How to Use Telework
Telework benefits employers in diverse ways such as:
• Increasing the productivity of employees by allowing them to work from home, or elsewhere as desired
• Improving employee retention and loyalty
• Contributing to green commuting
• Saving money
The first crucial step is to put practices and policies in place that provide the employee with a formalized telecommuting structure. This framework creates a mutual agreement between the organization and the employee that ensures your shared responsibility and success.
Your policies and practices should clearly outline the following:
• Your organizational commitment to managing employees who work from home, or elsewhere
• The identification of positions and tasks suitable for telecommuting
• Job requirements and business needs
• A framework of rules and practices
• Meeting management techniques to ensure goals and planning are effective and that team dynamics remain cohesive
• Tools and support to aid the performance of a telecommuter
• Mechanisms to measure employee performance and the provision of feedback.
• A mutual commitment to clear communication to identify potential challenges and work through any issues
• An IT framework that supports remote operations
Creating an effective telework environment also requires a strong virtual team managed with strong skills such as interpersonal communication, leadership and transparency. This, combined with a solid base of technological tools, will allow your telecommuters to succeed.
Other steps to ensure success include:
• Identifying the benefits you would like to target
• Developing a budget that reflects costs and benefits of tangible and less tangible measurements
• Being sure that your senior management is committed and that the corporate culture supports the initiative from the top down
• Continually reviewing the status of the program to determine any training that might be required
• Normalizing telework by educating employees that it is a normal and effective way of working for both the employee and employer
• Communicating widely, reviewing feedback and refining continually
Your organization’s commitment reflects your understanding that the only thing that has changed in a telework program is your employees’ location. The management responsibilities of performance, communication, trust and team cohesion remain and potentially will be strengthened by telecommuting.
For further tools and information to support the implementation of your organization’s internal telework initiative, please contact the WORKshift team at info@workshiftcalgary.com.
