Can We Really Trust Teleworkers To Be Productive?

As a small business owner, you may be wondering about telework. The question is not whether you can do it; the question is whether you should do it. The technology to manage remote workers already exists, employee productivity has never been easier to manage with tools such as Asure software offering business owners an efficient mobile-ready solution for tracking employee time and attendance through mobile devices.

On one hand, the arrangement can be a boon for employers and workers. Employers can keep real estate and labor costs down. This frees up capital to move the business forward. Money is now available to develop new products, hire more help, or add more locations. Meanwhile, workers who are not in a commutable distance can still work for the company or continue to work for a company if a change in their circumstances required them to be closer to home.

On the other hand, not all employees work well at home. Some may find it necessary to have face to face interactions with other employees to do their work. This is particularly true for employees still going through job training or for team members that need to bounce ideas off each other as they work on a project. Others may not have the maturity to be productive without supervision. Working at home offers many pleasant distractions and it takes considerable self-discipline to work all the time you work.

10 Common Drawbacks

Many unintended consequences can arise when employees work from home. These have to be anticipated and addressed before work at home arrangements are made.

Here are 10 common drawbacks associated with telework:

1. Petty behavior on behalf of employees. Some may resent that some people get to work from home, others may gossip about someone who is no longer in the office.
2. It may be more difficult to communicate with remote workers. Employees may not answer when called or call into the office at the wrong times.
3. Employees may feel lonely and isolated at home, disconnected from the work culture. They may feel frustrated at being left to figure things out on their own.
4. A sense of disengagement and alienation from the company can result in employees losing interest in the company vision. They may feel indifferent to the company culture and not participate fully in the growth to the company.
5. Productivity may decline because there is not the same pressure to perform as sitting in an office. It’s only too easy to take too many breaks; a behavior that would normally make someone feel uncomfortable in an office when surrounded by other people hard at work.
6. People may be choosing to work at home for the wrong reasons—for instance, as a way to avoid paying for a baby sitter. This results in the remote worker spending more time as a parent than an employee.
7. If employees use their own devices, they may be plagued with all sorts of technical problems like slow internet speeds or broken connections. They may also have to do without proper office equipment like laser printers and other high-tech devices.
8. Employers and employees may have to decide who should pay for home-office equipment and telecommunication services.
9. Liability issues and worker’s compensation could arise if the employee does not observe the same safety standards expected at work. This may apply if the employee has to use hazardous equipment.
10. Employees may not have the best layout in the home to do the work properly. For instance, they may not have an extra bedroom to work from and have to work from a kitchen table surrounded by a busy, noisy family.

Some Simple Solutions

Fortunately, most of these problems are not as critical to solve as they may first appear and can be remedied with simple solutions. Here, for example, are some sample solutions:

• Employers can ask employees to sign contract that require employees to dedicate their time at home as if they were sitting in the office.
• Job descriptions could ensure that remote workers are not set to a higher standard than expected from employees in the office.
• Employers could ensure that someone who works from home has everything they need to do the work well—from office equipment to telecommunication services.
• Telework could be optional and only offered to those who had achieved a certain level of seniority in the company. This would allow those who have too little space or too many distractions at home the opportunity to continue to work in the office.
• Employee connectivity and engaged could be bridged through telecommunication systems like video conferencing to make the worker feel part of the office environment.

Making a Final Decision

Flexible work has to be a win-win situation for both employees and employers because many variables are involved, with some people perfectly suited to work well from home while others preferring the camaraderie of an office environment. Since the technology to facilitate telework is not an issue, what will determine if employees should or should not work from home are the individuals themselves and the arrangements made by the company for teleworking.