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Some years back, telecommuting was a hot topic and had created a lot of hype but mostly empty talk with not much solid actions. However, with the recent fuel price hike that affects almost everyone’s disposable income, middle management included, I think it is high time HR Policy Makers consider ways to reinvent the traditional five-days-in-the-office pattern. Is telecommuting the answer? Is it possible to get your workers to work from home or change the pattern to four-day week of 10 hours each?

First off, what is telecommuting? The definition from Wikipedia has this to say:- Telecommuting, e-commuting, e-work, telework, working at home (WAH), or working from home (WFH) is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links.

With technology advances nowadays and the speed we are experiencing, much better than 15-20 years ago when telecommuting was first being coined, there is certainly no reason why we cannot implement telecommuting as the new millennium way of life. For instant, you can have an enterprise portal service, that provides a range of services with integrated scheduling, business communication and other information management applications that allows employees to access and share documents and other information anytime and anywhere from any web-enabled service. As such, workers may not necessarily need to be at the office. Employers may have to offer a broadband subscription subsidy in this regard but it is definitely less costly than a petrol subsidy.

BUT, I can’t supervise my workers!

This is the major hitch. That’s why management style has to be changed from management by observation to management by objectives (MBO). MBO can be a strong motivator to staff, as they are free to make decisions without having a boss looking over their shoulder all the time, telling them how to use a mouse.

Some multinational companies such as Sun Microsystems and IBM had tried telecommuting and contrary to the traditional belief that workers are lazy and lack of discipline when there is no physical supervision, it has proven that workers turn out to be more happy, appreciative and thus, more productive. What it takes to ensure its success is some proper planning with some training and support from the management.

Think about staff retention

We talk about how to reduce staff turnover and keeping good people with us. Nowadays, people are more aware of the need to strike a balance between career and family. And if less time on the road means more time with the family, it gives the worker every reason to stay put with the company. Hey, this may well be the employer’s best retention strategy! Ask any workers – they will surely applaud such a move!

My company is different. Telecommuting is just not possible!

Perhaps not all workers can be offered with such alternative. If the “office” is part of the work process, telecommuting is not possible (e.g.: Office Cleaners and Security Guards). Apart from that, almost every job can be creatively “telecommutized” or at least “semi-telecommutized”.

List of jobs that can be considered right away…

Desktop Publishers

Data Entry

Programmers/Software Engineers

Web Designers

Sales

Writers

Customer Service/Telemarketing

So, is your company into telecommuting? If yes, care to share how you did it? If no, what is your hindrance?

Oh…by the way, I wrote this article from my house patio.