Workshop 9
IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM
by Joanne H. Pratt, President
Joanne H. Pratt Associates

CONTENTS

I. Introduction

II. Monitoring participation

III. Fine-tuning the process

IV. Strategies to cover drop-outs and additions

V. Managing change

VI. Summing Up

INTRODUCTION

Training is finished, the new teleworkers have signed their agreements and are productively working at home. Well not quite all----. If your organization is typical, there are additional barriers to overcome before the entire group of trained employees begins working at home. Now is the time to "take roll," which means do a status report to find out how many people are actually teleworking and labor energetically to get the laggards started. It is also time to recommit to the cultural change that you are helping accomplish in your organization.

You have completed the steps of planning your program, developing policy, and selecting and training participants. Implementing the telework program involves monitoring participation by employees and telemanagers, fine-tuning the teleworking process and developing strategies for adding new teleworkers to compensate for teleworkers who leave the program. Most important, it requires managing change.

So far the teleworking assignment has probably consumed far more of your time than you had thought possible. To fully implement your program you will need to both attend to minute details and step back and review the "Big Picture". Committing the effort to each step of the implementation process will strengthen the program and help ensure its long-term success.

Return to contents

II. MONITORING PARTICIPATION: From training to actual telework

Following training some employees will immediately begin to telework but typically many others do not. You may find it helpful to set up a table or spreadsheet that lists the teleworkers, their departments and telemanagers. Include telephone and e-mail contact information. That gives you a master "to do" list on which you can note problems and check off accomplishments.

The objective of your first task, compiling the status report, is to identify problems and, in any way that you can, facilitate solving them. The italicized problem-solving tips and examples are taken from our consulting experience with large and small organizations.

1. Compile a status report

• Check your survey log

If you are using pre-teleworking surveys as a benchmark for evaluating the program, make sure that you have received all of them back from the telemanagers and teleworkers. Some coaxing may be needed to bring them all in!

• Telephone the teleworkers

Design a core list of survey questions so that you can tabulate the responses but encourage open-ended answers. That way you will gather additional valuable information you can use later to highlight the program’s successes or unique problems.

Rather than telephone, it might be more efficient to send a memo or e-mail, but your primary objective is to identify individuals who have begun teleworking and uncover the specific stumbling blocks that have prevented others from starting. You will learn a lot more during a direct conversation, than people would put in writing. You may want your telework consultant, if you are using one, to handle these calls. Some employees are more candid when interviewed by someone outside the company or in a focus group situation.

• Reasons for delays in getting started

In working with various organizations we hear these familiar reasons for delays in getting started and we find, as noted, that most can be overcome:

Agreement not signed by supervisor

The Teleworker’s Agreement is usually completed during the training workshops. However, sometimes the supervisor was unable to attend or there were questions about items listed, so the teleworker is waiting for the form to be signed. It may be more politic for you, rather than the teleworker, to give the supervisor a nudge if the form is stalled on the manager’s desk.

Equipment problem

Delivery of employer-supplied equipment such as the personal computer, peripherals and software may be behind schedule. Similarly, employees buying new or upgraded equipment for their home office may not have the funds to make an immediate purchase. One of our clients found seldom-used notebook PCs that teleworkers could borrow temporarily to get started.

Communication such as e-mail is not in place

E-mail and Internet access have become increasingly used in business and are nearly indispensable for remote work today. Nevertheless, it is still common for organizations to have internal LANs but not yet the provision for many teleworkers. Preparations for Y2K may be tying up staff time and consuming the budget which also slows preparation for telework. Talk with your Information Technology (IT) contact. Sometimes priority can be given to teleworkers if IT understands the urgency. Clarify which workers need to be continuously on-line (usually very few) and which need only to be on line intermittently to download files or to check their mail periodically. If an access port can be shared, it decreases the demand on the system.

Circumstances changed

Business does not stand still. Employees continually move to new departments, change assignments and acquire new supervisors. The ability to work at home depends on the tasks to be conducted. Some wannabe teleworkers find after training that new circumstances preclude working at home. Some of those individuals will telework at a later time; others probably will not telework. On the other hand, if you think the tasks would allow teleworking, you may be able to convince a new supervisor to let a trained employee test working at home by citing the company teleworking policy.

Attending training was just "tire kicking", not a serious commitment

Well, at least those persons were interested enough to attend. Explore the reasons for their interest and keep them on your list. They may join the program in the future.

Have to be in the office

Clearly there are many good reasons why employees need to be present in the office. In your interviews probe ways that individuals might try teleworking at least on an episodic basis.

Carpool would be disrupted

When teleworking is an established company policy there is little point even for members of carpools not to work at home in inclement weather. Why even try to drive to work under hazardous conditions only to arrive late and leave early? Try to encourage carpool members to test working at home on bad weather days.

2. Obtain recommitment to the telework program

Some managers will give lip service to telework but in direct or subtle ways block any of their people from actually participating. You cannot always blame the managers—they may be understandably wary that telework is another "flavor of the week" business innovation that will not last. Especially when programs are called "pilots", they convey that impression. You will find that a written recommitment of the organization to telework, signed by the CEO, will be critical at this stage of the program. It is not sufficient to say just once that the company will telework; it has to be said again and again.

Two examples from our clients: In one company an e-mail circulated company-wide saved a teleworker’s ability to continue working at home; his new manager had wanted him back in the office. In another, a memo from top management brought reluctant managers into compliance with program deadlines and objectives.

• Meet with the CEO or executive who authorized the telework program

Begin by conveying the good news that you have completed training and some telemanager-teleworker teams have started. Tell some anecdotal success stories to illustrate the benefits the company has already realized because of telework.

For example: We interviewed one employee, who in two hours teleworking with only a calculator, was able to call her manager with the exact cost—not an estimate--of adding a new position to the department. If she had been given the same assignment in the office it would have taken her one or two days because of the constant interruptions.

Request visible support of the program, suggesting, for example, that the CEO send a memo to all managers that is emphatic about the company’s commitment to telework and restates any deadline or target numbers for beginning telework. This step is particularly important if you have a required starting date tied to an evaluation schedule or the source of funding under a subsidized program.

• Communicate throughout the organization

Use the employee newsletter and Intranet to give progress reports and publicize success stories. Add a section to each issue devoted to telework. Take advantage of all media used for company communication such as bulletin boards and e-mail to spread the word. Even brief anecdotes like the following example help increase awareness of teleworking benefits:

A teleworker was so much more productive at home that she had time to do extra work such as sorting old files, a task no one ever had time to do before.

• Consider a press release

Get permission to issue a press release that presents the company as a forward-thinking, family-friendly, new millennium company that teleworks. Outside publicity can help generate internal support for telework and attract new employees.

• Contact the telemanagers

By means of a memo from the CEO or the highest authority that you can obtain, restate to managers the long-term company goals related to telework and the percent of its workforce the company envisions will telework.

• Follow up by visiting managers individually, preferably face-to-face or by phone, or use e-mail if that is not feasible. Get the managers’ view of how things are going. If their employees have not yet started teleworking, focus your conversation by asking what further help they need. You may be able to help them get more support from their own managers or specific help from the information technology staff and other stakeholders involved. If any participants complain about requirements for supportive paperwork point out that evaluation is necessary because telework is new to the organization. It also may be required because the company is receiving funding from outside sources.

• Reconvene your steering committee

As teleworking actually gets started, it is critical to bring your steering committee up to date and involve them in the rollout. Usually the steering committee members represent the key areas of the company—human resources, information technology, legal, facilities and strategic planning. To keep members interested, present your status report as a draft and ask for their input. As a group troubleshoot the barriers to starting telework that you and others have identified.

Return to contents

Now that you have diligently contacted the teleworkers, telemanagers, top management and your steering committee you should have gathered a few immediate successes and obtained a good indication of what it will take to expand the program. The next step is to fine-tune the process. An effective tool to accomplish that is to bring together various groups and facilitate brainstorming exercises to solve problems and improve the overall process. This time spent working out the kinks in communication, technology and division of responsibilities helps build smoothly functioning collaborative work teams.

1. Hold formal focus groups

About six weeks to three months after teleworking officially began, schedule a series of focus groups. You can hold separate sessions for managers and employees or mix them, according to the topics you want to discuss. It is helpful to invite coworkers to join in.

• Lead a discussion on relevant topics, for example:
  • What is working; what is not?
  • What are people the most pleased with?
  • How is telework benefiting managers? Is managing telework harder, easier or just the same compared to managing on-site work?
  • Is the amount of time working at home too much, too little or just right?
  • Should the teleworking schedule be modified or maintained as planned?
  • What unanticipated problems have telemanagers or teleworkers encountered?
  • Do co-workers feel they are doing too much of the teleworkers’ in-office work? Are there any signs of envy by employees who are not teleworking?
  • How are you resolving the problem of difficult employees?

    Even if you use selection criteria with detailed screening questionnaires, you cannot always predict future performance as a teleworker. Working at home is not satisfactory for everyone. Encourage telemanagers to be flexible in handling individual cases.

    Two examples from clients: One employee did not perform well while teleworking. His manager reevaluated his skills and offered him a new assignment on site. She was highly pleased that his performance improved over what it had been prior to teleworking. At another organization, an employee who had performed poorly on site became a model worker when allowed to telework.

• Review the level of communication and trust

During the focus groups you may want to probe the details of how well telemanagers, teleworkers and co-workers are communicating at a distance. Encourage people from different departments to exchange tips and war stories. Double check whether or not all parties agree that communication is working well.

The manager of a call center e-mailed her home teleworkers every morning intending it as a "meet around the coffee pot" exchange. The question arose as to whether the workers really enjoyed the daily visit or perceived it as a form of surveillance.

• Uncover any problems with technology

Record any technology problems in detail then take your list to the information technology group to see if they can help. (You should have an IT liaison on your steering committee.)

• Forecast the future of telework in the company

To prepare for eventual expansion of telework, discuss with managers how they judge the future importance of telework. Should teleworking be an option or requirement for the entire organization? If so, what timing for the rollout do managers think would be feasible? What actions do they think upper management should take to make a smooth transition?

In one focus group, the managers felt that more employees would not telework without an incentive such as the employer providing a computer for their home office. In a group at another company, one or two employees wanted the company to pay rent for use of the employee’s home for its business.

2. Hold brown bag lunches

In addition to formally organized focus groups, hold brown bag lunches. Informal gatherings give teleworkers a chance to get together. Encourage attendees to exchange tips on working at home. To build a pool of future teleworkers invite wannabes to attend. Use this informal setting to identify any difficulties with working at home. Share what is happening with other household members and whether or not employees are feeling isolated and "out of the loop."

3. Consider setting up an e-mail chat group for teleworkers

Particularly if a number of your employees work at home full time they may enjoy a special chat group where they can socialize and exchange solutions they have found to any problems.

Return to contents

Dropouts from the teleworking program are inevitable. It is frustrating when the project is being evaluated as a pilot to find that the sample of employees has shrunk below your projections. Adding new teleworkers is considered a problem especially in the case of pilot or demonstration programs when guidelines limit participation to the initial group or additional teleworkers complicate evaluation of the program. Nevertheless new employees need to be brought into the program to sustain its momentum. It is critical to start compensating for the dropouts right away or critics will say that telework is a failure.

As first priority, consider your company’s long-term goals and your strategy beyond the pilot for reaching those goals. If the policy is in place for expanding telework you need to develop a process for adding people.

1. Conduct exit interviews

You may already have learned who has already dropped out of the program from your status-report interviews. Other teleworkers will leave during the time period allowed for the formal implementation and, of course, people will continue to stop working remotely for a variety of understandable reasons. Conducting informal "exit interviews" to identify those reasons may help you retain other employees in the future.

2. Develop a policy for replacing or adding new teleworkers

Working with your steering committee write the guidelines for joining the program during and beyond the pilot. If you have already done so, review them now that implementation has started. A key purpose of the demonstration program is to allow for testing and revising policies and processes before they are "set in stone."

The document listing requirements for joining the existing program should include your policy with regard to new hires, any required training and so forth—all of which you already have considered in designing the initial program. Think through what procedures, if any, should be modified.

One of the most common changes is to increase the number of people per company unit allowed to telework or to allow additional departments to join the program.

3. Publicize teleworking application procedures

If employees and managers are required to take training prior to teleworking, you need to provide for small group or one-on-one training. In the future it is unlikely that you will always be able to efficiently train large numbers of employees together.

4. Continually count noses

It cannot be said too often that you need to guard against attrition if you want to sustain teleworking in the organization.

Return to contents

Now that you feel overwhelmed with detail, put down your magnifying glass and pick up your telescope. Managing change within an organization requires taking a strategic view of where you are now, where you want to be in the future and deciding how to get from here to there. Detailed suggestions for expanding the program are the subject of the next workshop. Meanwhile take a macro view of your progress to date and remaining challenges. Keep in mind that your long-term challenge is to embed telework in the corporate culture as one of the ways the company does business—not as a pilot but as a matter of competitive management strategy.

1. Review your goals and strategy

You have completed a detailed status report, but now reflect also on the Big Picture. You may find it helpful to reread the previous TELEWORK AMERICA workshops. The general information you learn there, plus the perspective you have gained from actually getting the first teleworkers started, will help you reevaluate your own program.

Since you began planning, circumstances in the company may have changed. Are the original goals for telework still consistent with overall corporate goals? Have the strategies you used worked well or do they need to be adjusted in order to expand the program? Is teleworking proving itself from the macro as well as the micro point of view?

2. Prepare for change by institutionalizing telework

You know it is going to happen, so prepare for inevitable changes. The organization may expand, give up part of its leased space, or build a new facility. It may merge with another firm or be sold. Frequently changes in leadership occur. You yourself may assume new responsibilities. Since you really cannot anticipate what impact change will have on the program, proceed on the assumption that telework will continue. If you do not, employees will hesitate to work remotely for fear of "being out of the loop" or vulnerable if the company downsizes.

• Continue to enlarge the circle of committed believers in telework

• Reconvene the steering committee to discuss long-term change

Replace any committee members who drop out. You want to set a precedent that keeps those key administrators from human resources, information technology, legal, facilities and other key departments involved in the on-going support of teleworking. The idea is to institutionalize telework so that it will survive the normal turnover of leadership. Specifically, to start the process help the steering committee members assess the following issues or others relevant to your specific organization:

• What is the committee’s reading on benefits and problems?

• Now that it has started, how do they perceive teleworking in terms of the existing corporate culture?

• How should the company prepare for the next step—expansion or discontinuing the program?

• What do they see as the pace of change for expanding telework?

• Will existing technology and telecommunications support expansion? If not, what actions would be required?
• Examine the organization chart. Are there departments with functions where teleworking should, should not or never can occur?

• Are there union issues that must be addressed?

Your previous focus groups with telemanagers and interviews with teleworkers have addressed current problems and attitudes. In your meeting with the steering committee, keep the discussion focused on the future by asking the members to start thinking about ways that the company will be different if telework becomes embedded in the corporate culture.

• Watch for early warning signs of discontent

In the initial stages of teleworking, employees generally are very eager to win permission to work at home. But as the novelty wears off some will raise issues of fairness. Because in selling telework to management we have argued that telework has positive benefits for the company’s bottom line, employees increasingly will question "Why aren’t we sharing in the cost-benefits as well as lifestyle advantages of telework?" And "Are the lifestyle benefits all that great when we’re spending more time for our employers working, in our cars and at home and even responding to beeper calls during our personal leisure activities?" Typically, you will hear some of the following concerns:

Employers intrude into home life

Employer "occupies" employee "real estate" without compensation

Employer should equip the home office

The employer wants to control the home environment, demanding insurance, secure storage for company documents and signing of non-disclosure agreements by household members

Reading this list, why would anyone want to implement such an intrusive change as teleworking? Remember the benefits; minimize the negatives and be creative in finding solutions. The questions are justified. The answer is finding the appropriate balance that maintains a win-win relationship for the organization and its employees. As one client says "Work the Problem". For example, providing employees with notebook computers instead of desktop computers eliminates the cost of providing a second PC and software in the home office.

In this transitional period, as we break relatively rigid Industrial Age traditions and work rules, organizations and individuals have leeway to develop, test and revise guidelines for conducting work in the Information Age. Once telework is commonplace, the rules and regulations will be more established, meaning that there will be less opportunity to institute change. Helping evolve those new practices is part of your challenge you may not have considered when you undertook implementing change.

Return to contents

VI. SUMMING UP

Implementation of telework requires care and attention to detail. Training only prepares employees and managers for remote work. To the best of your ability, it is your job to see that they get started, help fine-tune the process and embed telework into the culture of your organization. It is a daunting challenge, but having proceeded this far, you have already proved that you can do it very well.

Return to contents

This workshop was prepared by: 

Joanne H. Pratt
Joanne H. Pratt Associates
3520 Routh Street
Dallas, TX 75219
(214) 528-6540