"The
organization of the future may not be a permanent corporation, but rather an
elastic network." Thomas W. Malone and Robert J. Laubacher "The Dawn
of the E-Lance Economy"
Today is a trend in the world the
telecommuting, in fact, the number of remote workers in the United States grew
about 80% between 2005 and 2012 (Sonia Graber, Harvard Business Review).
In this article, I will not refer
to the multiple benefits that workers and organizations get in terms of well-being
and productivity, but to the disadvantages and risks that run in their
implementation and how this work modality should be implemented to minimize
them.
Let's start with the fact that
not all the people and areas of the organization can access telecommuting, in
this way, a first disadvantage that is glimpsed is the perception of inequity
of people who for reasons of profile or activity they develop, cannot access to
this benefit and therefore could feel discriminated against.
On the other hand, and given the
non-presence of employees in the workplace can disconnect them from the
organization, generating problems of commitment and communion with the
fundamental values of the organization.
As for innovation processes, says
Marissa Mayer Yahoo CEO, one of the reasons for declaring the end of
teleworking in your organization was to have lost the decisions, findings,
spaces of ideation and prototyping that occur in informal conversations of
lobby and cafeteria. By not having a physical presence in the companies, these
spaces are diminished and do not allow to be created and innovated from the
exchange of ideas between the collaborators.
On the other hand, although they
have been documented through serious studies, the increase in performance (+
18% HBR), the decrease in the rotation rate (-50% HBR) and the increase in
employee satisfaction, there are studies that demonstrate the sustainability of
these results in the long term.
In many cases, it has also been
clear that investment in infrastructure, technology, mechanisms for protection
of information and control of workers has far exceeded what was achieved as a
result of increased productivity and lower operating costs.
It must be considered that
telecommuting has its own distractions, it is already mentioned that the main
enemies of this type of work are the television and the refrigerator, but more
serious, as shown in a study developed by Citrix, 25% of the collaborators
admitted Having drunk while working.
I do not want to be pessimistic,
I just want to open the eyes to the entrepreneurs in front of this work
modality, it is not a panacea and if it is going to be implemented, it must be
handled like a project, with all the rigor and anticipating the possible risks
that can be run in your implementation.
Here are some recommendations
that should be taken into account when deciding to implement:
The first thing to consider, is
that it is not only to send employees to the house and to start work, it is
necessary to adapt the workplace in terms of infrastructure and technology.
The training of leaders and
collaborators in terms of distance communication, new technologies,
coordination of activities, time management and building relationships of
trust, will be crucial in the success of telecommuting.
A process of cultural
transformation must be carried out, in which flexibility, trust, orientation to
results, intra-entrepreneurship, less presence in the work place and the
appropriate use of technology are favored.
Control mechanisms must be implemented
to measure productivity without overburdening employees. It is important to
design compensatory mechanisms that allow minimizing perceptions of inequity.
It is a key success factor to
limit telecommuting, the recommendation is that in principle do not exceed two
days a week.
Finally, the benefits should be
documented in terms of productivity, well-being, impact on mobility and the
environment; This will motivate the senior management allowing the
sustainability of this work modality.
The final conclusion is that
telecommuting cannot be taken as a fashion or as a panacea, as everything in
the business world, will have great benefits as long as they take very
seriously the risks that are going to take.
Oscar Javier Jiménez
Yepes
MBA Javeriana University
Twitter: @Inntegrity8
Facebook: Inntegrity onestopsite
Find below the link of the Spanish version
of this article
http://actualidadnoticiasdeinteres.blogspot.com.co/2017/07/el-teletrabajo-una-mirada-critica.html
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