Businesses all over the world had only a couple of weeks, at best, to prepare for a massive shift to work-from-home operations. As COVID-19 made an increasingly strong showing in the US, most companies who were able decided to make the transition in mid-March. Employees who did not have to be in the office to complete their work were sent home. Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon started asking their office employees to work from home as early as March 2nd. Businesses of all sizes are now experimenting with large-scale telecommuting and learning as they go. Read on to discover more about how you can be successful using telecommuting for your small business.
WHAT IS TELECOMMUTING?
Telecommuting is the work arrangement where an employee works from somewhere other than the office. They may work on a laptop from home, from a coffee shop, often wherever there is a reasonably secure environment and a good internet connection. Other names for telecommuting are working remotely, e-commuting, and work-from-home (commonly abbreviated to WFH).
Between 2005 and 2017, the number of telecommuting employees skyrocketed 159%. The most obvious reason for this increase is the vast improvements in technology that allow anyone to work from home on their personal computer (if their work is done with a computer, that is). Many companies are also making a concerted effort to develop infrastructure that can support telecommuting employees such as investing in cloud-based communication technology that we will discuss later on in this article. As of 2019, 4.7 million people were regularly telecommuting for their jobs according to a Global Workplace Analytics report. This number, of course, has risen dramatically over the past two months though there are no reports available yet that give conclusive numbers.
Those with office jobs are more likely to be able to work from home while the nature of blue-collar jobs or jobs requiring the employee to directly interact with customers/patients doesn’t often allow for work-from-home conditions. Those who are working in manufacturing, warehouse work, delivery services, medical services that involve hands-on procedures with patients, retail—they are unable to reap the benefits of telecommuting and many managers have tried their best to implement the appropriate health precautions for these workers throughout the country.
EVIDENCE OF THE BENEFITS TO USING TELECOMMUTING FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS
A large portion of managers holds to the idea that telecommuting encourages lackadaisical behavior in employees and have been unwilling to offer this flexible option. The evidence of the benefits for a business, not just the employees themselves, has time and time again proved otherwise.
Increased Productivity
A report from this year states that two-thirds of managers in workplaces offering to telecommute have said that work-from-home employees are “overall more productive.” One Stanford University study cites a productivity increase of 13%. Workers have more freedom over their schedule and are unencumbered by the possibly draining commute they would otherwise face. This means that they can decide when their focused hours are–and people usually have a pretty good sense of what time in the day they will be most productive. This is a huge bonus for parents especially, as they generally have more time in the evening to work without distractions. That same Stanford study also indicated that employees were happier with the work-from-home arrangement, which contributes to productivity when telecommuting for your small business. It is of note that, at the end of the experiment, half of the selected workers chose to return to the workplace for increased social interactions.
Cost-effective
One article suggests that, on average, companies save $11,000 annually for each employee who works from home. Another states that businesses that offer at least part-time telecommuting options collectively save $44 billion annually. These savings are nothing to scoff at! The savings come in the form of decreased overhead costs such as office supplies and office space as well as lowered attrition costs since employees with telecommuting flexibility are more likely to stay with your company. This reduces recruiting, hiring, and training costs for new employees. More dedicated employees mean reduced costs by using telecommuting for your small business. One study in 2014 done by a software company found that 69% of telecommuting employees reported less absenteeism, or less instances of being absent from work without a valid reason.
High retention rate for employees
As discussed briefly above, employees with the option to telecommute, whether full or part-time are more likely to be loyal to a company. Recruiting quality staff can be a time-consuming and resource-heavy activity. When you have limited resources, you are even more motivated to keep the good people that you have. Offering telecommuting boosts morale and can even cause employees to feel a sense of duty to be worthy of the opportunity as shown in telecommuting employees often choosing to work longer hours and being proactive in finding ways to help their manager. In conjunction with retaining talent, if you are willing to have remote workers, your pool of talent to choose from will greatly expand and you won’t be limited to hiring people who live within the average 30-minute commuting distance.
BEST PRACTICES FOR MANAGING TELECOMMUTING FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS
Some experts suggest that anything lacking in telecommuting often comes from the management side. Successful telecommuting requires a good infrastructure for communication and project management. In the end, larger companies are more likely than small businesses to offer telecommuting for this reason. However, small businesses do have the means to do telecommuting successfully if the right policies and technology are in place.
Policies
Small businesses will usually have only one human resource (HR) employee, or the responsibilities of HR are included within another position. Making a transition to work-from-home will require organization and clarity from the HR personnel. There should be guidelines for any general expectations or changes in previous policies such as time-off or sick leave. Special workplace policies driven by COVID-19 have come into play during the past two months. For example, the Family Leave and Medical Act (FLMA), which is specific to businesses with less than 500 employees, allows additional paid time off for employers who have to care for children whose schools have closed or sick family members. It also covers the guidelines for paid leave if an employee is suspected to have coronavirus and has been instructed to quarantine or who is at risk, health-wise.
The following guidelines can be completed by any small business that is able to do their work over the computer. While streamlining your HR processes is vital, one of the most important aspects of setting up a successful work-from-home program for your business is defining expectations as a manager. Set expectations based on measurable outputs rather than time in the office time and arrange for reoccurring, weekly check-in meetings by phone or video call to discuss progress with those who report to you.
The most “techy” thing you’ll have to do most likely is ensure device security. Have an IT person help with installing anti-virus software and firewall protection, if possible, to every device that will access your business’s network. Make sure to instruct your employees in having secure passwords, identifying phishing threats, and logging off of work sites when they are done for the day. Cybercrime has been especially high the past few months.
Project management and communication technologies
Good management has very little to do with sophisticated technology. Successful telecommuting is possible using the most basic technology that every office worker will already possess (email, phone, instant messaging). However, there are some basic applications that help keep everyone working on the same page, especially with such an influx of entire teams of employees working remotely right now. Several technology platforms are widely used to facilitate good communication and project management for telecommuters and onsite workers alike.
For video conferencing, Zoom and Microsoft Teams are popular options. Zoom is a “cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform” that allows for video-conferencing and messaging. Up to 100 people can be in a Zoom call at one time without needing any add-ons. To have one host account costs $14.99 a month and anyone with a meeting link can join if they download the Zoom application for free. Microsoft Teams can perform the same functions as Zoom but also includes the ability to chat within “teams” that you can form out of the employees who are on the account. You can also store files, manage your Outlook calendar, use tracking tiles for projects within each team, and more. Microsoft Teams is part of the Microsoft Office 365 subscription package which has a starting cost of $5 a month. However, Microsoft has recently made a free version of Teams for the Teams app only.
Slack, a messaging platform for work that allows you to chat on different “channels” often representing different teams or departments, has also offered a free version of their platform given the unique work circumstances right now. Their basic plan usually costs $8.00 per month. Slack is mostly for communicating with your team but also allows you to share documents whether you are on your mobile device or a desktop computer (all of the technology tools mentioned here have mobile and desktop capabilities). Trello is a list-making application that uses moveable tiles, boards, and lists to manage projects in an interactive and flexible way with your team. With a free Trello account, you can keep up to 10 team boards. Upgrading your Trello account to use more features starts at $9.99 per month, per user.
IS TELECOMMUTING FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS THE FUTURE OF THE WORKPLACE?
Some work experts are saying that this rapid, work-from-home experiment has proved that mass telecommuting is more viable than anyone had before thought, even given the evidence of its benefits that has been surfacing for years before now. Others are skeptical. Managers have persisted in their concerns that employees working from home are less productive. Some employees, especially those who live alone, may suffer from isolation and feel lonely without the consistent social connections they gain from the workplace. Not to mention, it can take longer (sometimes hours) to have tech issues resolved if you are having to call all over the place to talk to an IT person who is stretched particularly thin right now.
It’s likely that each individual business that has been trying work-from-home has made some discoveries: that so-and-so has been rocking the remote work game while the such-and-such team really does do better when they can get in a room together with a whiteboard. Each employer should take stock of these learnings and decide how to move forward with a hybrid plan that applies these insights so that your small business can run more efficiently and effectively, having gained valuable insights during an otherwise confusing and difficult time for business owners. From this experience, ask yourself: is telecommuting for your small business the right choice for you and your employees? Surely each business will have a different and nuanced answer to that.
