HR Telecommuting: Solutions for the Human Side of Remote Work

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article discussing new trends in mobile work: For-Profit Coworking facilities. This new trend highlights an essential point to Remote Work. It’s never all or nothing.

Working in public locations such as coffee shops, bookstores, and cafes has largely been the life for those who work for themselves. Choosing to eliminate the costs of real estate, the self-employed are largely turning to these spaces for a due to a lack of office amenities the biggest one being- meeting space. However, with more and more people turning to self-employment and more companies allowing Remote Work, demand is growing for a more professional atmosphere; one that gives privacy and has a few more amenities similar to an office. Similar to the government subsidized Telework Centers in Washington DC, private companies are now launching “Coworking” facilities that offer cubicles, desks, private offices, conference rooms, phones, copiers, and even coffee machines and water coolers!

This article shows that people need a balance when working remotely. Too many organizations see Remote Work as an all or nothing scenario where employees are either working in their office or they are working from home in their pajamas and don’t need any support from the company. Nothing could be farther from the truth, employees still need access to many of the functions that an office performs. For this reason SuiteCommute has always advocated Part-Time remote work.

With Part-Time remote work employees still maintain an office or share an office with someone at the company’s location (a situation often referred to as hotelling). The employees report to an office 1-2 days a week to conduct meetings or utilize the office equipment and work remotely the rest. This provides the best of both worlds and truly is the best scenario for remote workers. Just because someone is remote doesn’t mean they don’t ever need an office, they just don’t need it as much or all of the space.

When setting up your remote work program consider the office needs people may have.

1. Don’t assume that since the employees are working remotely that they won’t ever need an office. Make sure that conference rooms, cubicles, and office equipment can still be accessible if employees have been used to using it.
2. Make sure employees understand it is “OK” to come back into the office. Some employees are hesitant to come into the office when working remotely, because they fear it will show that they can’t work remotely. Employees need to understand that the a formal office is still available to them should they need it.
3. Analyze what equipment can be purchased cheaply for employees to have at their home. A $50 printer makes a lot more sense than having an employee come into the office every time they need to print something. Consider what function the employee performs and what equipment could be supplied to them.
4. Set up a scheduling mechanism for employees. Remote Workers need some way to inform office staff that they will be in the office or reserving conference rooms. Some sort of scheduling tool should be used.
5. Stay focused on results of your workers and not just the time the y spend in locations. It’s vital that managers focus on the results of their remote employees and not just the time they spend in any one place.

For more information on how to set up or improve your Telecommuting or Remote Work program please feel free to contact me directly.

Brandon Dempsey
1-888-878-4832
Brandon@SuiteCommute.com