In the
Media
Are You
Self-Assured Enough to be a Telecommuter?
Appeared in Microsoft bCentral , June 2003
Jeff Wuorio
Not
everyone is cut out to be a telecommuter. But Maura Schreier-Fleming knows
why she is.
It has nothing to do with
having bosses miles away, the joyous absence of highway traffic or the
thrill of putting in a full day dressed in sweats and a
T-shirt.
"I knew I was
suited when I realized I never once missed the office gossip and sports
chatter," says Schreier-Fleming, a Dallas-based consultant who was a
telecommuter for five years while working for Chevron.
While that may
seem merely anecdotal, Schreier-Fleming's experience pinpoints a critical
element of telecommuting: deciding if you (or your employee) are genuinely
suited to the dynamics of working away from the office on a regular basis.
Not only is that a critical question to help ensure that a telecommuter is
both happy and productive, it's central to deciding whether a
telecommuting arrangement makes sense for a company as well.
Telecommuters
(also known as teleworkers) and authorities on the topic agree that one of
the most important characteristics necessary for a solid telecommuter is
independence. While some employees mandate microscopic supervision, it's
no surprise that the best telecommuters thrive on autonomy and little
looking over the shoulder.
"Anyone
considering telecommuting should look in the mirror and ask, 'Would I
trust myself to telecommute?'" says Gil Gordon of Gil Gordon Associates, a
New Jersey-based business that works with companies to build telecommuting
arrangements. "Often, the best workers in the office make the best
telecommuters. They're dependable, independent and
self-motivated."
Loneliness, isolation and
lack of visibility
Any prospective
telecommuter should also be aware that no arrangement is going to be
idyllic. For Lisa Ackerly, executive director of auto partnerships and
alliances for Edmunds.com, telecommuting from her San Francisco home to
company headquarters in Los Angeles seemed to promise loneliness and
isolation.
"There are
positives and negatives to any job, so you really pick your poison," she
says. "For me, I thought it was going to be really lonely."
That, happily,
didn't pan out. "I feel very engaged," she says. But she did uncover a
related issue that a would-be telecommuter would do well to address: a
potential lack of visibility within the company, something Ackerly has
tackled head on.
"Instead of
waiting to be invited to a meeting, I schedule meetings myself, even going
so far as to arrange for a conference room in Los Angeles," she says. "I
knew I would have to put forth the effort so that I wouldn't turn into a
case of 'out of sight, out of mind.'"
Still another
element to consider is availability. Many office-bound employees feel more
than comfortable about turning off their pagers after 5 p.m. Since they're
physically removed from the office, some telecommuters say that must be
prepared to remain accessible. You can't walk down the hall to talk to a
boss or co-worker, and they can't do the same with you. So communication
for and with telecommuters often has to occur at odd hours of the
day.
"You pretty much
have to make yourself available whenever you are needed," notes Sheri
Wallace, who edits ePregnancy Magazine via a telecommuting arrangement.
"That means e-mail as well as the phone."
Telecommuters who
flourish also are adept communicators. But that skill goes beyond simple
chit-chat to also include a knack for being able to interpret things
without face-to-face contact.
"As you become
familiar with co-workers, it's easier to judge the undertones of e-mails,
but initially it's hard to understand anything except the bare words,"
Wallace says. "I find I like to spend some time on the phone to bridge
that gap." For her part, Ackerly asks meeting participants to describe
facial expressions and other aspects of body language.
Does telecommuting stall
advancement?
Another issue is
advancement within a company. Although Gordon says he's seen no evidence
that telecommuting can harm an employee's chances of promotion, he says it
may be best to stick to the office if getting ahead for you outweighs the
pluses of telecommuting.
"If your No. 1
goal in a job is to advance, you don't want concerns about telecommuting
sticking in your head," he says. "It can become a self-fulfilling
prophecy."
The final element
that a prospective telecommuter must address is whether his or her
employer is leery about a key member of the team working off-site. First,
notes Gordon, it's essential to grasp the "myth of accessibility," the
notion that just because someone works in the building, they're always
available.
"Human contact
within a company is really misunderstood," he says. "As an exercise, track
how many times in a week you get up from your desk to try to find someone
but can't."
Not only does that
make a case for telecommuters — many of whom are happy to be at the ready
24/7 — but it's also critical to bear in mind that telecommuting is
probably the worst possible work dodge-around. While an in-house worker
can often hide within the hive, a telecommuter who doesn't pull her weight
leaves evidence everywhere, from unreturned phone calls to e-mails that
die on the vine. That means a telecommuter is likely a top performer who
stands ready to prove the arrangement both comfortable and
productive.
The best way to
pitch a telecommuting proposal, Gordon says: Suggest a one-day-per-week
trial and emphasize the advantages to the company, not just to the
telecommuter. "Boil your pitch down to performance, not just a
presence."
Jeff Wuorio is an
award-winning writer and columnist, and is the author of
"The
CNBC Guide to Money and Markets." For more information, check out his Web site.
[Back
to top]
|
