Working from Home: It's in the Details

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Communication Preferences

Even workers who are eager to telecommute encounter hurdles. Many managers simply don't know how to manage a virtual workforce. "Projects fail, and companies assume that the workers can't do the work," says Colleen Garton, author of Managing without Walls. "But a high percentage of time, it's the manager." Over time, some employees begin to feel isolated, and virtual teams suffer from communication breakdown.

For virtual workers, there are plenty of ways to stay in touch, be it through e-mail, phone, or instant messaging. The trick, say experienced virtual workers, is helping managers know how employees like to communicate. When Kathleen Timiney worked at Groove Networks, a software maker acquired by Microsoft in 2005, she asked each team member how they preferred to communicate and posted those preferences where everyone could see them. "It's not just superficial," she says. "You have to support people in their style."

IBM discovered that workers who spend three or more days without talking to a manager or colleagues start to feel disconnected. "Employees used to feel that IBM meant 'I'm By Myself,'" says Dan Pelino, general manager for health care and life sciences at IBM. "We learned that it was important for managers to understand that people feel that way and to create new collaborative environments and to ask what they're doing." IBM teams use tools that provide customizable online team spaces, or portals that can be tailored to a specific project—complete with calendars, task lists, discussion forums, and document libraries.

Tools for the Virtual Craft

Other companies, including Microsoft, WebEx (WEBX), and Citrix (CTXS), also specialize in online conferencing and collaboration software that makes it easier for people in different locations to work together and conduct meetings. When Microsoft's Timiney worked at Groove, the company set a policy that if even one person was operating virtually in a meeting, then everyone would sit in their offices and the entire meeting would be virtual. "Because there's a big sensory difference in that experience, it made sure that everyone was on a level playing field," she says.

Another way to bridge the physical distance is to provide a worker with the tools needed to stay connected to colleagues. For the virtual worker, a laptop, high-speed Internet access, and a personal digital assistant or mobile phone are de rigueur. But some companies go an extra mile to outfit virtual employees.

IBM provides a universal messaging service that lets executives give a single phone number to clients and colleagues. The service then forwards calls to wherever that executive might be located, be it at home, on cell phone, or in a so-called eMobility Center, one of the temporary offices set up by IBM in locations around the world. Patrick Boyle, director of health-care and life-sciences sales at IBM, spends about half his time traveling, working from taxis, airport lounges, planes, and coffee shops. He's also a frequent user of eMobility centers and considers headsets an essential tool of the trade. Microsoft's Timiney says a quality headset is her most important tool.

Temporary Office Space

Some virtual workers at Sun use the company's line of workstations, called Sun Ray clients. Unlike conventional PCs, these devices contain no hard disk or operating system. Instead, all the software resides in the company's servers. That means all information is automatically backed up and stored securely—and won't be lost in the event the desktop is stolen or irreparably damaged. No software on the desktop also means fewer frustrating calls to tech support, says Larry Ciraulo, director of client computing services for Sun IT.

About five years ago, Sun realized that its offices were empty about half the time, as workers were out traveling or at meetings. So the company began encouraging workers to work from home and created a network of temporary offices, similar to IBM's eMobility centers, that can be reserved ahead of time. Over the last five years, Sun has saved anywhere from $300 million to $500 million, mostly in real estate costs. Sun also offers consulting services to help other companies that want to create flexible workspaces.

IBM's eMobility centers feature cubicles and conference rooms equipped with the usual easels and whiteboards. They boast cafes with wireless access, so workers can meet informally as well. IBM realized at one point, however, that it needed to redesign the conference rooms to include clear glass. "Virtual workers want people to see them when they come into the office," says IBM's Pelino.

New Hires: Presence Required

It's one thing to ask a seasoned employee to work from home, but a virtual work environment can be tough on young workers who are trying to learn their jobs and often try to develop friendships at work. "I wouldn't want a person to come into a virtual environment as a new employee—mentoring is absolutely critical with new hires," says Sun's Bamesberger.

Often, Bamesberger will require that a new employee work in the office for a period of time before going virtual. "I personally think that learning requires some exposure to other human beings," she says. Similarly, Convergys (CVG) asks call-center workers to come into the office for training and the first month of work before they start working from home. The company now employs about 60,000 call-center workers, about 850 of whom work at home.

Sometimes virtual workers simply miss that informal advice that colleagues give in an office setting. At IBM, the company has tried to make sure virtual workers receive needed coaching and mentoring. That can range from a sales exec getting advice from a colleague before an important sales call to more formal events at the office, where senior executives run roundtables.

As Microsoft establishes a formal virtual-work program, the company will likely have no trouble with the technology part of the equation. "Nearly 100% of our people have at some time worked virtually," says Lisa Brummel, senior vice-president of human resources at Microsoft. Indeed, the company makes many of the tools that virtual workers need. Yet, figuring out how to use that technology wisely in a virtual environment requires a bit more thought. Microsoft can just ask IBM's Pelino, who cautions, "We learned from trial and error." Until then, beware traffic jams in Redmond.

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King is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in San Francisco.