Is the Cubical Going The Way of the Typewriter?

Friday, September 21, 2012

A number of years ago, a large insurance company I worked for experimented with a revolutionary work environment. Remote terminals were installed in claim’s processors homes. Each morning, a box of claims was dropped off at each processor’s home and picked up the following morning after being processed during the intervening 24 hours. Over a period of several months, this pilot effort was analyzed to determine how productive home processors were compared to their corporate office counterparts. At the conclusion of the pilot it was determined that claim’s processors working from home were significantly more productive than their cubical-bound co-workers. More claims were processed, with fewer errors, in less time. Absenteeism was almost nonexistent, employee engagement was up, and turnover was down. Yet claims processing supervisors felt the pilot was a failure. Why? Supervisors were at a loss as to how to manage someone they could not physical see. Entrenched in the traditional modus operandi of managing; supervisors perceived that they had lost control.

Telework, telecommuting, working-from-home, working-remotely or whatever you want to call it has been made feasible by the increasing and powerful remote and mobile technologies of the Internet, cellular and wireless communications, and telecommunications. Organizations such as the Telework Coalition and the Telework Exchange work to foster the value of telecommuting and its impact on the “…economy, environment, [and] energy usage,…” 2011 studies by WorldatWork’s Telework Advisory Group has tracked a steady upward trend in telework since 2001 until a significant decline occurred in 2008 when the economy began to turn south. WorldatWork’s studies point to telework as one more tool to attract, motivate, and retain valuable talent and balance work-life issues.

The Telework Research Network is a consulting and research organization to private and public employers in the US, Canada, and the UK and argues the business case for telework and workplace flexibility. Their position is that telework makes business sense on the basis of:

• Cost savings and increased productivity.

• Reduction of under-employment and talent shortages.

• Recruitment and retention of the top talent.

• Work-life balance and quality of life issues.

• Phased retirement for Baby Boomers.

• Greater self control for Gen Y’ers.

• Workplace accommodation for disabled workers.

• Address special needs of rural residents and military families.

• Reduction of traffic congestion and the gap in transportation supply and demand.

• Reduction in transportation infrastructure costs.

• Improvement in environmental issues.

• Risk reduction associated with natural and man-made disasters or pandemics.

The Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 mandates Federal agencies to develop and maintain telework policies to ensure that the government can continue to operate and allow employees to work from home or remote sites. While the law applies to governmental agencies only, private employers may find it helpful to appropriate applicable policies developed by agencies such as U. S. Department of Justice or The National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations.

As a means to attract, motivate, and retain valuable talent, and balance work-life issues, telework fits well into the parallel concepts of flex-work and “hoteling”. In an effort to separate themselves from their competitors in the never ending search for top talent, organizations must apply any tool which provides them with an advantage. Even being able to offer an opportunity of one, two or three days of telework has the potential to significantly improve the completeness of an employer in the talent wars.