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Home Alone
More and more, Connecticut companies find ways to make 'field-based' employment models work for them — and their employees
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Business New Haven
10/15/2001
By: Susan Cornell
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Currently, only about seven percent of Connecticut's 1.668 million workers - roughly 117,000 employees - telecommute at least one day per month. The national average is ten percent. The percentage of work sites in Connecticut with telecommuters has remained roughly the same since 1997, although the number of telecommuters per site has increased substantially.
These are among the key findings of a statewide survey commissioned by Telecommute Connecticut!, an initiative sponsored by the state's Department of Transportation and administered by Rideworks.
According to the Connecticut Telecommuting Survey, field-based employment is receiving high marks from both teleworkers and employers. The study finds:
• 33 percent of non-telecommuters would like to telecommute.
• 27 percent of non-telecommuters report that the nature of their work would permit them to telecommute.
• Telecommuters work at home an average of just over two days per week.
• 27 percent of employers that offer telecommuting use a formal policy that governs eligibility.
• 30 percent of employers that offer telecommuting require supervisors and teleworkers to put the terms of the arrangement in writing.
• 78 percent of employers report favorable experiences with telecommuting and agree overall that telecommuting has been a good option for their work sites.
The survey, which was a first in measuring telecommuting in Connecticut, also revealed that only 14 percent of non-telecommuters said that their employers currently permitted telecommuting. This means that many employers remain unconvinced of the benefits.
From the employer's perspective, they remain competitive by attracting and retaining employees and benefit from improved employee morale. From the employee's perspective, they have greater flexibility, which frequently helps in balancing work and family commitments. Further, many employees become more creative and productive. Then, there's a partial remedy to the traffic problem in southern Connecticut.
Says Jean T. Stimolo, executive director of Rideworks, “Telecommuting - typically working one to three days per week from home - is a savvy solution to help reduce our traffic woes and can also help business' bottom lines by providing a powerful tool for recruitment and retention of qualified employees.”
Numerically speaking, the typical Connecticut telecommuter reports to a work site 25.5 miles from home. Thus, each day spent teleworking at home saves a 51-mile round trip by car per telecommuter. Multiply that figure by 177,000 telecommuters and the option provides a reduction of 37.2 million vehicle miles traveled every month.
But employers have their own concerns. According to the Connecticut study, the biggest drawbacks cited by employers were the notion that employees must be on site to serve customers and perform other important tasks and the inability to hold spur-of-the-moment meetings.
Cost vs. Benefits
According to Telecommute Connecticut!, organizations with formal, well-designed telecommuting programs receive the best return on investment. “With a bit of strategizing, the potential net savings can reach some $10,000 per telecommuter,” it asserts. Some of the main cost-saving aspects of well-run programs include:
• Recruitment and retention. Avoiding turnover and the need to recruit and train new hires.
• Relocation costs. The combination of telecommuting and some business travel are cheaper than relocating staff (which can cost $50,000 or more per employee) or replacing those who resign rather than move.
• Real estate and office costs. With the average teleworker spending two to three days per week away from the office, the remaining office space can easily be recovered using office-space strategies such as hoteling and desk-sharing. One office can be saved for every three telecommuters, which equates to $2,000 per telecommuter per year.
• Productivity. Dozens of studies prove that telecommuting one to three days per week can increase employee productivity by ten to 20 percent - this trims overtime and related costs. American Express telecommuters handled 26 percent more calls and produced 43 percent more business than their office-based counterparts.
• Emergency preparedness and absenteeism. Some nine to ten days are missed on average each year in North America due to child care, illness, elder care and being unable to get to work during bad weather and other emergencies. During these situations, telecommuters can often perform some of their normal work that helps avoid operational turmoil and payroll costs, including wages for replacement workers.
Stimolo says that in times of bad weather or major events such as OpSail 2000, “Companies with programs already were able to continue fairly smoothly. Those with telecommuting arrangements in place were well-equipped. That's the type of flexibility we need.”
A joint project of the UConn's Center for Survey Research & Analysis and Rutgers' John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development examined what Americans think about the impact of the technology revolution on their jobs, their lives and their workplaces. “Nothing But Net: American Workers and the Information Economy” (February 2000) revealed that one of the most attractive uses of the computer was the option to telecommute.
And, among the findings, regarding workers who believe they could perform their job as a telecommuter:
• Only 16 percent of their employers offer telecommuting.
• 62 percent of employees who have the opportunity to telecommute do so at least one day weekly.
• Telecommuters are more satisfied with their jobs. Ninety-five percent of telecommuters are satisfied with their jobs, compared to 83 percent of non-telecommuters.
According to a survey of top U.S. executives conducted in 2000 by Chicago-based international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., 62 percent reported that telecommuting is so advantageous to workers that it is held out as a carrot to recruit new employees and retain existing staff. This study also found that some companies reported that telecommuting employees have productivity rates up to 25 percent higher than those who simply toiled in the central office.
A key study for the International Telework Association & Council (ITAC) conducted by Joanne H. Pratt Associates in 1999 confirmed that telework “enables employees to better manage their work and personal lives.” The study documents that teleworkers' productivity is the same or higher when working at home, and that being able to work at home is an employment incentive.
Importantly, the research suggests a transformation away from the Industrial Age day-based model of telework to a project-based, network-centric model characteristic of the Information Age.
Savings from Absenteeism
Pratt finds that “Because teleworkers are able to mix work and personal needs, the number of occasions when they need to be absent from work altogether is reduced, resulting in a cost savings to their organizations.” The survey indicates that “Employers can save 63 percent of the cost of absenteeism per teleworking employee, or $2,086 per employee per year.”
ITAC recently released results of the Telework America 2000, the latest in the continuing series of surveys and reports on the state of telework in the U.S. The study, sponsored by AT&T, revealed that:
• There were 20.6 percent more teleworkers in the year 2000 than in 1999.
• There will be a projected 30 million regular teleworkers by the end of 2004.
• Thirteen percent of those workers consider the telework option to be an important factor when deciding whether to accept another job.
• Companies save, on average, $9,712 per teleworker
annually.
Downsides
Given the many operational, practical, financial and human considerations, field-based employment is not suitable for everyone or every situation. It is not always easy to distinguish which positions and employees are best suited to telecommuting. Many employers fear that telecommuting may harm their relationships with employees and about their ability to manage remote workers.
Not all employees have the right temperament or motivation. And, even if the job and the person are “right,” many people lack the information to go about telecommuting properly. Then, there's keeping an eye out for safety and ergonomic issues, workers compensation issues and liability.
Regarding safety and ergonomics, since an in-home office is an extension of the workplace, employers have the right to inspect home offices to ensure compliance with safety and ergonomic requirements.
Employers should check with their legal advisors regarding liabilities and employees who work at home should check with their homeowner insurance provider.
Who Pays for What?
The old adage says that you have to spend money to make money. Another is, when it comes to telecommuting, you have to spend money to save money. Telecommuting can indeed save money by reducing real estate and infrastructure costs. But to achieve those savings, companies must invest enough to properly equip their telecommuters.
For example, Siemens Enterprise Networks wanted to make sure that its 100 or so employees who would be working full-time at home would be as professional and productive as possible. So Siemens made the investment to provide each telecommuting employee with:
• A Dell Latitude laptop computer
• Firewalls and anti-virus software
• A multi-function fax/printer/scanner/copier
• A shredder for security purposes
• A Siemens desktop phone plus accompanying cordless phone
• An ergonomic chair
• A $300 desk allowance
Siemens also reimburses employees for a lamp, a dedicated business line, business-related long-distance calls, the cost of supplies and up to $50 a month for utilities.
If these expenses seem over-the-top, they aren't, according to telecommuting consultant, Gil Gordon. The company is wise to provide employees with the tools needed to get the work at home done. “It's viewed as providing the tools of the workplace,” says Gordon, “wherever it happens to be.”
Work-at-home Siemens employees do not have a blank check. Any expenses not listed above are the employees' responsibility. And family members are not permitted to use the company-supplied computer or Internet connection.
It's the People, Stupid
Stamford-based LeadMasters helps client companies to generate sales appointments with qualified prospects using seasoned professionals with substantial business experience to make exploratory phone calls and communicate with high-level executives in the prospects' organizations.
LeadMasters challenge has been to recruit and retain well-qualified employees, especially given the long commute faced by many current employees and potential recruits. According to Scott Brown, LeadMasters' vice president of operations: “We felt that by expanding the geography we could recruit from, that would give us additional opportunities to find quality people. By providing a telecommuting option, it would allow us to retain people who are commuting from a long distance right now, as well as to recruit people outside a 30-mile radius from Stamford.”
LeadMasters was referred to Telecommute Connecticut!, whose team first helped the company to clarify its goals and objectives. The technical experts helped LeadMasters set up computing systems and telephony so that selected employees could work from home as easily as from the office - and customers couldn't tell the difference.
LeadMasters sought assistance with a broad range of HR issues, including how to communicate, the telecommuting program needs and requirements properly to employees and how to specify - in writing - employer and employee responsibilities regarding those working off site.
Another success case is Hamden-based CRN International, a producer of syndicated radio programming. CRN HR Director Cathy Lawler advises employers to remember that telecommuting isn't for everyone - some workers are more capable than others of functioning effectively without in-person supervision, and some tasks lend themselves to being done off-site better than others. With those considerations in mind, Lawler advises: “Go through the process of writing a policy and an agreement. It clarifies the issues.”
Companies interested in a free analysis of how they might benefit from providing field-based employment as a workplace alternative can visit www.telecommuteCT.com or call 800-ALL-RIDE. Today there are roughly 2,200 telecommuters in the program, with another 500 to 600 to be added soon.
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