HR Telecommuting: Solutions for the Human Side of Remote Work

Archive for 2009

Well it can be tough in these times of mass layoffs, shrinking budgets, non-existent pay raises, and stressful work environments, but look to what you can offer your employees. Look to extra perks to get employees energized. Obviously the perk I’d like to talk about is Telecommuting.

When you offer this for your employees, you allow them to get out of the office stress and into a comfortable environment of their choice. This is often times refreshing for employees and gives them time to get caught up on large projects or initiatives. Additionally, it helps employees to save the costs of driving into work and hassle of fighting traffic.

Many employers are even allowing employees to Telecommute on a regular basis instead of giving them a raise. This concept has been tried before and can prove quite profitable. Consider this, if you have an employee who drives 20 miles to work, their car gets 20 miles to the gallon, and they don’t fight any traffic. Then they can save $2,000 a year on gas and maintenance costs alone. That’s like a $4,000 raise! Add if you add in traffic time, that number goes up considerably.

Have you recently had to lay people off? If so, most likely you now need your employees to do more with less. Consider this fact, a telecommuting employee who works from home 1-2 days a week is up to 20-45% more productive than their office counterparts. If you are faced with doing more with less, then you may consider allowing some more flexible work arrangements. Cut the stress and let your employees be more productive. Take a look at our sample free telecommuting policy for some ideas, or shoot me an Email and let’s talk about how to get this great work arrangement integrated into your company.

For some more ideas, check out this article.

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

One of the most surprising unfortunate circumstances that we often uncover while conducting our Remote Manager and Employee Training classes, is managers’ and employees’ surprisingly different assumptions of their communication expectations and metrics.

The exercise we do challenges managers and employees to chart out their communication with their manager or direct report. In a graph we map out the timeframe vs. Who, What, When, Where, and How. This graph is meant to provide a visual example of what employees expect from their manager and themselves. For managers, it’s a tool that graph’s their communication with their employee. For employees, it is a tool that clearly states the expectations for their position as well as what to expect from their manager. What’s interesting however; is that we have never seen the two models look the same!

That means that in the classes we have done, we have never had managers and employee’s communication graphs mirror one another. What does this tell us? It tells us that not only are expectations not being set, but critical information is often times slipping through the cracks of corporate communication breakdown. While most would probably agree this is not an uncommon phenomenon, it is something that MUST be addressed when you have remote employees. Basic breakdowns in communication are often exacerbated in remote environments.

To battle this, we work with managers and employees to develop a communication graph that both parties understand. This works to hold the employee and manager more accountable to one another, and gives the manager a solid tool with which to build a communication metric. In addition, if management changes, this ensures continuity of expectations for employees. Employees feel more comfortable having their expectations clearly defined and managers have an easier way to measure employees’ communication frequencies.

For a copy of this tool or more information on Remote Work/Telecommuting training, please contact me below.

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

Title: Integrating Remote Work into your Business Continuity Program
Location: ACP- San Diego, CA
Link out: Click here
Description: Are you a San Diego employer who is interested in learning more about how a Telecommuting or Remote Work plan would fit into your exisiting Business Continuity Plan? Come join ACP at their annual conference!
Date: 2009-05-20

Title: Establishing and Managing your Remote Workforce
Location: CAI- Raleigh North Carolina
Link out: Click here
Description: A challenging economy and growing environmental concerns are forcing organizations of all sizes to consider developing a remote work strategy.

While there are many benefits to having a remote workforce, this new way of working also presents new challenges. If your organization is considering or has already implemented a remote work strategy, you will want to participate in this one day program to ensure you have all of the policies and procedures in place to make it a successful initiative.

You’ll learn about the legal liabilities and safety issues that come along with having remote employees. You’ll discuss the tracking of time and pay, setting performance metrics, communicating expectations, monitoring employee development and incorporating remote work into your business continuity plan. You’ll also focus on the critical functions managers of remote employees need to perform and what core competencies they need to have to be effective.
Date: 2009-03-26

Title: Pandemic Exercise- Pandemicprep.org
Location: The Lodge at Des Peres
Link out: Click here
Description: Come join Brandon Dempsey and Harlan Dolgin, Execuitve Board Members of PandemicPrep.Org, as they lead a 3 hour Pandemic Exercise
Start Time: 13:00
Date: 2009-03-12
End Time: 16:00

Another great story of an organization maintaining operability during a disaster through Telecommuting- Harris County, Texas.

I just read an article on business continuity through telecommuting and remote work. In this article it discusses how the Harris County Employees were able to sustain vital operations during Hurricane Ike utilizing a Citrix remote application recovery system. While the technology worked well, what is important to note is, “For a disaster scenario, an event during which people are confused or dislocated, having an application they can log on to — versus some new virtual private network we’re trying to push out at the last minute and get people trained on — was critical.” This shows the need for training ahead of time.

Too many organizations simply believe that when disaster strikes everyone will just be able to hop on their laptops and get to work. NOT THE CASE. Systems have to be tested and employees trained in their response.

Quick Question- Does your Business Continuity Plan count on employees taking their computers home with them every night? If so, what percentage actually do?

If you are like the many other organizations that mandate this, but only have the average amount of employees following-15%. Will the right people be able to respond appropriately? Probably not.

Take it from the Red Cross Ready Rating program I spoke at today on Pandemic Planning.

1. Make a Plan
2. Train Employees
3. Test Your Plan
4. Refine and Repeat

For more information on the presentation I gave today or on Remote Work and Business Continuity Planning, contact me below.

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

Title: Missouri-SHRM conference
Location: Tan-Tar-A Resort in Lake of the Ozarks
Link out: Click here
Description: Come join us for a week of updates on valuable HR information. Brandon will be presenting at this conference on Remote Work and we invite you to come and learn!
Start Date: 2009-08-05
End Date: 2009-08-07

Title: Integrating Remote Work into your Business Continuity Program
Location: ACP- San Diego, CA
Link out: Click here
Description: Interested in learning how to integrate Remote Work into your Business Continuity or Disaster Recorvery Program? Join us at this year\’s ACP conference to learn what steps you and your organization need to take!
Date: 2009-05-20

Title: Preparing your Workforce for the next Pandemic
Location: DRJ Conference- Orlando, Fl
Link out: Click here
Description: Come experience a 3 hour pandemic planning exercise that teach you the necessary steps to take when preparing your organization for the next pandemic. This 3 hour workshop will be given in conjunction with Dolgin Consulting.
Date: 2009-03-29

Title: Small Business Expo- Green Focus
Location: St. Charles Convention Center
Description: Come join us at St. Louis\’ largest Small Business Expo. We will have a booth in this year\’s \”Green Section.\” Stop by and say hello!
Date: 2009-03-17