Making Telework Work
By Joel Dobbs for Enterprise CIO Forum
Like many of you, I was surprised to see Yahoo’s recent announcement that employees will no longer be allowed to work from home. The responses in the media have been predictably varied and, at times, harsh. Yahoo’s rationale, at least the explanation I have seen, is that collaboration and innovation work better when people are physically together. Fair enough, although one could make the argument that everyone doesn’t need to be together all of the time. That, however, is another discussion entirely.
One of the concerns expressed by many has been the possibility that other companies may jump on the no telecommuting band wagon for all of the wrong reasons (or, alternatively, competitors may see this as an opportunity to poach some top notch talent). Time will tell. One thing that has struck me in reading several of the commentaries is that telecommuting is seen strictly in the light of working from home. I believe that most of the problems organizations encounters with remote workers are a result of poor planning, unclear rules and vague expectations. To be successful, telecommuting programs need clear rules, goals and structure in order to work well in practice. It is a lot more than just working from home.
For more information on this topic – check out PC Pitstop’s Running a Virtual Company blog.
Excerpt appears with permission from John Dodge.
