E-Seminar Teleworking Internet E-fficiency E-Seminar
Teleworking Internet E-fficiency E-Seminar 3 Welcome 4 Objectives 5 Today s Workplace 6 Teleworking Defined 7 Why Teleworking? Why Now? 8 Types of Teleworkers 9 Teleworking Benefits 10 Requirements for Success 11 Guidelines and Policies 12 Teleworking Technology Solutions 13 Conclusion
Welcome Welcome to the Internet E-fficiency seminar on Teleworking More and more companies want to give their employees the possibility to work from home and be a part-time or full-time Teleworker. Teleworking or Telecommuting becomes an important tool in today s highly competitive New World Economy 3 of 14
Objectives In this Internet E-fficiency seminar, we will discuss the business aspects of introducing Teleworking in your company At the end of the seminar, you will have a good understanding about what exactly Teleworking is You will also learn what the benefits of Teleworking can be for your company Finally, we will discuss the ways to implement Teleworking in your organisation 4 of 14
Today s Workplace Excuse me for interrupting you. My name is Elisabeth, and I am Managing Director of a company of 60 employees in the center of the city. I always thought that teleworking was something for big enterprises, not? Not necessarily. With today s technologies and company cultures, teleworking can be an interesting option for both bigger and smaller companies. Traditionally, office work has always been carried out between usual business hours. For many companies, the traditional 9-to-5 office workday is long gone. As the New World economy is more competitive, real-time and runs 24 hours per day, the workday is usually much longer. However, employees do not need to physically be in the office to maintain productivity. Todays networking technologies allow companies to bring the work to their workers, instead of just the workers to the office. 5 of 14
Teleworking Defined Just a second. I think I know, but how exactly would you define teleworking? There are indeed many definitions and buzzwords for teleworking. This causes some confusion when you try to compare the results of different surveys and research. For the purposes of this seminar, We refer to teleworking when corporate employees work at home using telecommunications technology to access their company network. 6 of 14
Why Teleworking? Why Now? I have heard about Teleworking already 10 years ago, but it never really seemed to be adopted widely. So, why has Teleworking recently become such an important solution for many businesses? Well, in the past few years, new technologies like secure broadband Internet access and Internet-connected PCs have become widely available, while the cost of these technologies and telecommunications has seriously declined. Also, many companies today have adopted a culture of flexibility, employee empowerment and virtual teams. That s indeed true, my company certainly has this type of culture. Furthermore, the tight labour market has resulted in companies paying more attention to employee satisfaction and work flexibility. And in this competitive world, companies need to make the most of their available resources, by increasing employee productivity and reducing costs where possible. Finally, more and more country governments are stimulating companies to introduce a teleworking policy. 7 of 14
Types of Teleworkers But you know, some of my people would hardly be able to work from home, either because their role requires constant interaction, or because their job is not fully computer-based. Understood, but Teleworking is not necessarily a black-white thing. The extent to which Teleworking is implemented in a company can vary from employee to employee and be flexible in time. One of the first steps in implementing a telework program is understanding which roles within your company are appropriate for teleworking. By analyzing job roles and functions in your organization, you can assign who is the best fit for various types of teleworking. Jobs which require little to no supervision will be better suited for teleworking than others. Some employees will be better suited for telework than other. Important skills and aspects to consider are good judgment, self-motivation, time management, organizational and communication skills, a high level of productivity, and flexibility. In general, there are 3 types of teleworkers: First, the Day Extender or After-Hours Worker: This employee works full-time in the traditional office, but accesses the enterprise network from home after hours and on weekends, for instance to do e-mail, project work, etc A second type is the Part-Time Telecommuter: This employee accesses the enterprise network from home anywhere from one to four days per week, and works in the traditional office setting the other days of the week. The Full-Time Telecommuter finally works full-time out of the home. 8 of 14
Teleworking Benefits So tell me, why would I benefit from implementing Teleworking in my company? What would be the main advantages? Well, surveys have shown that teleworkers often accomplish 30% more, in the same amount of time, working from home. Teleworking also yields real savings for businesses in terms of real estate costs. Office space requirements are lower and the office areas can be organised in a more efficient way. Teleworking also gives employees the flexibility to extend their day to communicate and collaborate with co-workers in time zones around the world. Finally, teleworkers often feel more satisfied with their jobs after starting to work from home, because they can avoid long commute times and balance their work and their private life in a much more flexible way. 9 of 14
Requirements for Success Suppose I decide to give Teleworking a chance in my company. How can I make it really work? First of all, the key to a successful teleworking program is rooted in scalable, official, companysponsored programs rather than ad hoc uses of remote work technologies. In addition, technology should be the linkage between the company s business processes and its culture. These different components should be well-balanced and carefully managed, and can be documented in teleworking guidelines and policies. If your company is committed to increase productivity and reduce costs through the use of appropriate technology, then it is inevitable to adapt certain existing business processes, to allow for efficient remote control by and contribution from teleworkers. The use of technologies in standard business conduct should be accepted throughout your company. Business processes should be supported by technology through applications, documentation or communication. Can you give an example? Sure. For instance, traditional process elements such as the transfer of paper forms can be replaced by email notifications. Process-related interactions between applications, databases and people can be automated. Once information access and communication can happen in an electronic way, many steps can be managed or controlled remotely by, for instance, a teleworker, as long as he or she has access to the company s internal network and applications. Of course, this all means that your company culture should embrace change and new technologies and not be fearful of their capabilities. 10 of 14
Guidelines and Policies OK, this all seems reasonable, but I still feel pretty uncomfortable about managing employees I cannot see. This is indeed an aspect of a company s culture that should be paid attention to. How a teleworking program is planned, supported and managed determines its success. Teleworking guidelines and policies should be communicated clearly throughout the company. Managers and employees should have regular meetings about mutual expectations, objectives and deliverables which should be achieved while doing telework. At the same time, some employees may need training on how to organise their workday at home, and for instance not fall into the trap of working around the clock. 11 of 14
Teleworking Technology Solutions All right. So tell me, what do I need in terms of equipment to allow my employees to telework? In order to accomplish a reliable and professional Teleworking environment, the employee s home office needs to be connected in a secure way to the company s main office network. Every organisation will have different needs when selecting an appropriate telework solution. The teleworker can be equipped with an Ethernet Local Area Network or a Wireless LAN for local PC and peripheral connectivity. A router, with firewall software for security, connects this home LAN to the company s network. Once this infrastructure exists, free voice communications between the teleworker and his company can be accomplished by using IP Telephony. And how do we connect from all these teleworker home offices to my company network? The home network can be connected to the main office through a dial-up ISDN connection, or broadband connection such as Cable or DSL. The actual choice of this access technology is dependent on local availability, speed requirements and ISP service levels. Using Virtual Private Network or VPN technology, the teleworker can as such have access to the company s Intranet, the Internet and even Extranets with suppliers or partners. 12 of 14
Conclusions Great. So you think teleworking could work in my small company too? Teleworking has many benefits for both your company and your employees: cost reduction, higher productivity and employees who are better satisfied with their job. This will make your company more competitive and increase your customer satisfaction. Don t forget that you can implement Teleworking in different ways. A variety of remote access and VPN technologies is available to create a Teleworking solution that fits best the needs of your company and the requirements and expectations of your employees. 13 of 14
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