5 Steps to Creating an Effective Telecommuting Policy

Telecommuting has become popular due to its high degree of flexibility, efficiency, and comfort. Deciding to allow your workers to work from home, however, is easier than actually putting that process into place.

Systems should be set in place to track your employee’s work progress in order to ensure that every member is pulling their own weight. If you’re unsure about where to start, here are a few key issues to keep in mind.

1. Pick the Right People

Though nearly everyone that you ask about telecommuting will most likely want to work from home, the simple truth is that not everyone is cut out for the process. There are some people who need to be managed more than others, and some who will not have the infrastructure set up at home to work there. When making your decision, make sure that the ones you choose have a dedicated work environment that is distraction-free.

Moreover, take a long, hard look at the employee’s attitude and disposition while in the office itself. Are they able to work unsupervised? Do they thrive in new projects? Do they constantly go above and beyond what you’re looking for? If so, chances are that person will perform just as efficiently at home, since they’re able to motivate themselves to excel.

2. Set the Goals

No matter how reliable a person is, they should not be simply left at their house unattended and unmonitored. Provide guidance to your employees by laying clearly defined expectations and metrics that they should hit on a regular basis to make sure they’re getting their work done.

Also, have a time set aside every day or week that those people will be reachable, whether by phone or e-mail. This will be a necessity when it comes to checking in for meetings, but it’s also a way to enhance communication within the workplace, despite the distance.

3. Establish Communication

Just because a team member is working remotely does not mean that they should be excluded from the rest of the group; communication is still important no matter where your team is. Before you send your employees out into the great unknown, decide on a primary means of communication that they will be reachable from regularly.

In addition to emergency type situations where a team member needs to be contacted immediately, encourage both your in-house staff and those working remotely to talk constantly as well. Set up an instant messaging service or have regular video conferences to make sure that your team members are collaborating.

4. Maintain Security

One of the things that you might not think about when deciding to allow your team members to work from home is security. Whether you work in a security-sensitive field or not, the fact remains that private conversations and proprietary information can be obtained when less-than-optimal networks are established for communication.

Monitor the devices that your employees use to conduct their work, and make sure that they have firewalls in place to keep hackers and competitors from spying on your info. Moreover, mandate that all of your employees’ devices be password-protected at a minimum, and encourage further means of protection beyond that.

5. Set the Budget

Maybe your employee already has a spare room they can convert into their own home office. Nevertheless, chances are you’ll have to foot the bill for at least some type of setup to allow them to work from home. The obvious expenses are hardware-related, such as video conferencing equipment, servers, etc, but can also include an external phone line and heating/cooling costs.

Go over these costs with your employees before they start teleworking to make sure you’re on the same page with what the company will cover. Clarify the budget and allow for them to request other expenses as they arise.

Final Word

Teleworking isn’t for everyone, but with the right expectations established at the outset – both for work performance and budget-related – you can make sure that the right employees will be set up for success. Stay in constant contact with them and encourage your workers to do the same, but whatever you do, keep those lines of communication safe from intruders.