Sikorsky Aircraft and Connecticut Medical Claims Management, Inc. couldn't be more different. One employs thousands of people at multiple sites statewide. The other has 13 employees and one office in Guilford. Both prove any size company can implement telecommuting and benefit greatly.


Sikorsky Aircraft has had telecommuting programs since 1991 -- with good reason. According to former Human Resources Manager Marcia Ellis, of Sikorsky Aircraft, "Sikorsky competes everywhere for talent. To be an employer of choice today, a company has to have a telecommuting option. It's no longer a nice-to-have benefit. It's a must-have."

Connecticut Medical Claims Management faces a similar challenge. The company processes medical claims for area doctors so they can get paid. The job requires knowledge of medical billing procedures. Among the best qualified are women who once worked for physicians but now don't because those physicians outsource to companies like Connecticut Medical Claims. Company president, Mathilde McCoy, says telecommuting attracts highly qualified women who can't work full-time because of family responsibilities. "By tapping this market and offering telecommuting," says Ms. McCoy," I open myself to a to a much broader market of well qualified folks."


McCoy says that regardless of company size, telecommuting works if you have the right people and procedures in place. "It takes a certain kind of employee to work from home. They have to be disciplined. But once you've got the right employer/employee relationship, it can be very successful."

Marcia Ellis agrees: "Whether you're in a small company, a medium sized company, it shouldn't matter, as long as that job is getting done. The first thing an employer should do is ask the employee: how will you get your job needs met?" The keys to making telecommuting work, says Ellis, are trust, flexibility and accountability -- not a huge budget or human resources infrastructure.

If you need assistance, it's available -- free -- from Telecommute Connecticut! Mathilde McCoy has found that assistance invaluable. "These folks have been very instrumental in finding out what we were doing and have guided us. It's been very helpful."

If you would like to share the success you have had at your company with telecommuting, please contact Telecommute CT! and we'll try to include your story in subsequent issues of Telework News. To contact us:
Phone: (in Ct.) 1-800-255-7433
Fax: 1-203-773-5014
e-mail: [email protected]