Here are 10 steps to help employers prepare for a telecommuting program.
Every business owner today can feel it. The grounds of business are shaking. It’s almost impossible these days for employers to get their footing.
On top of a global economic crisis, now business owners must contend with and prepare for a potential influenza pandemic. Schools are cancelling classes. If businesses close their offices, what then happens to their customer service operations, revenues, etc.? And on a grander scale, what happens to an already drowning economy?
One possible solution to these questions is: telecommuting for employees. In a previous HRTools.com Insight, I described numerous business reasons for telecommuting and how employers can benefit. These benefits can include significantly reducing costs, such as overhead and office space expenses—and enjoying increased employee productivity, because employees are not spending time commuting or stuck in traffic.
Now as the world faces a potential influenza pandemic, governmental officials, and other professionals specializing in employment law, are encouraging businesses to consider other practical remedies.
In an April 29, 2009, article published at www.reuters.com titled, "WHO warns flu pandemic imminent," U.S. Secretary Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is quoted as saying:
"We are preparing for the worst; hoping for the best," Napolitano said. "All of us should be dusting off our business contingency plans, looking at things like telecommuting and the like so that things keep operating."
And in the April 30, 2009, issue of the Houston Chronicle, an Outlook article titled, "Are employers prepared for outbreak of swine flu?," Houston attorney, Kevin Troutman, who specializes in labor and employment law, states:
“A telecommuting program could prove invaluable during an outbreak. This could therefore be the time to invest in the necessary hardware and software. Telecommuting employees could mean the difference between keeping a company going and having it shut down for a prolonged period during an epidemic.”
Obviously, not every American business can adopt a telecommuting program. However, some businesses can successfully keep operating during a pandemic, or another similar crisis scenario, by having its employees work remotely. As you prepare to develop telecommuting policies for an employee handbook, here are 10 preliminary steps you may want to consider:
- Make sure upper management is on board with the concept of a telecommuting program.
- Determine your objectives and make sure you can specify what you expect to gain by changing the working arrangements.
- Determine what jobs lend themselves to telecommuting. Can these positions be well-managed and successfully performed from a remote location? You want to make sure that even more problems don’t surface because employees are working remotely.
- Define the remote working standards and production requirements. Define these expectations and requirements very clearly.
- Determine equipment needs.
- Specify how equipment should be cared for and repaired, if necessary, and how any expenses will be handled.
- Stress how company information, data and assets should be kept secure and protected.
- Be very careful and explicit about how client information is to be kept secure and protected.
- Prepare to have remote site inspections for safety and regulatory compliance reasons. Employers will want to make sure there are no safety hazards where the employees are working.
- Develop work schedules. And employers should state requirements for proper recording of hours, attendance, sickness and things like that. Whatever the reporting procedure, it should be laid out very clearly.
Finally, employers may want to consider developing a telecommuting program that allows for a trial period. When developing this policy, employers will want to clearly define remote working expectations and production standards, and what can happen if those obligations are not met. Employers also will want to make employees aware that they have the right to reverse the telecommuting arrangements whenever necessary. It is always advisable to have an agreement that the employee acknowledges and signs. Make sure you give the employee a signed copy for their records, as well.
The above is intended for general use. Employers are encouraged to seek legal counsel when making employee policy-related decisions.
Other related articles and information:
Swine Flu: Agencies Scramble to Update Telecommuting Policies
Telework Key to Swine Flu Response