Homeworking
More organisations realise the cost of running offices.
More individuals take on remote working,
more and more of us must adapt to working from home.
But - what is involved?
How do we ensure that output does not drop?
The Benefits -
For the employer - heat, light, maintenance and rent - how much does space cost?
Even if you already own the property, freeing up space is likely to bring gain - maybe even leasing some of it out.
And - productivity.
One study we were involved with showed that homeworkers generate 180% of the output they were able to deliver in the office.
For the employees : Freedom! No more commuting.
And the ability to hang out the washing, meet the gas man, do the school run, take the dog out. Start work at 3 in the morning.
We have found people who have turned down promotion because that would involve going back to an office-based job.
The RISKS
1. The employer has a duty of care under the Health and safety at work act, and that extends to wherever the work is carried out - yes - in your house!
The HSE have very good guidance on this
So - the employer MUST set up the whole arrangement clearly, and ideally with a good Agreement accepted by the employee, and that has to include the right to visit the home, by arrangement, to check on : electricity, IT, the workspace, security of documents, and more.
The classic story is about the homeworker who set his workstation up in the attic, fell through the floor, and sued his employer.
2. The employee can become isolated, lonely, cut off - when the computer stops working in the office, everybody talks to each other and soon everybody knows that the fault is something technical. When the same happens at home, the assumption is that I must have done something wrong.
3. Children, dogs, partners, gasmen, telephones - home can be full of interruptions, and it is easy to believe that starting earlier and finishing later will overcome the time lost..... while that is probably true, it also means that there is no separation between home and work life, and the homeworker never switches off - literally.
Good Practice -
Management of homeworkers needs special effort.
Stay in touch - ring up at designated times, and at other times, even if there is nothing specific to talk about.
Hold team meetings - regularly. You must ensure that the homeworker is as well briefed as they would be if they were breathing the same air as you all day every day.
Work hard on personal development - it is surprising how much we learn from sitting by Nellie.
Stay connected - use smart telephony so that homeworkers are in constant touch with each other. Use webcams. Use social networks.
Use good telephone systems so that customers do not know that they are speaking to someone in their pj's - and train the staff to make sure they remain business like.
Measure output. Use well defined targets - how much, of what, by when, and discuss progress, often.