Some companies think Telecommuting means letting employees work from home. They’re wrong. Telecommuting does involve working from home – but there’s a lot more to it, and many companies don’t realize what it takes to do it right.
Of all the changes in workplace methodology that I’ve led at Intel, the one I’m proudest of is the Telecommuting program. Because we’ve done it right, resulting in a true Win/Win for the company and for countless employees in it.
What made it such a success was the fact that we didn’t just allow people to work from home as individuals; we built, tested, refined and deployed a telecommuting program, a company-wide structure of concepts, procedures, policies and training methods that integrated all those telecommuters into a functioning, optimized whole.
A decade and a half later, I’m amazed that many organizations still resist allowing Telecommuting in their workforce, and many that do allow it are not doing it as a systematic program. I’ve therefore decided to share some insights that may help people implement telecommuting to its full, exciting promise.
So – here is my new insight article about The Makings of a Good Corporate Telecommuting Program. The article shares my view of the benefits, barriers, critical success factors and the action steps that will allow you to craft a viable, sustainable work-from-home program. If you ever considered deploying Telecommuting, you want to read this.
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Nathan — thank you for sharing this again. I strongly agree with your benefits assessment. Indeed, there could be another complete analysis for why Telecommuting is a required risk management tool for continuous operation. There are numerous articles of the impacts of major storms (look at New York for the past year), and consider the dire forecasts of communicable diseases / health concerns (it’s not “if”, it’s “when”). You have defined the framework to make effective telecommuting happen everywhere and all businesses should get that message.
Regards, ScottA
Hey Scott, we have our share of violent disruptions here in Israel too, and Telecommuting is certainly a powerful remedy!
Nathan, one of my favorite lines in your paper is “your managers need to know how to manage you by results rather than by sight and micro-control”. I am amazed that today, twenty years later, with all the technology we have to effectively enable this kind of work, that this is still such resistance to the idea. We had a phenomenal program at Intel that I have yet to find anywhere else I have ever worked. Is it just that we still have too many “old school” leaders that are holding on to traditional models of management and leadership? What will happen as the Millennial generation (whose expectations for work, balance, and mobility) are quite different than ours? How will companies attract and retain them? I’m not even a Millennial and the number one reason I would leave my job is because there is no work/life balance and no flexibility in how, when, and where I do my work. I do appreciate that you included the part about personal accountability. Telecommuting is NOT for everyone. Part of it is personality and ability to stay focused, but the other part is also about having the right setup so that ultimately, when you’re working with others, no one really knows whether you’re in a remote office, a home office, or otherwise. So, if we really want telecommuting programs to work, EMPLOYEES also have to work hard to create the positive impression and results. To some extent, telecommuters have to work harder because we cannot allow doubt about performance enter the equation. One bad apple can truly spoil it for the bunch (if a manager does not know how to deal with performance management for the individual). Great article. I’m invited to speak in April at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill about virtual teams and collaboration. I’m going to share some of this with them!
Indeed, Tammie, it is a surprise that Telecommuting programs are still scarce after all this time. Working from home is common, but pulling it into a coherent program is rare. Well – maybe the Millennials will change that too, as they grow into positions of influence over time?