“My son has a fever and needs to stay home and rest.”

“I just had surgery and can’t sit for long periods of time.”

“It doesn’t make sense for me to work and pay for infant daycare!”

Do any of these issues come up in your company? If you think that they are stressful for the organization, just imagine the burden on your employees. One option that is grasping more and more attention is allowing employees to telework if they as employees, and their positions, permit it (Heathfield, 2011).

So, how would an organization determine whether or not a position is a strong fit for telecommuting? There’s no simple answer but here are some variables to consider (Heathfield, 2011):

  • The position must be able to be completed outside of the office building. There are some new and creative ways to make this possible, even for those  positions that seemingly need to be completed in the office. One such position is a call center employee — many companies are offering their employees remote access and soft phones on their computers.
  • The employees should be able to work independently inside of the company in order to be considered for telecommuting.
  • The employee and the manager should both be comfortable with electronic communication, i.e. e-mail.
  • The employee should not be wearing the “home” hat and the “work” hat during their working hours. The employee should have uninterrupted work time at home.
  • The employee must be trustworthy.

Daniél C. Kimlinger, MHA, PHR
Human Resources Specialist

References
Heathfield, S. (n.d.). Life and Family Challenges With Flexible Work Schedules? In About Human Resources. Retrieved June 21, 2011, from http://humanresources.about.com/od/workschedules/f/life_family.htm