Setting The Stage

You and your implementation team gathered the facts, wrote policies and selection criteria, and you have top management approval to prepare a telework trial within your organization. All the homework is done. You know that telework "works" for other organizations. Now it’s time for your organization to test it out. It is time for a dress rehearsal, a trial program. But don’t worry, your pilot will be a hit as long as everyone does their part.

Were you ever in a high school play? I vividly remember watching our director pull a world-class production out of absolute chaos. It was amazing. The orchestra, choir, cast, choreographer, stage crew and extras, all practiced separately for several months. Then, just a few weeks before opening night, the whole show came together on stage for the first time. We didn’t have a clue how the show would look. We hadn’t even seen the costumes. But during dress rehearsal, for the first time we all realized we were part of something wonderful. We were confident the play was a success. On opening night, the audience sensed our enthusiasm and confidence.

 

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The Dress Rehearsal

In the telework dress rehearsal, the cast and crew are the audience.  Each audience has its own set of concerns and expectations about telework.  A good director takes the time to get to know his audience and tailors the show to appeal to them.  He is also careful not to mislead the audience with false advertising.  He doesn’t want them anticipating a murder mystery, when the show is really a love story. 

Your telework credits may look somewhat like this:

Producer............................The CEO - He bought the show because he believes a telework program will help reduce the cost of employee turnover.  If the company can reduce the cost of production they can better compete for a larger portion of the market.

 

Director...............................The TELEWORK TRIAL CHAMPION - a progressive high level manager...a real coach.  She cares about giving good employees the flexibility they need to manage their lives.  She feels that a good employee will appreciate the flexibility and therefore remain loyal to the company’s mission.  She doesn’t care where they work, as long as the job gets done right.

 

Stage Crew........................MID-MANAGERS & FRONT-LINE SUPERVISORS - were selected because they have a positive attitude towards telework, are willing to let their employees telework, have strong communication skills, manage by results and not by monitoring work hours, delegate work easily, are well-organized, are open to new ideas, and trust employees. They will select teleworkers for the trial based upon the selection criteria.  They appreciate that employees like telework.  But secretly, they are a little concerned that it will be harder for them to manage remote workers.

 

The Cast.............................TELEWORKERS - were selected to participate because they tend to require minimal supervision and social interaction, have a high level of skill and knowledge in dealing with work-related responsibilities, work well with family members, prefer their home environment, are self-motivated, want to telework, are well organized, demonstrate a high level of productivity, and have strong time management skills.  They’re all for it, but are concerned about what their co-workers will think; since everyone has not been offered the opportunity to telework during the trial.

 

Orchestra............................CO-WORKERS - come in all types and sizes:  

The stringed instrument section would do anything to help the telework trial succeed.  They hope that they might also be offered the opportunity to telework some day.

The percussion section knows they can’t telework.  But they would participate in other types of workplace flexibility (like compressed workweeks or flextime).  They welcome the new program in hopes that the other options will also become available. 

 

The wind instrument section is another matter altogether. They think it’s all a lot of hot air.  They’ve heard management tooting about boosting employee morale for years but management never seems to carry-through on their promises.

Choir...................................TELEWORK IMPLEMENTATION TEAM - Anything you say to this group about telework is just like preaching to the choir.  These individuals were hand picked to represent the various sections of the organization to help plan and implement the program. They have high hopes for workplace flexibility and have their eyes fixed on what the telework program will look like three years from now.

 

Extras..................................THE CUSTOMERS  - In most cases they won’t have a clue what is planned. The telework training will make sure that all communication with customers is “seamless.”  The customer will not know if the employee is working off-site or not. 

 

It might interest you to look at an actual evaluation of how the various stakeholders viewed telework.  The State of Arizona commissioned an exhaustive study of telework in 1996, after the telework program had been in place for six years.  Click here for the Executive Summary.

Showtime Tips

In the musical South Pacific, Bloody Mary sang a song called Happy Talk where she cautioned, “If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?”  Far too many telework programs are dwarfed by their lack of vision. A well thought-out telework trial will address the initial concerns of managers and supervisors, demonstrate the viability of the organization's “business case,” and recommend future actions to expand telework and maximize the benefits.  Therefore, there are at least three phases of implementation for which the trial is the main foundation: the trial phase, the expansion phase and the maximization phase. 

The telework trial should confirm the direction of the program and recommend the next few steps that must be taken. The trial should answer the questions: What is the future potential for telework to impact the organization’s bottom line?  What are the barriers to reaching this potential?  What steps should be taken to overcome the barriers and maximize the benefits of telework to the organization?

• Don’t skip steps

One of the quickest ways to give a telework trial bad reviews is to skip some steps in the implementation process.  

• Plan to succeed

Run the trial from the top down.  An important ingredient in a successful telework trial is commitment from the CEO and other upper-level management.  To obtain management support for a trial, consider the following:

1. Show management the many benefits of starting a program, focusing on the bottom line.

2. Present telework as an opportunity, not as a problem.  Present ideas in a positive business case to management.

3. Propose to creatively meet the challenges with a trial, allowing telework to demonstrate its own benefits.        

4. Start the trial with a small, manageable group.

5. Plan to succeed by involving only the most qualified employees and supervisors who support the concept.        

6. Build a track record of reliability and accountability, and then recommend expansion to a broader group of employees.  

• Communicate with everybody 

Tell everybody what is going on and keep them informed throughout the trial. A common sequence of internal communication might begin with management briefings.  A memo or article in the newsletter to introduce the program to all employees could follow.  Finally, telework orientations should be held for interested employees and supervisors to discuss guidelines, policies and employee benefits.  

 

Keep the ball rolling during the trial to help create a positive corporate memory. Remember telework trials can be quite long, six months to a year.  Your audience can easily loose interest in the trial by the time you are ready to announce a successful conclusion.  Hold focus groups of both supervisors and teleworkers.  Encourage teleworkers to share with their working groups about the benefits they are experiencing.   Publish personal testimonials and creative solutions to problems that may arise during the trial.

 

• Bring all concerns to center stage

Beyond frequent communication, a successful telework trial must invite open communication.  Concerns can only be addressed when they are in the open.  Concerns should always be considered as opportunities for innovative solutions, rather than problems.  If concerns are left unvoiced, they will become land mines in the path of the expanding program. 

 

There are quite a few administrative, supervisory and personal issues that must be addressed before starting a telework program.  The administrative concerns (personnel issues, legal issues and risk management issues) are easily handled in a trial by selecting the right participants and by adopting telework policies. The more specific concerns of each supervisor and teleworker are handled during trial training; where the two negotiate a formal telework agreement.

•  Evaluate the program

Written surveys, focus groups and individual interviews are the basic tools used to evaluate a telework trial and identify what can be done to improve the program.   A successful trial will begin and end with surveys to document the success of the program.

Sample Trial Action Plan

What does a trial implementation action plan look like? The State of Arizona designed a Telework Program Coordinator's Handbook to simplify the task of expanding the telework program to nearly 100 very different State agencies, boards and commissions.  All State agencies began with a trial and then expanded their program.  The handbook was arranged in harmony with the action steps outlined below.  As you review these action steps, you will see hyperlinks to sample letters and program materials that were included in the original handbook.  The following materials are provided as an example to non-State of Arizona viewers.  The materials were written for audiences in the mid-90s and therefore need to be updated for your use.  Click on the hyperlinks to view and edit these materials for your audience. 

Telework Program Action Steps

1.    The telework coordinator works with the director to determine the parameters of the agency pilot (which sections of the agency should be involved and how many participants should be selected).

 

2.    The telework coordinator may wish to select a committee to help them review the established Policies. Additional policies specific to agency concerns may need to be addressed. Any agency-specific policies should then be added to appropriate sections of training packages. The people most likely to be of assistance are from management information services, personnel and agency training staff.

 

3.    The telework coordinator arranges a briefing to prepare upper management for the agency pilot. 

• Sample Briefing Invitation 

• Management Briefing Script

• Management Briefing Handouts

4.    Upper management then selects which managers and supervisors will be asked to participate in the agency pilot and provides their names to the telework coordinator.

 

5.    The director issues a letter to selected managers and supervisors instructing them to select pilot teleworkers. 

• Letter to managers and supervisors with selection criteria.

• Supervisors may also use our self assessment tool to help them select teleworkers. 

6.    Managers and supervisors then approach selected employees and ask them to volunteer for the agency pilot. Managers and supervisors notify the telework coordinator who will be teleworking from their section and bring them to the training.

 

7.    The telework coordinator distributes pre-pilot surveys to participating supervisors and teleworkers to be completed and returned to the telework coordinator prior to the training. 

 

8.    The trainer reviews the pre-pilot telework survey results in advance of training. The pre-pilot surveys will highlight the attitudes and concerns of the pilot population about telework.

 

9.    The trainer trains pilot teleworkers and supervisors.   During the training, teleworkers and their supervisors will develop a telework agreement outlining the new work arrangement. The telework coordinator attends the training to discuss agency-specific policies.

• Sample Training Script

• Sample Workbook, Policies and Agreements

• A Practical Guide For Working at Home

10.  The telework coordinator meets with pilot participants in periodic focus groups to learn of their experiences and to address problems and suggest resolutions if necessary. 

• Sample memo inviting teleworkers and supervisors

• Sample focus group questions

11.  The telework coordinator issues a six-month pilot survey to supervisors, teleworkers and non-teleworkers. 

• Sample six-month surveys 

12.  The telework coordinator meets with upper management to discuss survey results, recommend program revision, and identify program expansion opportunities within the agency.  The telework coordinator uses the worksheet found below, with the surveys to evaluate the program and modify the Pilot Program Highlights page for publication. 

• Tool to help evaluate the pilot surveys and prepare a pilot highlights sheet 

13.  The director publishes the results of the pilot, affirms current population of teleworkers, and directs new managers and supervisors to attend an orientation designed to help them identify additional teleworkers for agency training. 

• Suggested program expansion letters to upper management

• Suggested  letter to current program participants 

• Suggested letter to the entire agency 

14.  Coordinator provides the training package to assist all new teleworkers and their supervisors to complete formal telework agreements. 

 

15.  The telework coordinator actively promotes telework within the agency and keeps track of formal teleworkers 

Selling The Program

Since a telework trial typically includes only the most foreword thinking supervisors and the best employees, there may appear to be little or no management resistance.  But be assured that as the program is expanded beyond the trial stage, management resistance will become a barrier.  Therefore it is important to the organization with a vision to collect lots of data on management issues during the trial and publish the experience broadly.  For example, Arizona’s program evaluation focused on the myths concerning telework.  These myths are commonly heard in any organization were telework is being introduced.  We found that the myths are perpetuated by lack of experience or information and can become barriers to the adoption of a telework program. 

• Management can change their act

Focus groups conducted during this evaluation demonstrated that the exchange of information based upon actual experience increased positive attitudes about telework among front-line supervisors and mid-level managers.  The ASU research team stated the following in their evaluation of the focus groups: "It seemed to be a relatively easy process to change the perceptions of managers and supervisors regarding the barriers to telework where those perceptions were based on unfamiliarity or misinformation.  In each focus group, participants described the focus group as a learning situation about telework.  The least familiar members of each group were the most likely to express this opinion.  The focus groups in general appeared to move participants into a position of being more supportive of telework."

 

How are organizations doing when it comes to management resistance and telework?

The Families and Work Institute survey of 188 Fortune 1000 companies in 30 industry groups found management resistance to change as a barrier to implementing family-friendly programs (like telework) in the workplace.  In each of the three stages of family friendliness described by the Institute, organizations can be categorized by how they overcome management resistance.  It is revealing to note that one third of all the US companies surveyed by the Families and Work Institute fell short of the first stage of family-friendliness as described below.  Forty-six percent of the companies were stage one organizations, nineteen percent were stage two organizations and two percent were stage three organizations.^[1]

 

Pre-stage one companies struggle with family-friendliness as not being a business issue and grapple with the appearance of unfairness by implementing a family-friendly program to ease the work-family conflict of only one segment in their workforce. 

 

Stage one organizations realize that they can make a business case for offering policies or programs that help employees manage work and family issues.  Such programs and policies have been proven to improve morale, reduce stress, increase productivity and reduce turnover.   Stage one organizations also come to redefine fairness as being fair about offering everyone some assistance instead of offering everyone the equal assistance.

 

Stage two organizations realize that even though they implement a comprehensive package of policies and programs, unless they have the commitment of top management these programs will not be successful.

 

Stage three organizations focus on changing their corporate culture and train management to recognize the intrinsic value of being family-friendly and how to work with employees to utilize their family-friendly policies and programs.

A well thought-out telework trial will help to address the concerns of managers and supervisors, demonstrate the viability of the organization's official business case, and help to recommend that future actions must be taken in order to expand telework and maximize the benefits for the organization and its employees.