Workshop 10
MONITORING THE PROGRAM, PLANNING FOR EXPANSION
by Christina Heilig
TManage, Inc.

CONTENTS

I. Introduction
II. Moving from pilot program to teleworkforce — key success factors
III. Value-add programs increase probability of success
IV. Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
V. Conclusion

I. INTRODUCTION

You have got to love Teleworking! Your employees think it's great that they have cut their commute to a walk down the hall! The company is saving millions from reduced and avoided real estate costs! Employee satisfaction, productivity and retention statistics are all on the rise!

Wait a minute, you say? Not quite ready for these claims yet? So now the implementation phase of your Telework Program is complete and your first teleworkers have been successfully teleworking for approximately 6 months. You are at a very critical point in your telework program…moving past the pilot phase into a full-blown, formalized Telework Program. As you can imagine, this is the time where many programs go awry. Any number of pieces can go wrong due to the complexity of the technology, insufficient infrastructure and lack or inexperience of resources. The results can be increased costs, dissatisfied employees, decreased participation and waning management support

No need to worry, so far your rollout has been carefully engineered and administered. You have successfully developed policies and guidelines, implemented a pilot program, trained your teleworkers and managers and communicated your results thus far. Maybe it has been easy, maybe not, but we know it has definitely been a lot of work, challenging and rewarding. Now it's time to take it to the next level and start to really appreciate and quantify the rewards that Teleworking can offer!

II. MOVING FROM PILOT PROGRAM TO TELEWORKFORCE

There are several key success factors that distinguish a Telework Program's ability to be both scalable and cost effective. Whether you have a multitude of prospective teleworkers ready to sign up tomorrow or need to market the program more to increase participation, growth of your program can not succeed unless you have dedicated resources, automated processes and selected the most effective technology for your organization. This growth phase may take years and depending on your company size reach a penetration rate of 40% for teleworkers and close to 100% for remote access to work nights and weekends.

Dedicate Resources to Your Telework Program

Were you able to start a pilot Telework Program with minimal human resources? Perhaps the task of implementing and managing the Program is only a piece of someone's job description? One of the first steps to having an effective Teleworkforce is to dedicate people to manage and support your Telework Program. It is suggested that at a minimum the following positions should be created and/or have the staff increased at least during the growth phase.

• Program Manager
  Responsible for the strategic development and implementation of process improvements for your Telework Program and for maintaining relationship with other organizations (HR, Real Estate, IT, etc). This key resource will also probably be the central point of contact for all executive overviews and ongoing training. Depending on your rate of growth, you should probably have at least 1 part-time program manager for each geographic area of your corporate population and/or 1 dedicated program manager for every 1,000 teleworkers.

• Support Technicians
  Assist customers (most often by phone) in troubleshooting problems with their telecommuting environment. The responsibility scope should include: remote computer and network connectivity, remote terminal adapter, local telephone company technology (ISDN, DSL, Modem), host terminal adapter, and network connection. They should also have a high level of customer service and communication skills. This staff will be involved in both the installation and ongoing support of the telecommuting equipment. The number of staff you will need will depend greatly on what processes and tools you are able to automate. It is recommended to have 1 support technician for every 50-200 teleworkers.

• Customer Service Representatives
  A Telework Program CSR processes all new teleworker applications, orders the phone line(s), equipment and has the overall responsibility of coordinating the home office installation for telecommuters. An understanding of telco line ordering procedures is a great asset, especially ISDN and digital networks. Responsibilities should also include scheduling and trouble shooting with suppliers both internally and externally on behalf of the teleworker. Customer satisfaction is a key factor to your Telework Program's success, so a positive attitude along with good organizational skills and tenacity should also be required. The number of staff you will need will depend greatly on what processes and tools you are able to automate. One customer service representative should be capable of installing 100 - 200 teleworkers per month.

One of the most important steps to take in making your program both scalable and measurable is to automate current processes and tools. As your program grows, the need for tools such as online applications, databases and reports will become absolutely invaluable to the success of your program.

Telework Program Web Site, Automated Telework Application & Ordering Tools

A successful Telework Program should have an automated, single point of contact with all the program information available. One of the best ways to do this is to design a Web site for your Program that provides online employee support (including a self-help Web page), online ordering, and focused telecommuter information. Using a web-based order entry tool to rollout teleworkers is a very effective use of resources and can also create the interactive interface that your teleworkers will come back to again and again.

Along with automating the application for your teleworkers another automation tool would be to add web based ordering for home office furniture and equipment. This could be done through supplier links or even a partnership agreement with a particular vendor to build these tools for your teleworker.

Create or Enhance your Teleworker Database and Reporting Capabilities

How is your company keeping track of information about your teleworkers, installation dates, assets, repair history, etc? To have an effective large scale Telework Program, invest some time and resources into a customized database with full tracking and reporting features. Of course, for accurate reports, your database must keep track of many dates, assets, and other information. If your database can be interfaced with your company's HR databases, then a lot of the Teleworker information can be automatically and accurately updated. Suggested data fields for your database include Teleworker information (name, address, dept, etc), local phone company information, equipment types, assets, survey data and maybe even demographics.

Some suggested reports are:

• Installation results
• Help-desk problems by type
• Actual time to respond to problem
• Average time to problem resolution
• Installation and Customer Satisfaction Survey data
• Asset tracking of all furniture and equipment,
• Business unit Teleworker growth and trends
• Actual cost savings (Real Estate) by business unit
• Business case tools to show total financial impact (including soft savings such as productivity, retention, etc)

The optimal Teleworker Database would also include automated escalation procedures and an interface into local phone companies for line ordering.

Objective methods for selecting candidates

How was your pilot group of teleworkers selected? This first group of teleworkers are usually hand picked as employees who have demonstrated not only a desire to telework but are also highly skilled in their field and maintain good relationships with others. In other words, these "early adopters" were probably easy to find within your organization. Now the challenge is to create tools and guidelines that will help select a potentially successful teleworker by their work styles, job description and personality. Create guideline selection criteria that showcase the favorable characteristics of teleworkers and their managers as well as warn of personalities and job types that may not be suitable to this arrangement. It is also critical that the employees and managers agree on telework suitability for the employee, the manager and job tasks.

Some suggested guidelines:

Teleworker personality:

• Self motivated, responsible and conscientious
• Self disciplined and able to work independently with a limited need for feedback, but able to ask for it if necessary
• Proven performer with strong past job reviews and success in current position
• Trusted by supervisor/manager
• Highly organized and proficient at time management
• Good oral and written communication skills, employees may need to adjust their methods of communicating as necessary
• Strong decision making and problem solving skills
• Appropriate home life
• Committed to teleworking

Job function considerations:

• Work that requires concentration and large blocks of uninterrupted, independent time
• Work that has well-defined beginning and end points
• Work that is easily portable
• Need for specialized material or equipment is minimal
• Work that can be done with limited "unplanned" face to face communication and minimal supervision supervisor/manager

The teleworker's manager/supervisor
Most selection criteria consider only task characteristics, personality traits and employee performance. Recent studies have shown the need to carefully consider the relationship between the teleworker and the manager. The following managerial skills or characteristics are important:

• Above average organizational, planning and coaching skills
• Manages by work produced and not hours worked
• Good communication skills (both electronic and face-to-face)
• Ability to establish and evaluate well defined measurable objectives and goals
• Provides timely and constructive feedback
• Keeps an open, positive attitude towards teleworking
• Has a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the teleworker

How did you set up your pilot group in terms of teleworking technology? Chances are that your original pilot group may have moved home with technology that may not be stable, secure, adequate or cost effective.

Several technological concerns exist when companies consider a teleworking program. First, with communications technology changing so rapidly, companies are concerned about investing in data communications equipment. Second, where there is a need to replicate voice communications in addition to data, current voice replication solutions can be cumbersome and expensive. Finally, employees living in fringe or independent telco areas may not be served by the latest technology that is required to meet their bandwidth needs. These issues require a teleworking solution that offers the robust customer service necessary to manage through these limitations.

As your program grows, your Teleworkforce will probably consists of employees that not only base their office out of their home (usually termed Full Time) but also some part time and occasional teleworkers as well. How will you address the technology needs for those employees? Higher speeds for full time teleworkers or maybe it is based entirely on management approval?

Many companies are now positioning with statements such as "We will supply employees with one office, here or at home." The home office should replicate the corporate office.

• Data Considerations

  You probably know by now what applications do your Teleworkers require - e-mail, shared network drives, Intranet, workgroup collaboration, mainframe applications, custom applications, fax mail, word processing, desktop video conferencing, modem dial-out needs, etc. Have your pilot teleworker's bandwidth requirements for these applications been met? What data speeds are needed and what is the opportunity cost of a teleworker's time if they are spent waiting on the computer or unable to access their applications? Data communications access options to consider are ISDN (128K), ADSL, Cable modems, or Analog modem (56K/33.4K).

  Another consideration, especially for long distance teleworkers, is VPN (Virtual Private Network) services that uses software to allow the remote access users to tunnel through a packet switched network, such as the Internet, and creates a connection that appears as a permanent virtual circuit (PVC). This creates a secure and manageable capability that ensures high-speed access to the host server.

  VPN enables teleworkers to tap into the robust Internet Protocol (IP) network for remote access to corporate Intranet and IP networks. The fast, easy-to-use service eliminates the costs and challenges typically associated with building and maintaining internal dial-up infrastructures or expensive point-to-point Local Area Network (LAN) links. From the teleworker's perspective, the VPN is a point-to-point connection between the user's computer and a corporate server. The nature of the intermediate internet work is irrelevant to the user because it appears as if the data is being sent over a dedicated private link.

  At a minimum a VPN solution should provide all of the following:

  • User authentication
  • Address management
  • Data encryption
  • Multiprotocol support

  An Internet VPN solution based on the Microsoft Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) or Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) meets all of these basic requirements. Another new approach is IP Security Protocol (IPSec).

  Use of a data VPN is new to data communications. It is expected to lead in the preferred method for remote access in several years. In the mean time, there is a discomfort that this type of access might possibly be easier to hack and represent a security risk.

  There are many suppliers of VPN including BellSouth and other RBOCs, CLECs such as Rhythms, and Network Service Providers.

• Voice Considerations

  Voice solutions are often not as easy to replicate in the home. We, as part of a generation of caller ID, voice mail, etc, have come to have an extremely high expectation of what voice features we need to do our job. We may accept once in a while that the Internet is slow or that email system is down, but we rarely make allowances for not having dial tone. Your teleworkers are probably accustomed to a certain voice mail system, forwarding voice messages to co-workers, number and name caller ID and specialized dialing plans. The difficulty often occurs is that many of the advanced features that we have in the office are part of the company's own private voice network (often their own PBXs). Our homes are, unfortunately, not part of that private voice network but we are dependent on our neighborhood central office switch for our voice features.

  There is technology (ISDN PBX Extender Products) available to actually route calls seamlessly from the PBX at additional cost. There are countless benefits to this solution such as no retraining on a new voice mail and phone system and the teleworkers office number would remain the same!

  If the company does not invest in this technology, the teleworker usually has full features (voice mail, call forwarding, caller ID, etc) from the local phone company and uses a company provided dialing plan for their long distance calls.

III. VALUE-ADD PROGRAMS INCREASE PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS

Review and Improve Program Logistics

Services

This is the time to reassess the quality of the services offered to teleworkers. Reconsider the teleworkers in terms of services they are receiving from the program.

During installation it is essential to manage change for each individual teleworker. Success factors include:

• Speed of delivery - time to install
• Quality - first time success rate
• Feedback - information communicated through the process

Once installation is completed ongoing support begins. Success factors include:

• Ongoing Communication - Do teleworkers feel in the loop?
• Reliability - How often does the network go down? Equipment fail?
• Time to Resolution - When access goes down how long does it take to get reconnected?
• Feedback - information communicated through the process

Improve/ increase hoteling and drop in cubes

Don't sacrifice your teleworker's productivity and satisfactions for cost-savings. Target a build back ratio for your hoteling space. Most companies find sharing space at a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio is more than sufficient. This really means more than just keeping 1 cube/office for every 4 or 5 teleworkers but to actually look at innovative ways to reallocate that space. Survey your pilot group and look for trends on how they are using any current hoteling space…are they in meetings all day when they are in the office or do they really need a place to spend hours on the phone or network? By understanding the way your teleworkers work when they are in the office setting, you can determine the right mix of spaces for team collaboration as well as individual work. Improve effectiveness by engaging new technology to support connectivity and mobility. There are several great products out there for online reservation systems and concierge services are a great idea for locations with a large mobile workforce. There are even products that allow teleworkers, on their days in the office, to get their calls and voice mail notification at the hoteling phone set of their choice

Consider Home office furniture standards.

There are several different ways of addressing the home office furniture needs of your teleworkers. Some companies opt not to address this issue at all and their teleworkers are left on their own to furnish a home office. Other companies elect to provide the teleworker with an allowance that they can spend on furniture. If your company decides to adopt either of these polices, keep in mind that you are now not providing your employee with a benefit that they probably have in the office, well built, safe and ergonomic furniture. As far as cost, it is surprising how much the cube furniture to which we are all accustomed really does cost! Usually this cost is higher than you'd imagine due to the flexibility the furniture offers and the research and design that is required to manufacture the modular walls, etc. Compare that cost at your company to an average home office furniture cost of $1500-$2000 per teleworker. If nothing else, please consider providing your teleworker with an appropriate ergonomic chair.

With all these issues in mind, you may opt to offer standard home office furniture selections or at the least research and provide some safety and ergonomic guidelines on home office furniture. Research on home officing with several corporate teleworking programs demonstrates the need for versatile home office furniture. Larger corporation may already have some longstanding successful relationship with furniture providers that have home office lines as well. There are several lines out there that offer many options that are residential in style, scaling, and finish. Be sure the products have a warranty and investigate the scope of the company's installation and delivery plan.

Other home office furniture considerations:

• Furniture that is small enough to maneuver through tight spaces and residential doors
• Finished back sides of the furniture to allow for room dividers
• A furniture product that is lightweight enough for reconfiguration
• Adjustable glides on table legs for leveling on uneven residential floors
• Safe, durable design and construction, minimal maintenance needed; ergonomic considerations
• Meets ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards particularly those related to safety

Training

The importance of training has been stressed throughout the previous workshops. You have probably implemented Teleworker and Manager Training for your Pilot Program. Now that you have a successful Pilot group, invite some of them to join in your future training classes. They will not only offer their own hints and tips on being an effective Teleworker or Manager of Teleworkers but also add a degree of credibility to your training courses.

If you are unable to reach all of your Teleworking population with a face to face training course, you may want to consider Web-based or CD based Training for some teleworkers.

Ongoing Marketing for New Teleworkers

As you are increase the scalability of your Telework Program, don't forgot to continue your Teleworking marketing efforts within your company. This may include:

• Awareness campaigns
• Promotional materials - brochures, posters
• Target Marketing to specific organization (sales, software developers, etc)
• Articles in your company newsletter on the success stories of Teleworkers and Managers
• Sponsor corporate events for Earth Day and Telecommute America Day

IV. COMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE!

Communicating Program Progress and Measurements

Take a look at all the benefits Teleworking has given to your company…now, make sure everyone knows about it! Its time to start quantifying some measurements and communicating your progress. How will you measure your program?

Here are some suggested measurements to report:

• Employee Satisfaction Survey Results
  • Studies show that teleworkers have an average of 10% higher employee satisfaction
  • At your next employee satisfaction survey time, ask employees to identify themselves as a teleworker or have HR identify the responses as from a teleworker or not
• Reduced and Avoided Real Estate Costs
  • Studies show an average of $15,000 to $30,000 per employee for new building construction. Ongoing annual Real Estate costs average from $5,000 to $12,000 per employee.
  • Find out from your Real Estate organization what your average cost per square foot is and the average number of square feet allocated per employee. This is usually a loaded number to include hallways, restrooms, cafeterias, etc.
  • How much was your company able to avoid in these costs by not having to build or lease new space?
  • Were any small offices closed or consolidated due to teleworking efforts? This is an opportunity to work with your Real Estate organization to target specific geographic areas where space is at a premium.
• Increased Productivity
  • Studies show that teleworkers have an average of 10%-30% higher productivity
  • Keeping in mind that this is a very subjective measurement, survey your teleworkers and managers on their work effectiveness and increased productivity due to teleworking.
• Increase Employee Retention
  • Studies show that Teleworking Programs have increased employee retention as much as 22%
  • Find out from HR what your annual turn over rate is to calculate this measurement
• Environmental Effects - Cleaner Air and Reduced Traffic
  • Studies show that Teleworking Programs can contribute to 60% fewer driver miles
  • Check out the web site for the EPA and other environmental groups to find out standard car emissions (pounds of CO2, , etc)
  • Using these figures along with average commute times, you can quantify the effect that your Teleworking Program is having on the environment.
  • Is your company under any Regulatory Compliance, such as Clean Air Act violations, etc? Can the amount of fines saved or avoided be quantified?
• Reduced Relocation Costs
  • Find out from your HR department what your average relocation cost is and the number of relocations per year. Savings are usually around $50,000 per employee.
  • Review your teleworking population for teleworkers who, due to teleworking, did not have to relocate to accept a job or promotion.
• Opportunities to Employ Handicapped and Homebound Workers
  • Helps to meet certain federal legislative guidelines
  • Have HR help to identify if you have any teleworkers that meet these criteria

Once you have your results, share them with your company through every communication alley that you have such as executive reviews, newsletters and your company web site. Work with your local Public Relations organization to showcase your Company as a both top employer that offers Teleworking to its employees and as an organization that is positively affecting the environment.

Communicating to Teleworkers and Management

As your program grows, continue to communicate both the good news and any issues that may effect your Teleworkers and Managers.

Some ideas for effective communication:

• Teleworker Chat Rooms via your Teleworking Program Web Site
• Teleworker Newsletter with a Teleworker and Manager of the Month
• Sponsor Teleworker Lunch and Learn sessions to provide updates on new technology as well as an opportunity to meet other Teleworkers.
• Ensure that Teleworkers are included in all on-site Company events

Positively impacting tens, hundreds and even thousands of professional and personal lives is rewarding. Implementing a teleworking program clearly means an investment in additional financial and human resources to support the employee working from home. It also means additional responsibility and complexity for the existing IT infrastructure within an organization. Companies should consider these up-front costs as an investment that will reap the returns sited in the benefits section. And yet, these quantifiable benefits do not begin to consider the more intangible benefits of employee morale and increased productivity.

This has been just a sample of all the steps that are involved in taking your Teleworking Program from a pilot to a well-managed large scale Program. It will not all happen overnight and it will be challenging. It will require you gain additional knowledge. Sources include current teleworkers, corporate resources such as libraries and IT/HR/Facilities experts who think outside of the box, peers in organizations such as ITAC and possibly some implementation outsourcing.

The companies who embrace the new work environment on a large, formal scale will be the same companies who have the lowest cost structures, highest employee and customer satisfaction ratings. The same companies who will be leaders in their industries charging into the next millenium.