TECHNOLOGY TURNS HOME OFFICES INTO CORPORATE OUTPOSTS
BARBARA STEIN
There are days when it doesn't pay to show up at the office. And lately, millions of employees are doing just that, not showing up. Not physically, at least. While the rest of us hang onto subway straps or battle rush-hour traffic, this privileged group is already at work -- at home, in fully-equipped offices, where the commute averages less than 30 seconds. These folks are telecommuters, corporate employees who commute via computer.
WHO'S TELECOMMUTING AND WHY?
Thanks to computers, facsimile machines, modems, and low-cost telephone hookups, any employee who generates, disseminates, or analyzes information is a potential candidate for telecommuting. Jobs such as data processing, project management, programming, accounting, and public relations -- just to name a few -- are particularly well-suited to the work style. In fact, according to a special report issued by Link Resources (Electronic Services Unlimited Telework Group), ``some 15 to 20 million jobs are structurally capable of [being done] at least part-time at home.''
Why have so many employees traded the corporate setting for an office at home? In a broad sense, the reason is sandwiched somewhere between the American Dream -- freedom to call the shots in a self-designed time frame -- and the comfortable security of collecting a company paycheck. In her 1984 study of home teleworkers for Xerox Corporation, consultant and home-business authority Joanne H. Pratt concluded, ``Underlying most workers' comments was a desire to gain more control over their own lives. Workers expressed the `ideal' way to work as having one to three days in the office and the balance at home.''
While the notion that employees can be just as productive working at home as in the office may sound radical in some circles, in reality the practice is far from new. The electronic revolution has simply opened new vistas. ``People have been carrying that briefcase home for years,'' says management consultant Gil Gordon, editor of Telecommuting Review (Gil Gordon Associates, 10 Donner Court, Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852), a monthly newsletter for corporations, and co-author of Telecommuting: How To Make It Work for You and Your Company (Prentice-Hall, 1986). ``They work at home after hours on PCs purchased with their own funds, bang away on projects, and eventually say, `Why should I get dressed, sit on a freeway, and get frazzled to commute to a computer?' So they approach management, seeking to extend homework to daytime hours and ease into it one or two days a week.''
``It's a way for people to have their cake and eat it too,'' adds Senior Planner Patricia Mokhtarian, Ph.D., coordinator for the Southern California Association of Governments' (SCAG) telecommuting program -- a pilot initiated to improve the state's transportation and air quality. ``We've also found it's a great way to keep the family unit together.'' Bill Boyd, SCAG's assistant controller, who has worked at home part-time for more than 18 months, heartily agrees. ``I started telecommuting to facilitate the care of my wife who has MS [multiple sclerosis]. I'm more flexible now and can adjust my work schedule to her needs. My being home makes it easier for both of us.''
ADVANTAGES
Aside from improvements in their personal lives, homeworkers report numerous other benefits: increased productivity, flexibility in combining work with home life, and significant savings in work-related expenses.
Increased Productivity. Anyone who pictures telecommuters lolling in backyard hammocks is in for a surprise. ``In terms of productivity,'' says Gordon, ``studies show a 15- to 30-percent increase because employees at home tend to work more hours and get more accomplished.'' Gordon is not implying, however, that these employees put in 24-hour days; rather, that they accomplish more by taking advantage of the nonproductive time periods common in the corporate setting. Consider the hours wasted traveling to work, for example. Pratt's teleworkers reported saving one to two hours each day by not commuting. Another 30 to 45 minutes is freed up by eliminating the morning ``dress for success'' routine; for many, jeans, sweats, and sneakers are standard. Add those hours to the time gained simply because co-workers aren't popping around the partition to discuss unrelated matters.
Escaping in-office distractions is one reason why Pacific Bell Project Manager Steve Renten -- one of more than 500 PacBell managers who telecommute regularly -- went home to work three years ago. ``I knew there would be a reluctance on the part of people to call about unrelated matters; I was banking on this,'' he says from his home office in Oakland, California. ``Even before our project started, I was taking occasional days off to work at home. Now my office is an extension of the company. We exchange E-mail daily, and I have two voice lines supplied by the company and a data line. If something comes in on the mainframe, I can use the phone.''
In Fort Collins, Colorado, a city of 85,000 located 60 miles north of Denver, ``productivity is the name of the game,'' according to Administrative Services Director Peter Dallow. Fort Collins was among the first municipalities to offer telecommuting to all city employees. ``Our total vision was to put computers on every desk and supply all the equipment,'' says Dallow. ``When that happened, we realized that what we do at the office could be just as easily done at home. Today, our managers are encouraged to use electronic flextime. All our council members telecommute part-time, and we even put some of our vendors on computer and trained them to call us on theirs. We're more productive now. Morale is high, and employees get quiet time and flexibility to schedule their work.''
Flexibility in Combining Work with Home Life. Home becomes the major base of operation for telecommuters who are raising children. And the result is a new family closeness. Parents are accessible to children, the latchkey hangs forgotten on its hook, and teens get a dose of the real world by watching their parents at work. PacBell Media Relations Manager Sandy Hale of Mill Valley, California, opted to work at home six weeks after the birth of her second child. She says, ``I was serious about getting back to work as soon as possible after the birth, and I had no illusions about working full-time and caring for a baby. While it's not a substitute for child care, it leaves me more flexible.'' To maintain that flexibility, Hale arranged for her next-door neighbor to take care of the baby during the day, and she is happy with the results.
``Flexing'' time for family life is not the only way to combine home and career. Taking advantage of an unusual telecommuting program established by her company, systems analyst Hedi Hesse of Alameda, California, chose to work at home in order to complete her college degree in psychology. ``I've had that dream forever,'' she says. ``I was looking for night jobs to free up my days when I read about the program in the company newspaper, and I jumped on it.'' Today Hesse works full-time maintaining databases and supporting a PacBell-user community of 100 while taking a full course load at nearby University of California at Berkeley. ``I leave one day a week free for in-office meetings and take classes in the early morning or early afternoon. I can always make up whatever I miss when I'm off-shift by working weekends or until 2:00 a.m. The amazing part,'' she adds, ``is that I'm more valued now that I work at home. When users have emergencies and call me at home, I run a report and send it to them via high-speed printer. They're very impressed! It's funny because I'm not doing anything differently now than before.''
Economic Savings. Trimming the family budget is a benefit that many homeworkers realize instantly. Consider the savings on corporate wardrobe purchases, for example. More specifically, employees in Pratt's study estimated saving $100 per month on clothes, $200 per month on food, and more than $100 per month on gas, parking fees, and automobile insurance.
Child-care expenses can also be reduced if parents work in shifts. ``We've saved a lot on day-care spending,'' says Systems Analyst Gus A. Miklos, who researched and wrote the proposal for Fort Collins before going home to work in nearby Loveland six months ago. ``Because my wife works outside our home part-time, we've arranged our schedule so there are times when I can watch our baby and 2#-year-old girl.
ADJUSTMENTS, PITFALLS, AND FEARS
Just as it takes time to adjust to a new work site, employees who relocate to home must work through a transition period during which a new set of choices and responsibilities loom. Not surprisingly, experts have found that success at home hinges on the person's ability to survive the transition and his or her willingness to develop new skills.
Personality and Motivation. ``The key variable in whether or not someone is successful working from home is personality, not the company or the job,'' report consultants Paul and Sarah Edwards, authors of Working From Home (Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.; 1985, revised 1987). ``It's the individual and his or her disposition. Most people are not well-prepared to manage themselves because that hasn't been emphasized in their work. There is a learning curve. But motivation and self-management skills can be developed.''
PacBell conducts training seminars to prepare its employees. According to company spokesperson Dori Sera, the half-day training course introduces workers to the advantages and the disadvantages of working at home and offers strategies for counteracting problems. ``We also prepare the employees' bosses,'' says Sera. ``It's important to change the `out-of-sight, out-of-mind' mentality by preparing them to monitor results, not progress.''
The Perception of Peers. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind thinking on the part of in-office co-workers also can present problems for telecommuters. Two issues are worth considering: First, many homeworkers, in their zest to maintain management's trust and produce results, inadvertently isolate themselves from the rest of the company. As a result, some in-office colleagues simply forget that home-based workers are available resources. Often, however, this can be a major drawback. Although a receptionist may have instructions to connect a homeworker's caller to him or her, some telecommuters report they get very few calls at home. If you're not in the office, people get the impression you're not accessible.
This leads us to the second issue. Initially, many homeworkers report that their office co-workers are relucant to ``bother'' or ``interrupt'' them during the workday. ``There seems to be a perception (by some co-workers) that maybe you're not working now that you're out of management's eye,'' observes Michael Gitter, Fort Collins' cable program director, who writes scripts at home part-time and spends the balance of his week in the city's production studio. ``When I first started, people kidded me, `So you've been partying for the past few days.' People were reluctant to call me at home. But I worked through other people's initial resistance, and it's fine now,'' says Gitter.
Research shows that these and other problems can be overcome if employees maintain regular contact by phone and E-mail and make an effort to be ``visible'' during trips to office. ``The key is in the planning process,'' says Gordon. ``You've got to figure out how much time you'll spend in and out of the office and how to stay in touch. Make the best use of phone contact and separate contact which is social -- the pressing-flesh syndrome -- from the business-oriented meetings. Take a look at what the job requires and what you require personally, and combine the two.''
The Edwardses, consultants to several corporations that are setting up telecommuting programs, advise homeworkers to take the initiative in remaining part of the group. ``Homeworkers are not there for drinks after work or during lunch,'' they point out. ``So it's important that they build on the time they're in the office -- invite people for dinner, read the company bulletin board, and participate in social activities.''
When Ellen Woodill, coordinator for the First National Bank of Chicago's telecommuting project -- now a ``career development option'' for full-time salaried employees -- became aware of the pitfalls, she incorporated them into her proposal to sell to management. ``Our program is based on the premise that in data processing, all our professionals work at home some of the time,'' she says. ``One reason that our program works so well is that our homeworkers come to the office one or two days a week. It's a good time to touch base with peers. The other reason it works is that we treat people as professionals. We know they'll do what makes sense. It's up to the manager and staff to work it out.'' Senior Systems Consultant MaryAnn Bandur, who switched from part-time to full-time when the project got under way, appreciates the bank's philosophy. ``Peni Campagna [a vice president with the bank] and Ellen Woodhill, as sponsors of the work-at-home program, cleared the way for me,'' she says, ``and I've had lots of backing and support. That really counts. It allows me to continue with my career and spend time with my children when they need me. It's worked out beautifully.''
Concerns over Promotions and Raises. A final area of concern relates to fears of being overlooked for promotion. While some homeworkers report regular pay raises and advancement, others believe they've traded a career step for the privilege of working at home. Still others feel they've been skipped over completely.
These homeworkers might feel that they're out of the mainstream and also might have conflicts in appropriating their time. They're under stress about it and worry about losing their place in the office hierarchy. ``But,'' Pratt points out, ``there is no absolute measure. People on-site also are passed over.''
For some telecommuters, concerns about missing out on promotions and raises and lack of contact with other employees limit their participation in work-at-home programs to one or two days per week. ``I did feel a little bit out of touch,'' admits Bandur, who changed a Thursday and Friday telecommuting schedule to Tuesday and Friday to avoid a four-day absence from the bank. ``I was due for a promotion on my part-time schedule,'' said Bandur, ``but rather than a promotion or a raise, I received full-time status and #par#tic#i#pated in the work-at-home program for two of those days, which I felt was more valuable.
THE FUTURE OF TELECOMMUTING
In his best-seller The Third Wave, scholar and social critic Alvin Toffler devotes a chapter to the electronic cottage and what he calls ``our advance to a new production system.'' He writes, ``The new production system could shift literally millions of jobs out of factories and offices -- where the Second Wave swept them -- and right back where they came from originally: the home. If this were to happen, every institution we know, from the family to the school and the corporation, would be transformed. To suggest that millions of us may soon spend our time at home, instead of going out to an office or factory, is to unleash an immediate shower of objections.''
USC Senior Scientist Jack Nilles -- dubbed ``The Father of Telecommuting'' for coining the term -- is dealing with those objections and others everyday. Although his studies show that telecommuting offers direct benefits to the corporation as well as to its employees, formalized programs have been slow to catch on. Why? ``Telecommuting involves a culture change and cultures don't change overnight,'' says the author from his home office in Los Angeles. ``But,'' he adds, ``we have seen it work in small, innovative companies, especially computer-related industries or where a single employee champions the concept in an existing company and is willing to put up with the flack until he or she can prove that it works.''
By the year 2010, everyone who wants to will have taken advantage of telecommuting at home or in satellite offices.''
BARBARA STEIN is a contributing editor for FAMILY & HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING. Stein operates a home-based word-processing/writing business. She wrote ``Women Who Juggle It All,'' which appeared in the October 1987 issue.
SIDEBAR
HOW TO TALK UP TELECOMMUTING TO MANAGEMENT
Formal corporate work-at-home programs such as PacBell's are rare, according to a Link Resources survey. Most telecommuting arrangements evolve as the result of informal negotiations between the employee and the corporation. Here are pointers on convincing your company if you decide that working at home is for you.
Decide if You're Suited to the Work Style. Suggests Telecommuting Review Editor Gil Gordon: ``Take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself why you're interested. Is it the commute, or are you a night owl who does his or her best work outside the office? Can you motivate yourself without a boss? Are you a planner, organized and self-disciplined? What about your need for social contact? Working From Home authors Paul and Sarah Edwardses have developed a paper-and-pencil test to help potential telecommuters determine their suitability to the work style.
Establish Trust with Management. ``If you go in cold and tell a potential employer that you'd like to work for him or her and, furthermore, that you'd like to work at home, the deck is stacked against you,'' says small-business consultant Joanne H. Pratt. ``But if somebody knows you and your work, it'll be easier to sell the idea.'' Adds Pacbell Project Manager Steven Renten: ``I've found that it depends on the relationship with my supervisor and whatever relationships I established in order to do my job.''
The Approach. ``Recognize the likelihood of resistance, and approach it gradually,`` says Gordon. ``Look at it from the point of view of the company. Why should the company allow you to telecommute? Answer this question before approaching your supervisor.'' Pratt advises, ``If you've already got the job and see that it can be done equally as well or better from a home office, jot down what you have in mind. Take it to your supervisor and sit down and talk it over.''
Start out Slowly. ``Suggest to your manager that you'd like to start out on a trial basis,'' says Pratt. ``One reason telecommuting programs are successful is that management can always call the worker back to the office. It has a self-correcting mechanism.''
Gordon counsels people to begin by taking one day per week at home for the first few months. ``It's very simple where there is little risk involved and it's easy for management to see how it's working and how it progresses. Then you can move it up. It's a good way to reduce resistance.''
Help Establish Measurable Results. ``Agree on specific deadlines, and send in periodic drafts so your supervisor knows what's in progress,'' suggest the Edwardses. ``In the beginning, everything you can do to establish that kind of relationship eases and safeguards your working at home. The extra effort is well-worth it in the long run.'' Adds Pratt, ``Then demonstrate that you work just as well or better at home.''
Y & HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING. Stein operates a home-based word-processing/writing business. She wrote ``Women Who Juggle It All,'' which appeared in the October 1987 issue.
