Telecommuting

Introduction

The following guide provides information on the implementation of telecommuting in your workplace.

What is telecommuting?

Telecommuting is the agreed performance of work away from the central workplace. It can be implemented as part of a formal or permanent arrangement where the employee works away from the central office on a recurring day(s), or as an ad-hoc arrangement where the employee works at home or an alternative location when needed and operationally convenient.

Telecommuting uses telecommunications technology to replace part, or all, of the physical journey to the workplace. This means that work can be performed at the employee’s home or at an agreed location outside of the central workplace.

What positions can be performed using telecommuting?

Some positions may have restrictions on the extent to which telecommuting can be used.

These are positions that require:

• a high level of face-to-face customer service
• use of specialist equipment
• immediate responses or direct supervision.

Such requirements may limit the use of telecommuting, but not necessarily make it impossible. For example, while most nursing positions may not be suitable for telecommuting, there may be some tasks associated with the position that can be performed outside of the central workplace, e.g. reporting and setting up staff rosters.

Telecommuting can also be used as a temporary means to achieving unit or organisational goals. For example, project work by nature is temporary and often includes business case or report writing. Telecommuting is an effective way to allow adequate time away from the workplace to focus on these specific tasks with fewer distractions, while leaving time at the workplace to focus on meetings and client contact tasks.

Benefits of telecommuting

Telecommuting can offer a number of potential benefits to employees and managers/ organisation.

Benefits for employees

• Reducing weekly commuting time and costs
• Increased time spent with family through reduction of time spent commuting to and from the workplace
• Increased productivity through reduced distraction from colleagues, telephone calls and ad-hoc requests
• May assist employees with disabilities

Benefits for managers/organisation

• Increased productivity through reduced distraction when working away from the central workplace
• Increased productivity as  reduced time at the central workplace is used more efficiently
• Increased operational resilience in the face of external disruption for example transport strikes, severe weather, natural disasters or terrorist action
• May provide extended hours of operation
• May ease parking demand
• Possible reduction in accommodation costs as ‘hot desking’ [link to part-time kit] may become an option. In workplaces where multiple employees work flexible arrangements, coordination of work schedules may allow sharing of desks. This may result in savings, due to the reduction of required floor space and office equipment.

Frequently asked questions about telecommuting

Some of the questions and concerns you may have about telecommuting.

Telecommuting versus working from home – is there a difference?

In most cases these two terms will be synonymous, however the term telecommuting is commonly associated with a prearranged regular pattern of work outside the workplace and working from home as an irregular or ad-hoc arrangement. The differences between these arrangements will vary between organisations, and the relevant policy documentation should be consulted. Characteristics of a formal arrangement may include:

• employees perform part of their role outside the central workplace on an ongoing basis
• a formal Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) assessment to be performed by a qualified inspector
• establishment of a formal permanent asset borrowing arrangement
• implementation of full network access from the alternate workplace.

Characteristics of an ad-hoc arrangement may include:

• specific one-off tasks to be completed outside the workplace
• a self-assessment WHS checklist of the home office to be completed
• taking hard copies of documents and files
• remote access to email account only not to the network.

How do I know what my employees are doing when they are not in the office?

Research indicates that the greatest barrier to successful telecommuting arrangements is the mindset of management. The key to overcoming this mindset is that managers need to feel comfortable knowing that deadlines are being met and tasks completed by the employee working outside of the office. If an employee is physically based in the office, there are still periods of absence e.g. attending meetings, having lunch or liaising with other employees, so

it is unlikely that you will be aware of every task they are working on at every minute of the day.

However, if there are real concerns that an employee will not be as productive at home as they would be in the office, a higher level of management may be required of the telecommuting arrangement by means of a more defined schedule of outcomes to be achieved whilst working from home.

What if I am unhappy with the employee’s current performance?

In the event that an employee’s performance is poor, this should be dealt with as soon as it is noticed. Poor performance should not be a reason for refusing an application for any flexible work arrangement. It may be that the employee’s performance issues are related to their inability to achieve work-life balance. Therefore, approving flexible working arrangements may actually assist the employee to improve their performance.

However, in the case where a performance management plan has been instigated, it may be appropriate to delay implementation of a flexible work arrangement until the management plan has been reviewed and the employee’s performance has acceptably improved.

Will other employees be impacted as a result of telecommuting arrangements?

The level of access to the workplace’s network will determine the level of work that can be completed away from the office, hence minimising the impact of extra workloads on other employees.

Most employers allow email access at a minimum, however, there are additional methods that can be implemented to ensure the work can be completed away from the office, including:

• full remote access to the network
• storing information and documents on local drives using a departmental laptop
• loading documents and information onto a USB storage device
• taking home hard copies.
• forwarding the office phone to a mobile phone.

As with any absence (due to leave, telecommuting or lunch breaks) there will be instances where other employees will be required to answer telephone calls, field queries, etc. It is important to foster a supportive environment so resentment doesn’t develop as a result of flexible working arrangements.

If one employee wants to telecommute, will everyone want to?

If telecommuting is supported in the workplace it may be an attractive option for employees and you may receive multiple requests. This doesn’t mean you have to say yes to all of them.

You first need to determine for each request if and to what extent telecommuting is appropriate for that position. Be honest and realistic about how many positions are suitable and to what extent the requests can be implemented – keeping in mind costs, service delivery requirements and team cohesion.

At the same time, remain flexible to the unique opportunities multiple requests for telecommuting can provide, such as the opportunity for ‘hot desking’ [link to part-time kit] or longer service delivery hours as employees may be able to start earlier or work later (not longer and still within the ordinary spread of hours), because they don’t have to commute.

What happens if employees want a full-time telecommuting arrangement?

It depends on the type of work whether employees will be able to work away from the central workplace on a permanent basis. For example, project work is often suitable to be done outside of the central workplace. In all circumstances, appropriate management and communication strategies should be in place.

If you have a full-time telecommuting arrangement in your team, it is important to remember that the employee could potentially become isolated from the workplace. Some strategies to keep employees connected to the workplace include:

• teleconferencing for team meetings
• broadcast emails
• web cams or web-conferencing.

You and the employee may also negotiate intermittent visits to the workplace, in particular for events such as a planning day. Depending on the employee’s role, you may need to be clear that flexibility is required to attend the workplace for important meetings and other required client contact, provided there is sufficient notification time.

What if an employee requests a telecommuting arrangement as a substitute for dependant care?

Telecommuting should not be used as a substitute for childcare or dependent care except in exceptional and occasional circumstances. Any such arrangement should be approved by the delegated officer.

Manager’s role in creating a supportive environment for telecommuting arrangements

Managers play a key role in developing and maintaining a work culture supportive of telecommuting.

You should:

• actively promote telecommuting and show positive leadership through your attitudes or role modelling
• remember that physical attendance at the office is not the only way to be productive
• provide employees with information on the telecommuting policies in the organisation
• support employees interested in telecommuting by assisting them with the development of proposals for telecommuting arrangements and advising of the criteria and processes for assessment of these proposals
• ensure employees are well informed of the work unit’s needs and goals and the requirements of its service users
• reward performance and productivity.

Specific factors to consider when assessing telecommuting proposals

You should consider these factors when assessing a proposal for telecommuting:

• Can some or all of an employee’s tasks be performed away from the central workplace?
• On what basis will the arrangement be? Formal? Ad hoc?  
• How will the employee be contacted whilst away from the workplace?
• How will items that need approval be processed?
• How will the work flow through to the employee remotely? e.g. urgent same-day requests
• What technological capabilities and equipment are required?
• What are the costs associated with telecommuting?
• Are there workplace health and safety requirements?
• What are the requirements for WorkCover/insurance purposes?

Implementing telecommuting arrangements

Plan prior to implementation

Adequate planning prior to the introduction of telecommuting is crucial.

You should develop specific plans to:

• determine the tasks that can be performed away from the central workplace
• establish the most suitable type of arrangement
• ensure the most suitable access to work documents and equipment is provided
• ensure workplace health and safety (WHS) and WorkCover requirements are met
• communicate and advise colleagues and clients of telecommuting arrangements  
• ensure equity in the access to training and promotional opportunities.

It is important to anticipate challenges and to constructively work through them.

Task Review

To enable you to determine the extent to which telecommuting is viable for an employee, their position needs to be broken down into individual tasks or groups of tasks. This may be challenging as you may not have assessed the position in this way before. It may be helpful to elicit the help of the employee to assist with this. Once such a review is completed, you then have to decide which tasks require the employee to be in the workplace (e.g. certain client contact) and which tasks don’t (e.g. report writing, telephone contact with clients).

Type of arrangement

The task review should enable you to determine which arrangement is most appropriate.

If there are recurring tasks that can be performed on a specific day(s) every week/fortnight/month, a formal arrangement for a recurring day on which the employee telecommutes would be appropriate.

If certain tasks that are suitable to be performed away from the central workplace only come up sporadically (e.g. writing a report at the end of a project), then an ad-hoc arrangement may be most appropriate.

Organisational policies on telecommuting, if available, may be required for different types of agreements to be set up depending on the arrangement adopted. The choice of arrangement may also impact on the technological capabilities and equipment required.

Technological capabilities and equipment

Technological and equipment requirements for telecommuting are dependent on the agreed arrangement and tasks to be undertaken. For example, for an ad-hoc arrangement, people may only need a USB storage device to store a particular document, and e-mail access. For a formal arrangement whereby the employee works a set day from home, greater access to work documents may be required such as full remote access to the network or a departmental laptop with information stored on its local drives.

Make sure you investigate the cost differences when determining the most suitable method of access to information and equipment, as these may be substantial. Costs can be substantially reduced if you use technology and equipment that are already available. For example, the employee may already have a blackberry device, a mobile phone, a USB drive, or a home computer with internet access.

Workplace health and safety requirements

Under WHS legislation, organisations have a duty of care to ensure that their employee’s work environment is safe and they are covered by relevant insurance in the event of injury or illness. A WHS assessment of the work space that will be used by the employee when working away from the central workplace may be required. Factors that need to be assessed may include available lighting in the work space, ergonomics of work station, safety of equipment including computer and electrical cords, noise levels and airflow.

WorkCover requirements

To ensure an employee is covered for injuries when telecommuting, the following issues need to be discussed and formally agreed in writing:

• dates and location for work
• work activities to be carried out by the employee whilst working at the alternate location
• start and finish times for work at the alternate location
• work breaks to be taken in accordance with organisational policy
• any travel that will take place regularly during work start and finish times whilst at the alternate location
• conduct a workplace health and safety assessment of the alternate location.

If a claim does result from an injury that occurs whilst an employee is telecommuting, the following information and documentation needs to be available to make a WorkCover claim:

• an agreement to work at home or alternate location. For a one or two day ad-hoc arrangement, written evidence of authorisation is required.
• a list of tasks, particularly repetitive tasks carried out at home
• evidence of start and finish times – normal timesheet should suffice
• evidence that any travel from home to alternate location (if telecommuting from a  destination other than the employee’s home) is related to work matters,
• record travel times between home and alternate location
• record any other details related to the injury e.g. what was the worker doing prior to the injury, what caused the injury, etc.
• report injury to supervisor and log the incident as per organisational procedures as soon as possible
• obtain a medical certificate if medical treatment is needed and/or requires time off due to the injury.

For further information, see the WorkCover Queensland Fact Sheet - Understanding your workers' compensation accident insurance policy.

Communication

You must communicate the agreed telecommuting arrangements to clients, other employees in the work unit and those in relevant teams related to the telecommuting employee. This will clarify when and how the employee can be contacted and how information and documents can be transferred between the central workplace and the alternate location. Proper communication will minimise disruption to work flow and service delivery.

It is extremely important to plan to communicate, not just communicate in passing, with employees who are telecommuting to ensure that they feel and are included in the workplace and can perform their job effectively. As a manager, you should expect and allow for more time to communicate, check and clarify certain situations/issues with telecommuting employees.

There are a variety of communication tools which can assist to improve communication. Proper planning and the use of some of the suggested tools for telecommuting may improve overall work unit communication.

Training, development and promotional opportunities

You must ensure that all employees, including those who telecommute, have equal access to training, development and promotional opportunities.

Practical tools for telecommuting

Communication in the workplace

The following tools can help you improve communication and transparency in the workplace and assist with workflow continuity.

Meetings

• Conduct regular catch-up meetings between the employee and yourself to discuss status of projects, work load and developments in the workplace
• Conduct regular meetings with the work team to ensure adequate information flow to all parties involved.

In the event of multiple employees telecommuting, aim to have some time every week or fortnight where everyone attends the workplace, so that the staff meetings can be held at that time, e.g. every Wednesday morning.

Work scheduling

Implement work schedules [link]. Employees’ work arrangements (e.g. start and finish times; when in and out of the office, days off) should be recorded and clearly outlined in a work schedule and be distributed to all team members.

Calendars and email

• implement a calendar system. This could be a shared electronic calendar or a communal calendar in an easily accessible location in the workplace, displaying when people will be in the office
• implement group distribution email lists – send out group emails to ensure everyone stays informed of what is going on in the workplace even if they are not physically present
• utilise signature blocks in emails to show when and how employees may be contacted.

Staying connected

Group emails, staff meetings and communal calendars are important communication tools to create transparency and maintain an optimum workflow, as well as to keep employees connected to the workplace and avoid feelings of alienation and separation from the group. This is especially important for employees who are away from the central workplace a number of days per week or combine a number of flexible work arrangements, such as part-time work and telecommuting.

Ensuring that all employees are informed of office events and invited to social gatherings is important to maintain a harmonious environment for employees to work, whether this is in the office or by telecommuting.

Telecommuting for managers

Managers are just as able to successfully telecommute as their employees. Telecommuting does not change the manager’s role; it merely changes the location in which the work is performed. Managers require the same amount of balance that is afforded to employees and there is no reason why that same arrangement would not be productive.

The communication tools suggested for employees can also be used by managers to assist with the successful implementation of telecommuting.

As a manager, there are some additional issues that you have to deal with to make the telecommuting arrangement successful.

These include:

Approval processes

Ensure that workflow is not interrupted on the approval process chain. Strategies to overcome this include ensuring that information transfer from the workplace to the alternate location is adequate and timely, or delegating approval.

Supervision

Face to face supervision is not always required. If your employees are able to contact you by telephone or email, most issues can be resolved. Depending on the situation, an alternative strategy could be arranging for a back up manager or senior supervisor. However, if you are required to be physically available at all times for supervision, telecommuting may not be a suitable option for you.  

Point of contact for urgent ad-hoc work tasks

Generally there will be content experts within the group who are able to deal with each work task as it arises. In the event you are the content expert, ensure that you are easily contactable and able to deal with the situation in a timely manner.

HR issues

In most cases, HR issues can be scheduled around any absences from the workplace. However, in the event that an urgent issue arises, being accessible to your employees through phone or email while you are absent is key to ensuring there is minimal disruption for your team and the workflow.