While it’s true that many organizations have embraced telecommuting, it’s also true that, for other companies, the jury is still out. Employers who are unsure about telecommuting and whether it can work for their organizations face a barrage of unanswered questions.
For one: will telecommuting help or hurt company operations? Another big concern: how can a telecommuting policy be implemented fairly? And not least, what’s the effect on the bottom line? If your organization shares some of these concerns about telecommuting, a recent Forbes magazine article titled “Five Things You Need to Know About Telecommuting” may provide some insight.
The Forbes article is based on interviews with three companies that have been at the forefront of the work-from-home movement. Those companies—Xerox, Dell Technologies, and Aetna—collectively employ hundreds of thousands of people around the world, many of them working from home or in other jobs that offer great flexibility.
As the Forbes article notes, all of these great employers offer varying levels of remote work, including jobs that are 100-percent telecommuting, allow various levels of telecommuting, or allow work-from-home options.
If your organization wants to know more about telecommuting as an option, here are five strategies to consider:
1. Think About Telecommuting as a Business Option
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The more you can offer work-from-anywhere jobs, the greater your potential job pool. As the Forbes article notes, “talent is no longer within a 5- or 10-mile radius of where your organization is based.”
2. Not Every Employee is Suited for Remote Work
Working from home takes a good degree of discipline, not just on the part of workers, but on employers as well.
It’s incumbent upon companies to understand when an employee is ready for telecommuting, which includes understanding which employees can handle working from home, and which of your team members may not be good work-from-home candidates.
3. Train and Educate Workers for Telecommuting Success
Organizations looking to learn more about telecommuting should understand that communication, education, and training are more important than ever. Knowing how to handle distributed team employee training can help lay the foundation for successful remote workers.
The Forbes article outlines how Dell managers, for example, offer training courses to virtual workers to help them succeed as work-from-home employees.
4. Integrate Your IT and HR Departments
No matter what other steps employees may have taken to embrace remote work, the nuts-and-bolts elements of success come down to technology and your IT team.
That can mean fostering a workplace that’s encouraging not only to remote workers, but that sets up an environment that ensures that IT departments can thrive in a work force that is becoming more about telecommuting and other flexible options.
5. Enjoy Big Benefits for Employers and Workers Alike
Employee engagement. Job satisfaction. A smaller carbon footprint. Attracting and retaining talent. Better work-life integration. The list is long for both employees and companies who take the time to tally up the benefits of telecommuting.
As pointed out in the Forbes piece, workers who are offered options to telecommute “appear to be be more engaged, productive and happy at work.” And that’s an all-around win.
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