Tools and Telecommuting
Managers and employees alike need to be sure they have all the tools available to make the telecommuting arrangement successful. When employees are in the office, management typically has no problem providing the tools necessary for workers to do their jobs. That attitude needs to be extended to the work-at-home arrangement.
After a trial period, both manager and employee should be able to identify tools that can make the arrangement more successful. This is one reason why establishing a timetable for evaluating the work-at-home arrangement is important because it gives both sides an opportunity to discuss issues and identify any tools that might alleviate some of those issues.
Work Environment and Telecommuting
It's primarily up to the home worker to take responsibility for creating an environment at home that is conducive to getting work done. This means that family interruptions need to be kept to a manageable level. It also means the telecommuter needs to organize the work space and arrange a daily work schedule that will foster productivity.
Telecommuting in Baby Steps
Businesses and workers who are not accustomed to working from home are best advised to start out slowly. The first step for management is to be open to such arrangements for those employees who are disciplined enough to manage themselves while they're working from home. After all, many studies have shown that productivity can increase in work-at-home environments, so telecommuting arrangements can be beneficial to both the business and the worker.
A good way to establish trust and for a worker to prove their telecommuting abilities, is to allow an employee to work at home one or two days per week at first. Evaluate the arrangement at 30 and 60 day intervals.
The evaluation needs to be two-way, open, and honest. If the arrangement is working, consideration should be given to increasing the number of work-from-home days per week. If it's not working, ways to improve the arrangement should be examined. If either side just can't handle a telecommuting arrangement it should be abandoned, but it's important that both managers and workers clearly understand whey it wasn't a viable option for them.
Workers need to know how they performed in a telecommuting environment. This allows them to decide if working from home in a different job or for a different employer is important to them.
Managers need to decide if it was the telecommuting arrangement itself, the specific employee, or a combination of both that impeded the arrangement's success. This will help them decide if a telecommuting arrangement should be offered to other workers or if it's just not a viable option for the manager's style or the nature of the work to permit employees to work at home.Working from home is not suitable for everyone or for every business. However, it is an important option to consider as gas prices continue to rise. It may be that there has never been a better time to test the waters for telecommuting. Businesses can retain more of their valued workers by allowing it, and employees can save some money and increase both their productivity and job satisfaction by telecommuting.
