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MAKING STAY-AT-HOMES FEEL WELCOMETo understand the merits of telecommuting, just look at Cisco Systems, the computer-networking giant based in San Jose, Calif. Cisco telecommuters have improved their productivity by up to 25%, while the company has saved about $1 million on overhead, and retained key employees who might otherwise have left. What's more, those who have traded suits for sweats say they love setting their own schedules, skipping rush hour, spending more time with their kids, and working at least part-time in comfortable surroundings. ''It's surprising the number of engineers who will respond to a question at 11:00 on a Saturday night,'' says John Hotchkiss, Cisco's human resource manager. ''We can solve a problem that would not have been solved until Monday morning.'' If you're looking to land a job that lets you clock in from home, you'd do well to find a company like Cisco that has formal telecommuting policies in place. Although ad hoc arrangements are still common, they are often inconsistent and can be seen as unfair. Fortunately, an increasing number of companies are instituting formal telecommuter programs that spell out training requirements and make clear who will pick up what costs (table, page 156). That lets you know telecommuting enjoys the support of top management and can mean the difference between a commitment to working out the kinks and a transfer back to the office, says Joseph Parente, who runs KPMG Peat Marwick's telework-consulting practice. Companies that top most consultants' lists of good employers for telecommuters tend to be in high-tech or knowledge-driven industries. But telecommuting can work in any field, provided a job requires more time on the computer or phone than in face-to-face meetings. A successful program needs employees with the discipline, independence, and organization to make it work, and managers who don't confuse time spent at the office with output or effectiveness. IBM ''didn't do as good a job initially'' as it could have, says Bob Egan, who manages the company's telecommuting program from his home in Salt Lake City. The problem: While telecommuters spent less time gossiping, they also had fewer opportunities to talk shop. Rather than scrap the program, IBM decided to schedule meetings and other social interactions that used to happen automatically. Today, about 20% of IBM's 270,000 global employees spend at least two days a week at home or visiting clients. STANDARDS. Some companies go to great lengths to avoid making mistakes when putting telecommuting programs in place. Merrill Lynch lets employees and managers try telecommuting on for size during a two-week simulation in New York and elsewhere. While working with gear they will take home, employees communicate via phone or E-mail. Face-to-face encounters are forbidden. ''It gives them an idea of what to expect,'' said Camille Manfredonia, the program's director. But dry runs, questionnaires, and other evaluation tools are only part of a successful program. Like Merrill, Arthur Andersen's Performance & Learning group in St. Charles, Ill., requires prospective telecommuters to attend training sessions, where topics include time management and virtual teamwork. Both companies also inspect home offices to make sure safety standards are met, such as having sufficient lighting. It's typically up to the employee to maintain a safe work environment. Because telecommuting blurs the line between home and work, good programs set standards designed to create boundaries. ''Setting up a workspace on a card table is not a good long-term solution,'' says David Mead, CEO of Telecommuting Success, a Colorado consulting firm. Few companies require telecommuters to devote an entire room to work. But many will ask employees who set up shop in the corner of the family room to tell the kids to play elsewhere during work hours. PAT ON THE BACK. Although training tends to focus on employees, companies that are serious about telecommuting usually recommend that managers attend sessions, too. At Merrill Lynch, managers are taught to spot problems and to pat telecommuters on the back from afar. ''The people I have reported to have all had a simple attitude, which is we don't care how you do it or where you do it, just be productive,'' says Susan Scherbel, a Merrill managing director in investment banking, who began telecommuting eight years ago, following the birth of the first of her three children. When training is complete, consultants advise managers and subordinates to hammer out written agreements covering everything from what work will be done at home to how accessible the telecommuter will be. Experts also agree that companies should foot the bill for essential equipment, although what's essential varies by company and job. ''While it's tempting to require employees to use their own computers, my experience is that it ends up costing more in terms of support,'' says Gil Gordon, a telecommuting consultant in Monmouth Junction, N.J. Still, even the best programs shift some of the cost of doing business onto employees' shoulders, says Christena Nippert-Eng, an assistant professor of sociology at Illinois Institute of Technology. AT&T's telecommuters typically receive laptops, cellular phones, and second phone lines. IBM supplies those, plus pagers and printers. But few companies pay a portion of a telecommuter's utility bill or mortgages. Furthermore, to limit their liability, a growing number of companies require ergonomically correct chairs and desks--an expense employees often assume. Although the telecommuter ranks are growing, many companies have yet to accept the idea of a remote workforce. Only a third of the more than 1,800 companies William M. Mercer recently surveyed offer employees the option to telecommute. Some existing programs are hamstrung by resistant managers, isolated employees, and insufficient opportunities for teamwork, says Nippert-Eng, who estimates that at least 20% of the arrangements she studied failed. Perhaps the biggest threat is the very thing that makes telecommuting attractive: distance. Companies risk damaging their cultures and discouraging informal problem-solving. Indeed, the need for periodic in-person meetings is acute at companies like IBM, which are doing away with regular offices for telecommuters in favor of shared cubicles they use when they come in the office. REQUIRED VISITS. Indeed, some companies require telecommuters to stop in at the office--if only for a day or two a week. Arthur Andersen also hosts informal lunches for its St. Charles telecommuters. Despite all the growing pains, Deborah Lis, who markets IBM products to local governments in California from her home or from client's offices, says telecommuting has been a big plus for her career. Being close to clients helps Lis brings in twice the revenue she did four years ago, when she worked from an IBM office in Los Angeles. Still, Lis says her colleagues often get together face-to-face to hash out work-related problems. Even telecommuters have something to gain by gathering around the office water cooler from time to time.
By Anne Tergesen RELATED ITEMS
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Updated Oct. 1, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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