Given the advantages that telecommuting offers, a large majority of companies have become much more open to experimenting with it. Not only does telecommuting save considerable sums of money for the organization in terms of office space and running overheads, but telecommuters are often much more productive, more motivated. and more likely to stick to their jobs in the long term when compared to regular become a way of life for many skilled employees, however managing and motivating telecommuting workers continues to pose some challenges for managers used to more, traditional working patterns.
Whether you have full time telecommuting employee as pert of your workforce or plan to offer part-telecommuting as an option to workers who would like to have more flexibility in their work schedule, effective management plays an important role in increasing the productive and motivation levels of your telecommuting workers. Here are some dos and don’ts.
Do provide telecommuters with proper technical, technological and logistical support to ensure that they are able to do their job effectively. Apart from structural support. a successful manager must ensure that telecommuters have a clear ”roadmap” to guide them. Since there is an absence of ream-time supervision and contact with employees in this kind of working arrangement, there is greater need for emphasis on clearly defined work objectives, timeliness, measurable outputs and expected performance standards.
Lack of focus can often be a big setback for telecommuting workers and clearly defined work objectives and timeliness are just what might be needed to get them back on track. Do trust your telecommuter. The very nature of telecommuting makes it impossible to micromanages the work of this employee. Manager used to close supervision of subordinates sometimes find this aspect unsettling. Rather then fretting about whether or not the employee is working eight hours a day as required, managers will find it less stressful and more fruitful to measure employee performance on the basis of the results delivered by the employee.
Do train your telecommuting workers. Even a little training can go a long way, particularly if the workers are unfamiliar with new technology. Familiarize telecommuters with appropriate technology and provide special handbooks or reference guides to help them use technologies and access information and expertise. Trained telecommuters are less dependent on support staff; are more productive and motivated when it comes to work.
Do communicate frequently and give appropriate and timely feedback on employee performance. it is also a good idea to set aside specific face time to ensure that there is some real time contact with the employee, which in turn builds and strengthens the relationship between the manager and the employee. Do consider appointing a mentor or coach for telecommuting employees to help them with career growth and development. An offshoot of this is the buddy system, which partners the telecommuter with one or more employees in the office, mitigating the feeling of isolation that often creeps in.
After the dos here are the don’ts. Don’t discriminate between your remote employees and your on-site workers. Their contributions are equally important and as a manager, you need to provide recognition for their accomplishment and have a clear career development plan for their growth and development. Don’t ignore sign of lack of ‘accountability’ in employees who are telecommuting. Laxity on the unresponsiveness or missed deadlines without proper explanation needs to be dealt with firmly.
Don’t ignore communication problem. Absence of real-time contact means that communication can often be misinterpreted and this when ignored, can below up into a full-scale conflict. Last but not least, don’t just see the telecommuting option as a way to save costs for the organization. Keep in mind that high standard of excellence and through this working arrangement if both the managers and telecommuters learn to share trust and work together in a harmonious manner.
