Your company has finally decided to adopt a flexible work policy. But before you send all of your in-office employees packing, the groundwork needs to be laid in order to make your remote work program a success. If your company is new to the concept of flexible work, consider these tips before implementing a work-from-home program.
Some tips to help get a remote work program off the ground:
Get management on board.
One of the top factors in your company’s remote work policy’s success is how your managers feel about it. If they prefer a traditional office environment, where everyone’s in the office from 9-to-5, they might not initially warm up to the idea of having their team working from home. That’s why employers need to get managerial buy-in from the very beginning.
Explain all of the benefits of remote work for the company, such as significant savings (about $11,000 per telecommuting employee), the ability to attract and retain top talent from anywhere in the world, and increased productivity. These factors alone can help nudge wary managers into accepting a work-from-home program.
Find out how your staff feels about remote work.
It’s easy to assume that most (if not all) of your employees would be thrilled to work remotely, but that might not be the case. In fact, you may discover that some employees actually prefer coming into the workplace each and every day. So before you go from being 100% brick-and-mortar to totally remote, consider the needs of your staffers.
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Send out a survey to see which employees would want to work from home (and how often), and which ones might need a little convincing to work remotely. Based on those results, you can determine the level of flex that your company might want to offer your current workers.
Determine which jobs are flex friendly.
Let’s face it: not every job can be done from home. If that were the case, then every person on the planet would be working from their home office—and not trekking into one. Take the time to go through each job and determine if it can be fully remote, partially remote, or maybe not even remote at all.
If some jobs just have to be done in the office, that doesn’t mean that those workers should still be doomed to the 9-to-5 grind. Offer other flex work options instead, such as a flexible schedule (where employees could come in a little earlier or later, depending on their needs), job sharing, or even a compressed workweek, where an employee can work longer hours from Monday throughThursday, for example, and have Friday off. That way, your entire team can enjoy the benefits of flexible work, not just those who are working from home.
Consider the communication.
In the office, you never had to think twice about keeping employees connected. They could stroll down the hallway to talk to management, catch up with each other in their cubicles, or have mini gossip sessions around the company’s Keurig machine. But in a remote work environment, employers (not employees) are responsible for providing the proverbial water cooler. Think of ways in which you can keep your workers in constant communication, from the collaboration tools they’ll need for work, to encouraging them to stay in touch by meeting up for dinner and drinks (and their expenses can be reimbursed by the company), or by having annual or even semi-annual company retreats.
Making it as easy as possible for your workers to be in touch with each other as well as with management can make the transition to being a remote workforce that much smoother. Remember, workplace communication is the key to flex work success.
Make a timeline.
Since there are so many factors to consider, it can take some time before a remote work program can be implemented. So don’t expect to have your team working in the office on Friday afternoon and then working remotely by the following Monday. In order to make a seamless transition, your company might decide to slowly phase in flexible work options.
For example, those who will be telecommuting might start off working part-time from home initially, and then once any potential issues have been worked out, they could start working from home full-time. This segue can be a whole lot easier for both workers and management to adjust to.
Iron out the details.
As your company gets ready to launch its remote work program, small but important details need to be addressed. Which employees will get to start working remotely first? Will the company supply office equipment or will it have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy? How will information be safeguarded and transferred? When will the company announce its flexible work policy to its employees—and to the world? Is it foreseeable that your company might need to call back some of its workers to the office in the future, and if so, how will the company handle it?
Coming up with answers to these questions will ensure that your work-from-home program is a success from the start.
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