While every company or organization is
different, our experience has identified certain action items that greatly increase the probability of success for almost any
telecommuting program. The following will give you an idea of what it takes -- from start to finish -- to get a telecommuting
program up and running and to maintain it on an ongoing basis.
1) Identify Your Goals and Objectives
2) Appoint a Telecommuting Coordinator -- a "Champion"
3) Create a Telecommuting Committee
4) Analyze your Telephony and Technology Needs and Costs
5) Draft Telecommuting Policies and Teleworker Agreements
6) Secure Senior Management
Buy-in For a telecommuting program to succeed, you need support for the
program from the top down.
7) Run a Pilot Program
Before going full speed ahead, test each element of the program with a subset
of telecommuting employees and their managers or supervisors. Use the
information gained in the pilot to refine the program before you roll it out
company-wide.
8) Train Managers and Telecommuting Employees
9) Get the Word Out to Your
Employees Telecommuting is here and it's working. Don't keep it a secret.
Communicate regularly with all employees about the program's
successes.
10) Ongoing Evaluation & Support
Telecommute CT! is ready to
help you successfully complete each of the 10 steps described above -- free of
charge. All you have to do is contact us.
In order to gain maximum benefit from a telecommuting program, you
should establish specific goals and objectives. These goals and objectives
give you a basis for designing your program and provide a benchmark against
which to measure its success.
Any successful company-wide initiative such as
telecommuting needs a champion to promote the program and coordinate all
related activities.
Your program affects managers and other employees throughout your
organization. Make sure their viewpoints are represented on your committee,
because you'll need their input and buy-in. But try to keep the committee to a
manageable size -- 8 to 15 members at most.
You need to know what equipment and technology you
have in place -- and what else you may need -- to enable off-site work. Armed
with that knowledge, you'll be able to seek cost estimates for the
technological components of your telecommuting
program.
Telecommuting is a privilege, not a right,
and the first priority must be to meet your business needs. Create written
policies that specify the roles, responsibilities and requirements for
employer and employee alike. Managers and telecommuting employees need to
agree on the terms and conditions under which employees are allowed to
telecommute and how the off-site work will be evaluated. Such agreements
should be in writing.
Telecommuting involves new ways of doing things.
Therefore, managers and teleworkers need to be properly trained in order for
your program to work.
You must constantly evaluate your telecommuting program -- including
tracking the costs and benefits. Then you can fine-tune and look for ways to
improve.