Tools and Telecommuting Employment
Managers and employees alike need to be sure they have all the tools available for successful telecommuting employment arrangements. 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 telecommuting arrangements as well.
After a trial period, both manager and employee should be able to identify tools that can make the telecommuting employment 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.
Telecommuting Employment Work Environment
It's primarily up to the telecommuting employee 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 Employment - Taking Baby Steps
Businesses and workers who are not accustomed to telecommuting employment arrangements are best advised to start out slowly. The first step for management is to be open to telecommuting arrangements for those employees who are disciplined enough to manage themselves while they're working from home. After all, many telecommuting employment studies have shown that productivity can increase in work-at-home environments, so telecommuting employment arrangements can be beneficial to both the business and the worker.
Evaluating the Telecommuting Employment Arrangement Regularly
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 telecommuting employment arrangement at 30 and 60 day intervals.
The telecommuting employment 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 employment 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 telecommuting employment with a different position or employer is important to them. If they are not performing up to par or aren't happy in their job when they are working at home, is it telecommuting employment that's the problem or just the specific job/employer?
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 telecommuting employment 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.
Telecommuting employment is not suitable for everyone or for every business or job description. However, it is an important option to consider as commuting costs, greenhouse gas levels and traffic snarls will no doubt continue to increase. It may be that there has never been a better time to test the waters for telecommuting employment in this country. 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. Plus, the earth can become a little bit greener in the process.
