Nitty-gritty of telecommuting
IN THE late 1990s, telecommuting - flexibility in time and place of work - seemed like a promising development in the world of business.
But, latest surveys report that telecommuting is not as popular today as it was some years ago.
Here are the statistics:
As per a survey conducted by CareerEngine.com, a whopping 65% of the companies prefer to hire fewer telecommuters while 21% plan to completely phase out the option!
In a poll by the American Management Association (AMA), more than 30% of the executives surveyed were of the view that they would not want to deal with telecommuters while 60% of the employees opined that they detest the option!
Similar studies by the Boston College and the University of Central Lancashire reveal that many telecommuters suffer from pangs of stress, guilt and frustration.
Startling facts! Especially when the entity was looked up to redefine the work culture - revolutionise the way work is done and give an altogether new meaning to `stay at home.'
Does it imply that telecommuting in the true sense was just a passing fad, and we have given it way too much importance? Or is it something that only needs a little reworking? Or, a little smoothening of rough edges would blend well with organisational plans?
Finally, the responsibility to give the verdict fell on USA's Division of Labour (DoL). Their report suggests that telecommuting is a great work option, but requires proper implementation.
Now, proper implementation boils down to proper planning. Most of the telecommuting options failed because everybody wanted to jump onto the `telecommuting bandwagon' without a strategy. Here is how you can do some planning and make telecommuting a viable option for your organisation.
Which?
It is important to demarcate the `right' jobs for telecommuting. For obvious reasons, somebody who has a supervisory role in a customer service industry is not a fit candidate for telecommuting. It has been found that jobs that are "information-based, portable, and predictable or that demand a high degree of privacy and concentration" are best suited for telecommuting. It has been advised that selection of jobs for telecommuting should be based on the job responsibilities, rather than the job title. Tasks, which can be carried out away from the workplace, should be telecommuted.
Who?
Equally important is the need to allow the right employees to telecommute. Not all employees are suited to work from home. Most successful telecommuters are self-motivated, responsible employees who need little or no supervision.
Also, employees who ask for help make better telecommuters. This is because most people continue working even if they are in a fix, rather than ask for help. This might prove unproductive, especially if the employee is working from home and spends 5 hours on setting something right, when, had he sought help, he could have got the solution in 5 minutes! Successful telecommuters should be able to reach out to their entire team, whether to ask for help or to share their knowledge.
How?
Specific tasks must be assigned to the telecommuter. A schedule must be drawn up according to the jobs/tasks that need to be performed. This calls for meticulous planning. The schedule of the telecommuter must then be placed in the larger perspective of the project and integrated with it.
Interaction rules must be defined clearly. This gains further significance if the telecommuter occupies a managerial position. When would the telecommuter be at office? How would the employees be supervised and their work reviewed? Which decisions would be the manager's and which the team's? Questions like these deserve serious thought and careful planning.
Above all, telecommuting should be integrated into the very fabric of the organisation. This requires the organisation to be committed to the cause. All new services and initiatives must also be viewed from the telecommuter's point of view. The HR should be sensitive to the changing technologies and consider how they could benefit telecommuters.
Management support is also important. No programme succeeds without senior executives' support. Management support is also required in the way teams are managed and handled. It requires a different way of handling things at office when some of the team members are telecommuters. Training is another overlooked aspect of telecommuting. Telecommuters, the management and on-site workers need to be trained. Most of the time, an explanation of why work is being off sited, how telecommuting fits in with the policies of the organisation and how it must be handled is enough. Nevertheless, telecommuting programme must never be implemented suddenly.
Finally, there is a lot more to telecommuting than what meets the eye. Taking care of those `invisible factors' is the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful telecommuting programme.
HAZIRA SHAHEEN
faqs@cnkonline.com
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