Editor's Note View from the Top Point of View Perspective International Trends Provider Point of View The Next Big Thing Accor Services Telecommuting is one of the buzzwords in recent employee practices, and a lot of companies are looking at it with interest. But is it really that simple? Read on... Managing a Telecommuter Research from around the world reveals that the most popular method of enabling Work-Life Balance is to implement 'Telecommuting' and to create a virtual workforce. Telecommuting, simply put, is enabling employees to work from outside of the office. Benefits: Improved employee productivity and reduced infrastructure costs. Challenges: Ensuring accountability - Research has shown that it is the managers who often show the most resistance to implementation of Telecommuting and Virtual Workplaces Is Telecommuting appropriate for your company? Before allowing your workforce to go virtual, there are a few questions you need to address. Is there a strategic fit? Is telecommuting compatible with the organization's competitive priorities? What advantages will telecommuting provide for the corporation? In addition, the company has to consider other factors such as the kind of jobs that are appropriate for telecommuting, employees' characteristics, the cost of providing the technological infrastructure, legal considerations, etc. Once these questions have been answered, you will be able to tell if your company is ready for telecommuting. Nature of the jobs Once you have decided to launch the program, you need to identify which jobs are suited to telecommuting. Is the work primarily done over the computer, phone, internet or in person? How much interaction is required with other employees? How frequently is there a need to access specific tools, documents, and information? Are working hours or location essential to the job's purpose? Must the person be readily accessible? A safe bet is to experiment with the most obvious jobs first. These include sales, telemarketing, and some sections of programming. Company Culture The culture of the company is also another important factor to consider. If the company culture requires frequent or high levels of interaction among employees and direct supervision by their managers, telecommuting may not be the right solution. One of the main fears that plague managers who are thinking about instituting telecommuting is that removing an employee from the traditional office setting will weaken the existing corporate culture. Managers will need to address the issue of instilling the existing corporate culture into a home-office environment. Employee Selection Criteria So you've decided to bring telecommuting in. And you've identified the jobs that are suited to it. What do you do next? It is a faux-pas to assume that every role-holder, whose job has been selected for telecommuting, will be able to carry it off. How does one decide which employees will be best suited to this task? How adequately will a particular employee function without direct supervision? Is the employee one who can work better without office distractions, or is he one who needs an office environment to better satisfy his social needs? In conclusion… Telecommuting might be the new mantra in corporate circles, but like every other change, has to be brought about after giving careful thought to the need if at all, and then the road map ahead of implementation.