Telecommuting

1
Telecommuting

• Middle Tennessee Chapter
• of the
• Society for Technical Communication
• February 10, 1998

2
Telecommuting What Is It?

• A misnomer the term really refers to the
  absence of a commute.
• Bring the work to the worker, not the worker to
  the work.
• Does not always require a lot of gear (paper,
  pencil, and telephone).

3
Telecommuting is...

• distinct from the virtual office.
• Have laptop, will travel...
• Wherever you go, the office goes with you.
• Garret Romaine

4
Why Telecommute?

• Commuting is the single most anti-productive
  thing we do.
• Alvin Toffler, Future Shock

5
Employee Advantages

• Telecommuting offers the employee
• fewer distractions/interruptions (increasing
  productivity)
• increased availability of time
• reduced expenditures on gas, parking, dry
  cleaning, fast food, day care
• Linda
  Woody

6
Employer Advantages

• Telecommuting and virtual offices offer employers
  opportunities for
• getting the most work out of employees
• cutting costs (premises costs, administrative
  labor, etc.)

7
Employer Advantages (contd.)

• compliance with environmental mandates to reduce
  highway congestion, air pollution from automobile
  emissions, use of non-renewable energy sources,
  and loss of farmland
• increasing geographic pool of qualified recruits

8
Other Advantages

• Improved motivation (employees respond well to
  trust/confidence)
• Skills retention
• employees who might otherwise leave continue
  working. (According to the ATA, this cuts
  recruiting and training costs incurred by
  replacing the employee.)
• employees who take a career break still remain
  up-to-date

9
Other Advantages (contd.)

• Organizational flexibility
• assemble/reassemble teams as needs change
• assemble teams with the best skills and
  experience regardless of time zone, geography
• use technology effectively, making the company
  more adaptive to further advances

10
Disadvantages

• Little supervision
• Isolation
• Potentially awkward client relations issues

11
Is Telecommuting for You?

• Key factors for success
• stronger-than-average motivation
• results-oriented management (is the work getting
  done?)
• time management skills and goal orientation

12
Is Telecommuting for You? (contd.)

• Dont do it if you
• have conflicts at home
• need an outside source of motivation
• require the social ambiance of an office

13
Telecommuting and the Technical Communicator

• Careers in technical communication lend
  themselves to telecommuting because
• the necessary tools (hardware, software, and
  related communications equipment) are already
  familiar to them
• many already possess a PC at home with an extra
  phone line and fax/modem

14
Other Options

• writing, editing
• telemarketing
• computer programming
• administration
• executive decision-making

15
Will my manager agree?

• Common management objections (and their
  answers/solutions)
• Telecommuting means working at home full-time.
• Most work 1-3 days at home.
• Telecommuters waste time.
• Usually, productivity increases by 10-15.

16
Will my manager agree? (contd.)

• Managers cant manage people they cant see.
• Keep close, regular contact, set regular
  deadlines.
• If I let you do it, everyone will want to do
  it.
• Not everyone wants to or can telecommute.

17
Will my manager agree? (contd.)

• What if we need you and youre not here?
• Telecommute only when no meetings are scheduled.
• Managers who are results-oriented have the fewest
  problems managing off-site employees!

18
Making It Work

• Use the right people
• disciplined workers
• problem-solvers
• self-starters

19
Making It Work (contd.)

• Schedule regular meetings to
• assess needs
• give feedback
• discuss problems
• set deadlines

20
Making It Work (contd.)

• Schedule regular office visits
• Ask employee to set a weekly schedule
• Determine a regular and alternate method of
  contact
• pagers
• frequent use of office voice mail system

21
Making It Work (contd.)

• Designate a person in the office as a key
  contact person
• Review hardware/software configurations
  periodically
• Decide how to deal with clients

22
The Role of Technology

• Telecommuting was coined in 1973, by Jack Nilles
  in The Telecommuting-Transportation Tradeoff
  Options for Tomorrow. Since 1973, people have
  invented the
• fax
• PC
• information superhighway

23
The Role of Technology (contd.)

• How has all this technology changed the concept
  of telecommuting?
• According to the ATA, many of todays jobs are
  information-intensive and group or team-oriented.
  The new technology allows you to stay plugged
  in.