your industries standards for what it takes to replace employees and do the math. For one 800 person highly technological company here in St. Louis, we calculated these savings at $7.2 million per year alone!

6. Explore what business functions are capable

Not all functions within your organization are going to be great for Remote Work. Security clearances, manual labor of some sort, or Technology barriers may prevent employees from working remotely. It is CRITICAL that the organization set clear standards for what positions are eligible. This will prevent many of the unfair labor treatment claims currently circulating in our legal system. From there, specific guidelines can be created for managers to follow on who is eligible.

5. Assess current technology infrastructure

DON’T just tell your IT Department to go out and get what you need! Often times, current technology is more than capable of supporting remote employees. What needs to be assessed is the technology they ACTUALLY use and “how” they use it. For a lot of employees, they may not need the latest communication tools and software available. They may only need access to email. What’s important, is that the business functions, employee needs, and technology all meet the same requirements. This can avoid many “over-investments” that companies make.

4. Conduct manager and employee focus groups

In order for you to truly know what employees and managers are going to need in the form of policies, procedures, training, and guidance; we often suggest a few focus groups. During these guided discussions employers are able to uncover and avert potential problems with implementation. It is in these groups that you can learn the “front-line culture” and “front-line” tactics employees are currently using to complete work. This valuable knowledge will help your company create a more robust program.

3. Create formal policies, procedures, and training

After all the above information has been collected you are ready to start putting your program together. Using the information from the strategic assessment, technology audits, focus groups, and work requirements, you can now put together a robust set of policies, procedures, and training for your employees. Be sure to refer to our Sample Policies and Procedures to further make sure you have met all the requirements. If you are interested we can put your program through our Assessment Tool and provide you with a report card and recommendations on your program.

2. Train a group of managers and employees for a Pilot Program

Every Telecommuting or Remote Work program should run a pilot program of some sort. This is the best way to determine what will and won’t work. Employees need to be trained in the companies policies and procedures, as well as the Best Practices for Remote Work. This will expose your program and training to the real demands of your workforce. It is critical that any issues brought forth are addressed and dealt with, documenting all changes. Focus groups and regular check-ups should be conducted after the Pilot Program to assess necessary changes.

1. Launch program and track results

Launch your program and track the results based off your goals and strategic initiatives you want met. Train employees before deployment and assist managers as they begin to manage their remote workers. Watch for the pitfalls often associated with Telecommuting and be sure to report on the status of the program to senior leadership.

For more information or help with any of these steps, please feel free to contact me directly:

Brandon Dempsey
SuiteCommute
888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

There’s a great article in the Washington Post this week on advice for people working from home. It outlines some of the many disciplines people need to adopt when working out of a home office. I think the best advice was to make sure to schedule regular meetings with people outside of your home office. Often times, home workers get so ingrained in working that they forget to get out and socialize a bit. This is a common mistake. The simple act of getting up to go someplace for lunch will do a number of good things for your mind, in fact I try to make sure I’m not cooped up in my office just working for more than 2 days straight. I find that anything over 2 days of solidarity and silence starts to play with my mind a little bit. I find I am more antsy and fidgety and that it is harder to concentrate on the projects I am working on.

The other main point that I thought spoke volumes was to be sure and “assert your presence.” This is critical if you are working with a team. Just because you are out of the office doesn’t mean you are any less productive or reachable. Make sure to schedule regular conference calls and meetings. We always tell people to have an “office-buddy” of sorts to bounce information off. For many telecommuters the responsibility to stay in-sight and in-mind is yours. You have the freedom and flexibility, but with those benefits come some unique requirements that probably aren’t in your job description.

For more information on this please feel free to contact me directly.

Brandon Dempsey
SuiteCommute
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

Last Friday I delivered a presentation on Remote Work to a group of high level, HR decision makers. The presentation was developed as a tool to help these Human Resources Directors and VP’s assess their current Remote Work program and shed light on what needs to be considered. After the presentation I got into a discussion with one of the participants on the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its changes in 2009. More specifically we discussed the changes in regards to a Telework/Telecommuting program. Realizing that many do not know about this, I thought it perfect information for my audience.

The question I was asked mirrored a question on the ADA’s site, “May permitting an employee to work at home be a reasonable accommodation, even if the employer has no telework program?” And the answer, “Yes. Changing the location where work is performed may fall under the ADA’s reasonable accommodation requirement of modifying workplace policies, even if the employer does not allow other employees to telework.” Now this accommodation has been around for awhile, so why should employer’s take more notice now?

Because Congress has just changed the definition for what can be considered a disability. These are the main changes to the new definition.

• Mitigation measures, like medication or other aids, can no longer be taken into account in determining whether an employee has a disability, except for eyeglasses or contact lenses.
  
• The Supreme Court’s interpretation of a “demanding standard” for qualifying as disabled has been replaced with an approach that’s “in favor of broad coverage.”
  
• A longer and non-exhaustive list of “major life activities,” including reading, learning, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and major bodily functions will now be applied by the courts.
  

According to many employment attorney’s I have spoken with, these changes now broadly favor the employee over the employer. (A main reason for this was that previously 97% of ADA claims were lost by the employee. Congress saw this as unfair and worked to rewrite the definition.)

For those employer’s without Telework policies, you may need to consider having at least something prepared in case a request is made. As technology continues to advance, more and more jobs are able to be done from home. What will happen if you have an unproductive employee suddenly demanding to work-from-home or Telework as a means of a reasonable accommodation? Do you have strong enough polices in place to either prevent the wrong people from applying or support they need in order to be successful with the arrangement?

For more information on Telecommuting and Remote Work, please read some of my other posts. Got a question? Send me an email to the below address.

Brandon Dempsey
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

A press release was just sent out by Plantronics coining a new term for Telecommuters, “cloudworkers.” According to their survey, the term Telecommuter is seen as obsolete and not accurately portraying today’s mobile workers. The new term also came with a definition, “a cloudworker is somebody who uses on-demand technology and collaboration tools, such as unified communications, to work anywhere and anytime, and uses the resulting freedom to enable a my-size-fits-me career path and lifestyle. The metaphor of the cloud extends well beyond cloud computing and software as a service applications to include work environments, distributed teams, and communication tools.” The term came from Venkatesh Rao from New York.

What are your thoughts on this term? My personal opinion, is I kind of like it. If you think about the technological diagrams that you have most likely seen in any powerpoint presentation they always have these “clouds” drawn around figures and various pieces of technology. In fact, we even use it in one of our presentations where we have two clouds, one with an office building and one with a home worker. These two clouds are then connected by some electrical wires and phone lines, and this is to symbolize that mobile workers, are simply an extension of your office workforce.

Interesting that this would be the term chosen, but I can see how the “cloud” would appropriately represent all the technology people would need to be a Remote or “cloud” worker; however notice I didn’t say would need in order to be “successful.” I still believe that all the technology in the world won’t make someone successful with Remote or Cloud working. Success will come from proven performance metrics that are formally developed and accurately tracked. If you would like more information on such performance metrics please feel free to contact me directly. What do you think of this term? Post a comment and let us know!

Brandon Dempsey
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@suitecommute.com

A new report was released today on a possible Bird Flu outbreak in Indonesia. To see the article click here. In this article it talks about a hospital that has admitted 17 patients, with the potential Bird Flu virus. While I cannot say whether the Bird Flu has made the jump to human-human transmission or not, I can say that business continuity and COOP planners should take notice. Pandemic planning has become a major part of many employer’s and the government’s continuity plans and the subject of a recent tabletop exercise I helped facilitate.

The instance in Indonesia supports the World Health Organization’s claim that a pandemic is coming. It is not a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when.” Unfortunately, the most likely strain of the next pandemic is the current “Bird Flu” strain H5N1, with a mortality rate near 80%. Because of this high mortality rate, governments worldwide are taking steps to prepare.

The exercise I helped to facilitate brought in 150 leaders from various federal and local government agencies for a one day pandemic planning exercise. During this exercise we broke up the participants into various groups and walked asked them about their current plans. The moderators, flown in from Washington D.C. and senior members of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, had “mock” videos created that simulated what “CNN” newscasts might look like. As the exercise continued over the course of the day, pandemic threat levels and transmission rates steadily rose.

The first outbreak started in Indonesia (coincidence?) and we discussed how the agencies would respond internally. It was discussed that first outbreak most likely would not be reported until weeks later, since many Indonesian and Asian governments are not fully cooperating or actively monitoring reports of the outbreak. The agencies at my table talked about how they would step up the “family preparedness” materials that were disseminated to their employees. They talked about increasing hand hygiene and trying to reassure employees.

The next phase, was a news reporter coming on “air” and talking about the spread of the flu from Indonesia to Japan, and what was happening in Japan. Still the agencies at my table talked about stepping up their employee’s personal preparedness and discussed limiting travel from their agency to Asian countries.

The third phase was rather interesting with a report claiming that a businessman, recently on a trip back from Japan, had passed through LA and then on to another city. The virus had now reached the US. The agencies at my table decided that this was the trigger they needed to enact their response plans. Sanitation efforts were stepped up and employees encouraged to wear personal protective equipment. Many agencies said that they did not currently have up to date Telecommuting Programs and that their fear was getting people to come to work, to work. Of course this is where we got into a rather deep conversation about what needed to be completed in order to prepare and discussed at great length the many facets of sustaining a workforce when a majority of them are working remotely.

The last 3 phases escalated the pandemic through all 5 phases of the pandemic. Employees were infected, many died, and the agencies were asked how they would respond to each of the different phases. This exercise forced many who had just been “writers” of their plan to test their plan against what experts predicted might happen.

What’s noteworthy here is that there is no “correct” response to any pandemic. What the participants walked away with was a better understanding of how to prepare and how their responses would be affected by other agencies’ responses. This last point, concerning inter-agency cooperation lies at the core of the entire exercise. The best way for the US to respond will take a coordinated response from Federal, State, and local governments combined with private businesses and families all working together to prevent the spread of a pandemic.

MoDot (Missouri Department of Transportation) announced today that it will be opening up the newly built half of our city’s major thoroughfare. This is great news, as it shows the project is ahead of schedule. However, this also means that second half will be closing.

This is going to be a big deal for St. Louis companies, because 35% of St. Louis County businesses are located along what’s known as the I-64 corridor! This means that local roads are going to become more congested and as people find new ways to work. This is the perfect time for companies on the Telecommuting Fence, to give it a try.

What appears to be a major headache for many, may actually be a chance to get a win for employees and employers who have been waiting for a good excuse to try Remote Work. I’d like to say that most of the companies I talk to, decide to try Remote Work because of all the environmental and employee benefits inherent with this form of work, but I would be lying. Often times there has to be a catalyst almost forcing them to explore this option for their employees. Are you an employee who wants to work from home a few days a week? Are you located near highway 64/40? Than ask you manager if during the beginning months of the closure, you could work remotely a few days a week?

This is a great opportunity for employees to breach the subject of Remote Work. Do you need some additional benefits or statistics to list that would help you sell Telecommuting to your boss? Read some of my earlier posts or check out: www.suitecommute.com/Statistics for some additional ideas. Good luck!

Brandon Dempsey
1-888-878-4832
www.suitecommute.com