Dealing with High Gas Prices

I am going to expand on my earlier post about dealing with high gas prices as I have received feedback from several people in person and online about their companies or managers not being supportive of telecommuting.

Telecommuting can be one of the biggest opportunities a business owner, manager, or supervisor has for improving productivity, lowering hiring and retention costs, improving morale, reducing utility costs, etc., etc.

Like any policy change (in many companies, telecommuting is covered by a policy) using telecommuting needs to be assessed with regards to potential problems as well as opportunities.

I have already mentioned some of the opportunities so lets look at some of the potential problems.

1) managers don't know what their workers are doing when they are telecommuting. Well, how do managers know what their workers are doing when they are on-site? Do they babysit them all day long? Of course not. Good managers know how to get results and communicate requirements with their staffs. They look for results.

2) telecommuters feel cutoff from their co-workers and miss the social interaction that comes from working together. No one says that telecommuting means never being in the office (although it could in the right situations). Telecommuting can be a part-time approach. If you have workers telecommute 2 days a week, you reduce their commute times and costs by 40%. You also reduce your costs of having them in the office by 40%. Team meetings can be held when everyone is on site. Also consider the value of video conferencing and Instant Messaging to keep workers in touch with each other. Both can be very low cost, valuable additions to your tool box.

These are just 2 examples for now. I just want to get you thinking.

If your managers don't know how to deal with telecommuting, HELP THEM! All sides of this issue need to earn trust and learn skills to make it work effectively.

Call us, we can help.

John Schneyer
Boca Consultants