With telecommuting, work is something you do; it’s not a place you go.
Telecommuting: With all the perks and benefits that top-tier talent want and expect, this is one employee privilege that some employers can provide—and one that is often accomplished at minimal or no cost. Human Resource professionals can tell you that some valued employees have been known to leave jobs simply because another employer offers telecommuting arrangements.
In addition to attracting and retaining valuable employees, other issues are also weighing-in and pressuring businesses to consider telecommuting as a viable alternative. We hear government officials, business consultants and those from the academic communities urging employers to evaluate the societal benefits of telecommuting. Today’s energy, environmental and economic concerns are driving this movement. When more people telecommute, we can see significant savings in energy and other valuable resources. In addition, consumers nowadays are expecting companies to “go green,” and they are fairly vocal about it.
As it goes with any ‘up and coming’ workplace trend, we’d all like to know ahead of time what can trip us up. So when you examine this alternative to the traditional setting and how it may benefit your organization and employees, here are some mistakes you can avoid when adopting a telecommuting policy:
- Making telecommuting policies too general and vague. When developing telecommuting policies and guidelines, it’s very important to be clear and specific about arrangement requirements. For example, if you expect employees to be available by phone during certain hours, it’s important to specify that and make sure employees understand those expectations. On the other hand, if accountants are responsible for providing tax report documents by a certain date, it shouldn’t matter what hours they choose to work. In that case, the date is the specific requirement or deadline that you want employees to meet.
- Micro-managing or making unreasonable demands of remote employees. Instead, managers should allow for as much flexibility as possible. I know of some employers who try and control irrelevant details such as applying an employee dress code for remote employees. Also, whenever possible, it’s better to remain flexible when employees need to take personal time for handling family matters such as taking a child to daycare. While it’s advisable to be specific about certain performance-related expectations, it is also true that higher levels of employee productivity are normally better achieved in the absence of rigid or unreasonable controls. Remember what your goals are.
- Forgetting about telecommuting employees. It’s important that supervisors constantly monitor and maintain regular communication with employees. You want to make sure they are kept in the loop so they don’t feel isolated or disconnected with the organization. Make sure they have access to training and developmental opportunities, as well.
Basically employers still want to continue developing and maintaining that one-on-one relationship, which is even more important when the employee is working remotely. To help illustrate my point, I’ll share an experience.
An employee contacted me and she was very upset because the telecommuting arrangement had been discontinued. After meeting with the business owner, it was determined that a telecommuting agreement was not in place. All they had was an informal arrangement, and expectations were not planned out or clearly communicated.
While the business owners had the best of intentions in making the telecommuting program work, by this time, frustrations had gone from bad to “no turning back.” So we went back to “ground zero” and discussed all the finer points such as:
- What did they hope to accomplish?
- How do they see this arrangement working?
- What expectations are there for employee performance?
So employers want to make sure to plan ahead and clearly communicate expectations and requirements. It’s much better to get it right from the beginning than to have the experience fail due to lack of planning, preparation and communication.
If you want to learn more about telecommuting, its benefits and advantages, read my other Insights at www.hrtools.com:
Reasons for Telecommuting: Employer and Employee Benefits
Are You Dusting off Your Business Contingency Plans (includes 10 Steps for developing a telecommuting policy)