have not demonstrated a high level of competency would not be good candidates for such an arrangement.
The bottom line is that the decision must be made by the company and by the manager. With a telecommuting program, you make no guarantees that everyone can be a telecommuter. Part of the process is establishing clear guidelines, standards, and policies.
Everyone will want to telecommute and there will be nobody left in the office. Just as you may not want certain employees to telecommute, you will have employees who prefer the standard workplace environment. Many employees enjoy the social aspects of work. They like the interactions with others, and the opportunity to leave home and enter a different environment. For those people, telecommuting is unlikely to become a preferred option. As a manager, you are in control of how you staff your department. There are some managers of workforces comprised entirely of telecommuters — in fact, the manager may be a telecommuter too. There are others who, for whatever reasons, do not find that telecommuting is a viable option. And there are many, many more who find that the right solution is somewhere in between. Ultimately, though, you are responsible for staffing your workforce to provide the optimum service to your internal and external customers.
Only big companies are involved in telecommuting. Not true. In fact, a survey by Telecommute America showed that 65 percent of the respondents that participated in telecommuting were from companies with fewer than 100 employees. Telecommuting runs the gamut from small firms with only a handful of employees to multi-national firms. It’s not size that matters — it’s process and service.
It is too difficult to manage telecommuters. In fact, telemanagers and the companies they work for consistently say that good managers are good managers, regardless of whether they’re managing someone in the office or from a remote location. The skills are the same.
6. The Drawbacks and Challenges
Even though the time is right for telecommuting, there are a number of drawbacks and challenges of which both organizations and individuals need to be aware.
6.1 For employers
Resistance to change. Telecommuting has been driven largely by employees who, because of their unique personal needs, have requested flexible options for accomplishing their duties. While some employers were early adopters of telecommuting as a work option, and while studies continue to show that more and more companies are offering employees the opportunity to telecommute, many have been resistant to change. Some employers see no need to change a system that has worked for decades and, as most of us can relate to, change can be personally and organizationally challenging.
Out of sight, out of mind. Front-line managers have tended to be the most resistant to the use of telecommuting as an employee option. They believe that employees who are not physically present will be impossible to oversee. “How can I tell whether they’re really working?” they ask. “I’m just not comfortable with the idea of letting employees work from home,” others say.
Consider, though, how often managers actually oversee the work of their employees in a traditional setting. Managers may be physically located in an area removed from their staff. They may be involved in numerous meetings and other activities throughout the day that preclude direct observation of employees. And, of course, they have their own work to do, meaning that it is very unlikely that they are actually observing employees in the workplace to any great degree.
Abuse of the option. Are there employees who will take advantage of the opportunity to work from home? Employees who may look at telecommuting as a way of saving money and childcare costs while allowing them plenty of time for interaction with the kids? Employees who will spend their time engaged in personal activities instead of concentrating on their assigned work responsibilities? Certainly. But these individuals would be non-productive in any type of setting. A good selection process will serve to screen out these individuals before they are able to take part in a telecommuting program. In addition, careful development of specific — and measurable — goals and objectives can provide management with an objective method of monitoring performance.
Telecommuting demands greater coordination. Companies may be hesitant to start a telecommuting program because they fear that it will demand greater coordination and require more time and effort than the management of traditional staff. This may be true initially as the program is being developed and as the organization is adapting to it. In the long run, however, telecommuting can strengthen all management practices by helping the organization focus more on outcome than process in the management of staff activities.
Telecommuting may have a negative impact on communication. Communication is certainly a challenge when employees are no longer physically located with the majority of their workgroup and when you can’t simply walk down the hall to interact. Communication is a challenge in any work setting, however, and as with the coordination of work activities, the communication needs driven by telecommuting may serve to improve communication overall within the organization.
Special communication challenges are not unique to telecommuting. Many companies operate globally today, with employees spread around the world. Communication is an issue that belongs to any organization.
Fortunately, the technology that is now readily available to virtually anyone (at a very reasonable cost) means that distance is no longer relevant.
Legal issues. All employers have legal rights and responsibilities with respect to their employees; telecommuting simply creates different issues. For example, one of the largest areas of concern is for the safety of employees in a home office, or worker’s compensation. Another concern that may develop is the one of wage and hour laws (i.e., when will the telecommuter be eligible for overtime pay?).
These are valid concerns and, fortunately, with the growing number of people and companies practicing telecommuting, the vast majority of legal concerns have been explored and tested by someone, someplace, at some time. The best bits of advice in this area are: spend adequate time preparing your telecommuting agreement; include those issues that may create problems; and obtain legal counsel.
Conflict between teleworkers and non-teleworkers. Telecommuting is not appropriate for all people. Your decision on whether or not to allow an employee to telecommute is likely to be based both on the requirements of the job and the individual characteristics of the employee. Working from home or from some other remote location is an attractive option, and it is not unlikely that the employees who are unable to take advantage of it will feel some resentment toward those who are. Conflict may escalate if communication or hand-offs become problematic.
As a manager, it is important to remain focused on the business imperatives of the telecommuting decision.
Initial cost of set-up. Some people may be opposed to telecommuting because of concern over the costs involved. Costs will, of course, vary depending on the job that needs to be done, but generally speaking, it should cost no more to set up an employee to work from home than it does to accommodate the employee at the normal work setting. In fact, many companies have documented substantial savings in office space and equipment needs.
Careful planning is the key to controlling costs, as is common sense. A telecommuter may have the need to make photocopies from time to time, but that does not necessarily mean that he or she should be provided with a photocopier for his or her home office.
Negative impact on teamwork. There is something to be said about the camaraderie that develops between a group of people working together, day after day, within the same work environment. And it can certainly be challenging for a manager to build and maintain that same sense of team when some
