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Becoming a Telecommuting Advocate

Know what technology Employees need to work from home. You need to understand what technology is required so you can put together a budget.

• The ability to check e-mail from home.
  • Computer
  • Internet Access
• The ability to access your files from home.
  • This can be vpn technology or remote control
• Call forwarding allowing you to send your desk phone to your cell phone.
  • Telephony systems typically Voice over IP

Make your business reasons for working at home very clear.

If you want your proposal given serious consideration, you need to address issues that are of concern to your boss. Issues such as:

• Increasing employee productivity.
• Increasing billable hours.
• Reduction of expenses.

Prepare a written proposal and an oral presentation.

Both a presentation and a comprehensive, written proposal are the best approach. The presentation allows your boss to raise questions or objections, which you can then answer on the spot. The written proposal lets your boss consider your ideas more carefully and discuss with upper management, if necessary. And most importantly, you must give careful thought to how working at home will benefit your manager and the business, not just the employee. Other things to consider include:

• Suggest a trial period of one day per week for five or six weeks.
• Suggest only a few employees, ones with longstanding history in the company with good track records.
• Give your manager a way to pull the plug if things don’t work out.
• Have some statistics to back up your proposal, e.g., examples from other companies, cost savings, etc.

Set up an evaluation period.

Once your employer says yes to working at home, you’re still not in the clear. A trial period will give both the test employees and the managers time to adapt to the new method of working.

• Define and measure the effectiveness of the program
• Put together a reporting schedule for management
• Fix issues as they arrive, before they get out of control
• Be vocal and public on the Success of the program

Engage experienced consultants

Many times organizations that are new to telework and telecommuting need help defining their program. Contracting with an experienced consultant can save you and your company time and money developing the polices and procedures necessary for a successful telecommuting program.