Working From Home On The Increase
By Nick at 29 March, 2007, 12:18 pm
An individual manages a small consulting company (about 15 employees) whose services are a function of the collective intellectual capabilities of employees and shareholders. There is a fair amount of independent work required that is not dependent upon other co-workers though regular assistance from others who have specific expertise is needed to resolve an issue(s) an employee may be working on. There is also regular group brainstorming sessions that are spontaneous but not necessarily frequent.
Background
One of the (founding) major shareholders has been taking one day a week to work at home from the beginning of the company’s existence to deal with home issues and be with her son when he comes home from school which she feels important in order for her to be productive. She is very productive from home but not infrequently we have to schedule meetings around her. However, to tackle this issue raised a lot of other issues that are to lengthy to address here but suffice it to say that the risk component of the risk/benefit ratio was too high so it has continued.
We have grown from 8 to 15 employees in the past year. One of our employees who have been with us for 4 years now, highly educated, and valuable member now wants to work one day a week at home. In general, our practice/policy is not to allow for a regularly scheduled work day at home (e.g., every Thursday) but if individuals want to work at home on an ad hoc basis it’s not a problem. The rationale for this practice is that we are an intellectual house that requires impromptu sessions and it’s difficult to accomplish this over the phone when an employee works at home frequently. However, we’ve established the practice with one of our officers/major shareholders so it is in effect allowing for a double standard between employees and Officers.
So here’s the question
What are people’s experience with allowing employees have a regularly scheduled (e.g., one day a week) work at home in an environment where person to person interaction is an important part of the business? Has anyone had experience with remote (affordable) technology that allows this to occur and still be creative? What are your opinions regarding telling this employee that the Officer in question (if it arises as an issue) started the practice prior to the policy being implemented and because she is an Officer and major stakeholder we are not grandfathering her into the current office practice of not allowing regularly scheduled days off?
Telecommuting on the increase
We have been seeing - and will continue to see - many companies loosen up on the ‘fear’ of having employees work from home. Aside from the technology which exists to make it so easy to be connected (email, office networks, conference calling, various meeting software, instant messaging, etc.), it is just starting to make economical sense. One question that could be raised is how the increasing costs to commute (i.e. - gasoline) are affecting their employees. An ‘at home’ day could go a long way in lessening the burden on many employees who are devoting more and more of their pay to their gas tank. Also, there may be some tax incentives in place or being considered for companies that have their employees work from home. Still, not every position in every company will fit into the work from home scenario. So, absolutely a case-by-case approach is appropriate. IF being available for ad-hoc brainstorming is a requirement for any one individual (and it is deemed necessary for the individual to be physically present), then it’s fair to say that the option to work from home is not on the table. As far as telling someone that they can no longer do anything, regarding their employment, suck it up and make it known to the individual. Not all conversations at the workplace are pleasant. That’s why they call it ‘work’.
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