Work culture in the 21st century is undergoing many changes, one of the most significant ones being telecommuting, also known as work-from-home. Several organizations are switching to letting some or all of their employees telecommute, for reasons that range from saving on office costs to reducing their carbon footprint to accommodate their employees’ family priorities.
If you are looking to establish telecommuting in your organization, you might benefit from our IT Manager’s Telecommuting Resource Kit. This and the few following blogs will give you a more detailed introduction to this interesting new work phenomenon.
In essence, telecommuting allows employees to not have to commute to an office destination everyday, and make use instead of telecommunication facilities like the internet to stay in touch with colleagues and clients. It is made possible by the advent of such technology as Bluetooth, wi-fi, mobile phones, email etc, which allows people to communicate with each other using their laptops.
The reasons for implementing telecommuting may be many, some voluntary, some legally required.
1.Municipal authorities may encourage telecommuting to prevent traffic snarls during rush hours.
2.Government authorities may encourage it as a means to reduce environmental pollution (e.g. the Clean Air Act amendments of 1996), and/or fossil fuel consumption.
3.It may be a way to provide people resident in remote communities with better employment opportunities, especially if they cannot afford the commute.
4.Women with young children may prefer it, as it allows them to take care of them without having to give up their jobs
5.Employees recovering from injuries or orthopedic problems might temporarily wish to telecommute.
6.Part-time employees and consultants might prefer this, especially when they also have other appointments.
7.Telecommuting is probably the most viable method for employees who are constantly on the move, and for whom coming to office is of little use, such as sales representatives.
Increasingly, professionals are looking at telecommuting opportunities as an employment incentive. A survey of 1,400 CFOs by recruitment firm Robert Half International, indicated that 13% consider it the best recruiting incentive that they can offer today.
However, like any other management practice, telecommuting has its drawbacks. It is difficult for managers to call team meetings, to oversee employee performance and to maintain organizational coherence. It requires a style of management in which as long as the results keep coming in, close scrutiny of employees is avoided, a practice that can make appraisals difficult.
However, many organizations have implemented telecommuting with a great degree of success. The next few blogs will explore multiple aspects of technologies and policies you will need to have in place to organize telecommuting.
No organization will have all its employees as telecommuters, as the needs of employees vary. Most employees will indeed, unless the organization is very small, be daily commuters. Those for whom telecommuting facilities are necessary, may be of three types:-
The Full-time Telecommuter: This is an employee who works from home, even though she or he lives a commuting distance away. Such an employee might choose to work from home because of pressing, long-term domestic needs, such as taking care of children or the elderly, or be physically unfit to work. Generally, full-time telecommuting rights are granted only to those employees who prove to be trustworthy and efficient. Such an employee also reduces some operational cost, as there is no need to set aside office space and machines (telephones, PCs) for her or his use.
1. The Occasional Telecommuter: This is an employee who normally works from an office space, but on some days requires to telecommute. This may be because she or he is at another site for business-related work (such as meeting clients or customers), but still requires to connect to the office. Or the employee might be temporarily unable to attend office and wish to work from home. Occasional telecommuters are actually expensive, because both office space and dedicated communication facilities need to be reserved for them. Nevertheless, this may be a preferable arrangement rather than be off contact with the employee during critical times.
2. The Virtual Employee: This is an employee who may live in another city, and depends entirely on telecommunication services for interaction with other office staff. Such employees are often contractual staff, or employees hired to represent the firm in other countries. Such employees are hard to supervise, but managers may be confident that they can handle themselves.
There are common needs associated with all telecommuters. Firstly, a viable telecommunication infrastructure needs to be established, including email servers, telephone lines etc as well as accompanying networking and network security software. Telecommuting introduces a risk-cost tradeoff: some organizations may expect employees to use their own PCs and software, others, for the sake of security and data privacy, may prefer to instal their own hardware in telecommuters’ houses.
Nevertheless, reduced costs may make the effort worthwhile. With employees requiring about 150 square feet each, and real estate costing upto $100 per square foot, the savings on rentals are great, along with corresponding savings on electricity and furniture. Besides, telecommuting may enable the organization to hire better talent and reduce the number of days taken off from work. Finally, the spin-offs from reduction in fuel consumption and air pollution has meant that many states are allowing tax incentives to organizations promoting telecommuting.
However, there are some critical risks to keep in mind, topmost being data security. Also, monitoring employee performance and job satisfaction are rendered difficult, requiring the manager to develop additional skills in these departments.
Our IT Managers Telecommuting Resource Kit includes a number of policy templates, as well as other documents which can help you make your telecommuting project a success. Further details can be accessed in the Telecommuting Defined Template.
When you set out to implement telecommuting in your office, a few sharply defined policies are essential. These are policies that define the rights and privileges of employees who telecommute, their eligibility, as well as expectation from them. Employer-telecommuter relationships are often managed on the ‘Management by Objectives’ principle, where the employee is generally free to use his own methods of working without oversight by the employer, as long as both employer and employee are agreed on their common objectives.
At first, you need to create a ‘Company Telecommuting Policy’, which sets out the overall worldview of the organization. Such a policy must define clearly
1. The eligibility criteria for employees to seek telecommuting rights, including length of service, performance and self-motivation, ability to work independently and nature of the job performed (some jobs may not be suitable for telecommuting);
2. The training requirements each employee must fulfill before being granted those rights;
3. The arrangements for data and communication security such that company data is not leaked or destroyed deliberately or inadvertently.
A detailed Company Telecommuting Policy Template has been included in the toolkit, which you may refer to while drawing up your own policy.
That done, you need to set up a process for evaluating applications for telecommuting from employees, as well as a mechanism for supervision of the same. The evaluation policy must state clearly what criteria will be used to approve applications, as well as who is authorised to do so. Supervisory guidelines should include
1. ensuring the employee has undergone the requisite training
2. ensuring the telecommuting contract is signed
3. reporting arrangements between telecommuter and her/his supervisors
4. ensuring data and network security arrangements are in place
You can refer to the Approval and Supervision Policy Template while drawing up your policy.
Finally, you need to draw up an Employee Telecommuting Policy that makes it clear to each eligible employee what her or his privileges and expectations are. It is similar to the Company Telecommuting Policy, except that it also lists the organization’s official policies on work hours, pay, benefits, leaves as applicable to telecommuting. Such policies may or may not be the same as those applicable to regular employees, depending on whether the organization chooses to incentivise telecommuting or not. Some more things the policy must state are
1. Workspace requirements from the employee at the site of telecommuting
2. Meetings that must be attended physically by the employee, and those she or he may avoid or attend by teleconferencing
3. Security commitments expected from the telecommuter.
The Employee Telecommuting Policy Template can help you set up and implement your own policy.
Without adequate technology and safeguards in place, your telecommuting arrangement can quickly become a catastrophe. It is important that you put in place policies to ensure that the telecommuter has been granted privileges only after the correct technology (as deemed by you) is in place, and that efforts have been made to ensure satisfactory levels of security.
Firstly, define an Asset Management Policy which states the minimum technology requirements an employee must fulfil before being granted telecommuting rights. These may include
1.Laptop and/or desktop PC configurations
2.Drivers
3.wireless router, USB ports etc
4.Printers, scanners etc if necessary
5.Softwares and updates
Ensure that drivers and other softwares have been installed correctly, and certified by your organization’s IT staff before the job commences. The policy must also include what to do in cases of emergencies, as well as shipping requirements (if the equipment and/or software is provided by the organization). To draw up your own policy, you can draw on the Asset management Policy Template provided in the toolkit.
Once established, the telecommuter must also know the level of technical support she or he is entitled to, in the form of a Technical Support Policy. This must set out
1. Help desk support, which an employee can call and report problems
2. Tier II support. This is especially difficult, for while it is easy for IT staff to go over to an employee’s desk to help with problems, going over to wherever the telecommuter is might involve a whole day on that job, an undesirable cost.
Hence it is important to have a policy that defines what technical support a telecommuting employee can expect. To draw up your policy, do refer to the Telecommuting Technical Support Policy Policy.
Finally, you need to have a policy to ensure that all your interactions with the telecommuter happen securely across the telecommunications network. Ideally, the policy should include the following points
1. A statement of when and where security requirements apply
2. Requirements for appropriate antivirus, firewalls and other protective software to be installed
3. Standards for setting and changing passwords
4. Compliance and failure
To draw your policy, you can make use of the Telecommuting and Networking Security Policy, which sets out the steps in detail.
Once you have all your policies defined, you will need a few documents in place. These documents will help you set procedures for applications and approvals, record information on telecommuters and equipment etc.
Firstly, you can use the Employee Telecommuting Request Form Template to draw up your own form. This is the form every employee must use when seeking permission to telecommute, in which she or he must list personal details, telecommuting frequency (full-time or occasional), facilities available at the site, and most importantly, the reasons why the employee needs the privilege. The form would also include space for approver’s comments.
Secondly, you need to create a standardized record of each telecommuting employee, listing her or his personal details, and the infrastructure set up for the telecommuting. For reference, we have included a Telecommuter Information Sheet Template.
Thirdly, and much importantly, you must have an Emergency Information Sheet. This is the document that tells the telecommuter whom to contact in case anything untoward happens. It is also useful for the helpdesk and technical assistance staff to know the equipment serial numbers when help is required. Do refer to the Emergency Information Sheet Template when preparing yours.
Once an application for telecommuting has been approved, you must see to it that the employee concerned has read and understood all the documentation necessary. Apart from the Telecommuter Information and Emergency Information sheets, there are Installation Instructions and Helpdesk information that the employee must know.
It is critical that the employee understands installation procedure, especially if you are providing the telecommunication infrastructure. These instructions would typically include:
1.Connecting the laptop/PC to the router for connecting to the net
2.Connecting the laptop/PC to a USB device like a printer
3.Connecting the laptop/PC to wireless devices
Only if you are sure that the employee has read these instructions, would you be confident that no employee-generated error wrecks your exercise.
Nevertheless, problems will arise, which is why you have the Helpdesk. But to protect the helpdesk from being inundated with calls, do include a document to help the telecommuter troubleshoot her or his problems. You can include a few questions that they must ask themselves before calling the helpdesk:
1.Did you reboot the system?
2.Can you connect to the net?
3.Are the electrical connections proper?
The Telecommuting Toolkit includes an Installation Instructions Template as well as Before Calling Helpdesk Template to help you prepare these important documents.
When you have made everything sure, both you and the employee are ready to sign the Telecommuting Contract, which sets out the terms and conditions of the arrangement. This is a critical legal document that defines your relationship, and protects both you and the employee.
A typical contract would define the terms of
1.Working hours
2.Reporting documentation
3.Workspace
4.Security
We have prepared a specimen Telecommuting Employee Contract which you can use to draw up your own.
Throughout the series we have been mentioning that you will have to make trade-offs between the costs of setting up telecommuting facilities and the benefits you gain due to employee satisfaction and cost savings. It is time to discuss an objective cost-benefit analysis, so that you can know what exactly you are getting into, and how it will affect your organization’s financial health.
To help you along, we have included a detailed Cost Benefit Analysis Worksheet which you can make use of. In essence, it will help you record all potential costs you will incur, and balance them against the benefits you may accrue. Some major calculations you may have to make are:
1.Equipment: For each telecommuting employee, there will be the savings against office equipment and furniture, balanced against the cost you may have to incur on providing the equipment at the remote workplace (if you are providing the equipment).
2.Connections: Savings on office LAN will be balanced against connection costs at the remote workplace.
3.Employee Services: Savings on parking, coffee etc balanced against telephone and ISP bills.
4.Employee Insurance: You will have to balance workplace-related insurance against whatever insurance you must arrange for the telecommuting employee and facilities.
5.Real Estate: how much do you save on paying office rentals for each telecommuter?
6.Savings on utility bills.
7.Tax benefits, if any. Some states grant tax reliefs to organizations implementing telecommuting.
Do take your decision based on a detailed cost-benefit analysis. Some intangible benefits are not included, such as employee satisfaction, which you may have to separately consider.
Like any other exercise, telecommuting also needs training to ensure that the employee is aware of all requirements and obligations – legal, financial and technological. The employee should ideally be trained on the following aspects:
1.Understanding and completing the requisite paperwork.
2.Setting aside a dedicated workspace at the telecommuting location.
3.Ensuring adequate privacy and security for the workplace
4.Correctly installing the hardware, drivers and software required
5.Maintaining data and network security
6.Coordinating with other employees, attending necessary meetings etc
Training is an essential part of telecommuting, as a telecommuter aware of all her or his responsibilities is the ideal and productive telecommuter.
A template Power Point Presentation has been included with the help of which you can arrange training sessions for your employees looking to move to a telecommuting arrangements. Only after you are satisfied that they understand all that it takes, should you allow the migration.
