Teleworking
How to make teleworking work
Widespread adoption of telecommuting programs is often hindered by non-technical factors.
by Shane Yu
Telecommuting programs allow organizations to hire new employees in remote geographies to take advantage of scarce skill sets.
Teleworking, broadly
defined, is the ability to work from a home
or remote location for all or part of the
work week. Companies have been implementing
large-scale teleworking programs for close
to a decade, following a trend that had its
root in contact centers. Use of home-based
agents became a popular business strategy
because of the clear, measurable results
proven out by rigorous performance metrics,
and the reduction in employee churn typical
of many contact center operations.
In recent years,
improvements in technologies have led to a
wider adoption of teleworking as an accepted
work situation. Technology advances, such as
high-speed Internet, IP telephony, e-mail,
instant messaging, Web conferencing and
videoconferencing, can streamline
communications and collaboration among
remote workers, enabling them to function as
if they are in the same office.
The rise in teleworker
programs makes a strong case for enterprises
to consider the use of unified
communications (UC) and may be the driving
force leading to much wider deployments. The
basic tenant of UC–communication and
collaboration from anywhere, anytime–is
demonstrated in the teleworker and mobile
worker situations.
The federal government,
as well as many state and local governments,
are instituting telework programs. With some
organizations considering four-day workweeks
as an answer to rising energy costs,
teleworking offers the benefits of a
compressed workweek along with increased
productivity, but without 10-hour days or
the loss of service to customers for a full
business day.
Organizations need clear,
measurable goals before undertaking a
teleworker program. Increasing employee
flexibility and retention, cost savings,
environmental concerns, and government
incentives or mandates, for example, are
among the top concerns of companies
exploring teleworking programs.
Telecommuting programs
allow organizations to hire new employees in
remote geographies to take advantage of
scarce skill sets or lower-cost labor. Some
companies have used telecommuting to support
their acquisition strategy. One particular
company retained the best executives in
newly acquired companies by not forcing them
to relocate.
Telework programs often
result in productivity gains, according to a
report by the U.S. Department of
Transportation, which reported improvements
of from 10 percent to 20 percent, and as
high as 40 percent. Cost savings is the
second most-often cited justification for
teleworker programs, specifically in real
estate and facilities. The ability to close
or reduce offices or to refrain from
expansion saves on real estate and the
facilities requirements to support them.
Another factor supporting
growth in teleworking is related to
environmental concerns as either part of a
"green" initiative by the organization or as
regulations or incentives from the
government. One study showed that, on
average, commuting five days a week releases
more than 51,000 pounds of carbon dioxide
into the environment and uses almost 400
gallons of gas per year.
Many governments are
instituting tax incentives or regulations to
encourage "greener" behaviors. In
particular, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura
counties in California provide a $500 tax
credit to companies instituting telework
programs. Georgia gives up to $20,000 in tax
credits to conduct feasibility studies and
up to $1,200 credit per teleworker, and
Virginia grants a tax credit up to $35,000
credit per company.
In a telework program
initiated in 1989, Arizona required 20
percent of its own workforce to work from
home. Some cities like Seattle have
mandates, including the Commute Trip
Reduction Law, that can be met by
instituting teleworker programs. Several
cities are considering legislation that
would require a percentage of employees in
the city to work from home on "ozone alert
days" to avoid loss of federal subsidies.
Widespread adoption of
telecommuting programs, however, is often
hindered by non-technical factors. These
concerns vary by affected group, ranging
from supervisors, human resources, IT and
corporate security officers, with
supervisors being the most vocal in their
concerns.
Supervisors want to know
how to measure productivity of those they
cannot see, how to maintain team cohesion
and collaboration or how to adjust their
management style. Human resources executives
worry about potential changes to employment
contracts and policy enforcement procedures.
IT managers worry about support and training
of remote employees. Information security
has also been cited as a major concern,
especially for financial companies and
government organizations.
There is no "one size
fits all" answer to these concerns. In most
cases, management techniques, training
programs, policies, employee contracts,
security procedures and technologies have
been changed to ensure a program’s success.
The approach taken by many companies with
successful programs has been to treat them
as major change initiatives rather than
solely technology deployments.
Identifying and involving
all affected constituents early in the
process is a critical first step. This has
often been accomplished by bringing in
experienced outside consultants who can
share lessons learned through successful
past deployments and utilizing methodologies
that acknowledge all concerns at the outset.
A workshop is a good way
to accomplish this and, at the same time,
determine what gaps may exist between the
current people, processes and technologies
and the desired end state. The workshop may
reveal that managers already have the
correct metrics in place, but that employee
contracts must be modified to ensure
productivity, worker safety and information
security, or that certain employees will
require locked home offices, VPN phones or
new security procedures. It may determine
that phased deployments are needed to reduce
risk and ensure the support team has ample
time to work through all potential
situations.
In most instances, a
program that begins by targeting a few
specific work functions and subsequently
expanding the initial deployment has proven
most successful. In one case, a pilot group
was initially moved to a separate part of
the building with commercial Internet and
phone service to simulate the actual work
environment. In others, information workers
already used to traveling and working from
alternate locations were the initial testers
of the new procedures and technologies. The
important factor here is that all affected
lines of business should be involved in the
decision-making process in all scenarios, or
wide-spread adoption and satisfaction could
be at risk.
Shane Yu is the director of Avaya’s unified communications consulting practice, Basking Ridge, N.J.
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Business sees savings with video
Stephen Bokmiller wears
two hats as chief financial officer and head
of IT at Integrity Auto Specialists, a
specialized auto-body reconditioning service
based in Chesapeake, Va. Most of Integrity’s
60 employees are account representatives and
auto-body repair specialists who both sell
and perform the company’s services at auto
dealerships–they fix auto-body imperfections
that the new car business calls "sales
objections."
Integrity’s staff is
spread across the Atlanta and Denver areas,
as well as at its Virginia headquarters. Two
years ago, owner Bob Hughes moved to the
Dallas area. Integrity needed a way to keep
that move from distancing its key decision
maker, and to keep dispersed employees
feeling like members of one team.
Bokmiller says the
close-knit firm has come to rely on
Berkeley, Calif.-based SightSpeed, and its
videoconferencing system to stay connected.
It does this through regular video-enabled
staff meetings with its owner in Dallas and
in information-sharing seminars.
Bokmiller turned up
SightSpeed in a Web search and found the
application easy to download and use. "We
gave it a test run and we’ve used it ever
since. The quality of the video in real time
is outstanding."
Videoconferences at
Integrity are conducted over SightSpeed’s
PLUS plan, for which the company pays $50
per year. Under this plan, up to four
separate sites can be conferenced together
on one screen.
Most of Integrity’s video
calls take place weekly between senior
management staff and Hughes. At these
two-way video meetings, the firm uses a
second PC on both ends, running
collaboration software, to keep shared views
and control of spreadsheets alongside views
of each other.
Those in Integrity’s
Chesapeake conference room use a speaker
phone as microphone and speakers. The
speaker phone connects to an IP adapter,
which, in turn, connects to the PC running
SightSpeed. That PC’s video output is also
shared among those in the room, by hookup to
a data projector and screen. A cable
Internet connection of 6 MB down and 2 MB up
supports a real-motion video call on the
Chesapeake end; a consumer cable connection
in Hughes’ office delivers the same result.
Bokmiller says the
company is planning to produce monthly
corporate broadcasts as a way to keep the
lines of communication between offices
strong. "It helps to keep a real, personal
focus when you’re working through difficult
times," he says.
The firm also relies on
SightSpeed to hire new employees. "We’re
very selective in our hiring," says
Bokmiller. "As we needed to recruit new
employees around the country, it was getting
expensive to travel. Through video
interviews, we feel as if we’re meeting that
candidate in person."
Stephen Bokmiller
of Integrity Auto
The firm also used
SightSpeed to interview potential hires in
the candidate’s locations. "It saved us time
and money by avoiding flying people here or
flying ourselves out to wherever they were,"
says Bokmiller. "It has also helped us react
quickly. We were able to set up a call,
interview someone and make a job offer. It
meant the difference between adding a valued
member of our team versus losing him to a
competitor."
Bokmiller says that when
Integrity Auto’s sales managers conduct
staff meetings weekly, "having a face in
front of you" certainly makes a big
difference. "That led to building SightSpeed
into our business practices.
"We’ve been growing
steadily in our 15-year history. We’re
looking to double the size of the company
and we’re looking for SightSpeed to help us
get there," Bokmiller concludes. "It’s a
useful meeting tool, and part of my plan to
help control costs and react quickly to
business opportunities."
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