Other issues to consider

Communication

Successful telework relies on communication between managers and teleworkers, teleworkers and their colleagues and between the project’s steering committee and the rest of the organisation.

Good two-way communication overcomes many difficulties during both telework implementation and initiative operation. Communication issues are discussed in more detail in the Managing Telework (PDF) resource available through this website.

Making the telework policy available

One of the first communication exercises is to make sure that all employees and managers have had an opportunity to make comment on the draft documents. However, even after the documents have been largely finalised, there is another important communication step: all employees should be able to consider using the telework policy, guidelines and teleworker self-assessment questionnaire that have been developed.

It should be noted that the telework guidelines and questionnaire control who can and cannot telework: sharing this information will not usually lead to a huge number of staff requesting telework. Making this information available to staff is important and can help overcome any perception of favouritism and unfairness.

The risks of not making these documents available to everyone are higher than the risks associated with keeping them secret.

Pilots

Many organisations have chosen to start their telework initiatives with a pilot. This can be a good idea, particularly in larger organisations, providing three points are remembered.

Firstly, pilots should only be used to test any new arrangements or tools. If you are already using remote access technology successfully, you won’t need to pilot it’s use for teleworkers. If there’s nothing really new about your telework initiative, a pilot could be a unproductive.

Secondly, pilots can be used to see whether there are specific challenges or whether specific benefits result. In such cases, there must be a clear evaluation process built in with regular measurements and assessment. Without this, it will be difficult to tell whether the pilot has been a success.

Finally, it is a good idea to set up the pilot without a defined end date. Pilots that run for three months and then stop are very disruptive for teleworkers, their managers and their colleagues. It can also be difficult to restart a telework initiative once it has stopped.

It is a better idea to set up the pilot so that it automatically becomes a full initiative at a pre-defined date—unless a pre-specified issue has been identified. In such pilots, it is in everyone’s interests for the pilot to succeed and there is still the option of stopping it, if necessary.

The gradual approach

Rather than using a pilot to test whether a telework initiative will work, it is a better idea to deploy the initiative gradually. Starting with only a few teleworkers working off site on only a few days a month, your organisation can expand the number of teleworkers and the number of days off site gradually. This can give you every opportunity to identify and manage possible issues before they become major issues.

The gradual approach can also be used to start teleworking even if all the technology or other resources are not available. If your organisation has to wait for the budget to purchase new laptop computers or a new network server, teleworking can still start but involving only the employees and roles that do not need the new technology. This can provide the opportunity to familiarise the organisation with some aspects of the practice before all the changes are made.

Training and skill development

The success of a telework initiative will depend largely on the ability of managers to manage teleworkers and the ability of teleworkers to adjust to the working practice. Both will need to make changes in the way they plan and manage both work performance and workplaces. In some cases this may involve major cultural change which will take time: training can help accelerate this.