| Telecommuting – An All Season Solution |
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There are many words you can use to describe a March blizzard – convenient is not one of them. Work can be stressful enough without waking up hours early to shovel, scrape your car, start it up and slowly roll your ice box to work. Some days, making it to work is more work than working. That’s not only a mouthful, but truly unfortunate. Of course, this is a help article - so there is a better way. Affordable technology has made physical offices virtually obsolete (please excuse the pun). With the emergence of telecommuting (fancy-speak for working from home), it’s easy to ensure your employees can work productively from home when weather, health or family circumstances require so. The added benefits of telecommuting include minimized infrastructure costs, reduced employee travel costs and lower overall levels of pollution – there’s nothing wrong with any of those! Here are some ways to help the adoption of a telecommuting program run smoothly: Change your thinking – To get the most out of telecommuting, your management style needs to adapt with your technology. It is imperative to think in terms of results, meaning what your employees accomplish is priority one, not where or how they do it. Set up remote network access – Storing files on individual computer hard drives hampers productivity, as important files are only available on that specific computer. Instead, invest in online storage space and store all of your business files on a secured web-based network. This way, all employees can access company files from any computer, anywhere, anytime, as long as they have a user name, password and internet connection. Whether you’re stuck at home in a snowstorm, travelling across the Australian outback on a kangaroo or riding Splash Mountain at Disney World, you can still get your work done. Laptops for everyone – Laptops are more affordable and powerful than ever, so don’t think of them as secondary computers. Buy your team laptops and get them into the habit of taking them home in the evenings and with them on business trips, external meetings etc. There should be no expectation of constant after-hours work, just the confidence that if work needs to get done it doesn’t have to wait until morning. On that same note, purchase comfortable, solid carrying cases to increase travel comfort and protect your technology. Facilitate online communication – Phones and email are great, but using an online chat service like Google Chat can often be more effective. In non-urgent situations, it’s faster and more convenient to instant message another employee than pick up the phone or send an email and wait for a reply. Even if you aren’t looking to institute a work from home program, this is a great business option. Home office in a bag – I’ve covered the tech issues involved with telecommuting, now I’ll cover the other issue – home offices. When your employees start work and you hand them a beautiful laptop case, make sure there are pens, notepads, staples and whatever else they need to be productive. The cost is low and well worth it in the long run. Whether you’re low on office space, you have employees who would appreciate the convenience of working from home or you just want to prepare for the next big storm, telecommuting is an effective way to reduce office stress and increase productivity. If you have any other tips on how to set up a work from home program, send me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - we love suggestions. |
