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One of the most critical elements in the success of a telework program is the participation of
managers. The organization needs to do everything it can to ensure that managers are
committed to the program and feel they have a stake in the programs success:
- Don't present telework to managers as fait accompli. Get them involved
early in making decisions about the telework policy.
- Be sure managers understand the organization's reasons for initiating telework
and the program's goals.
- Schedule a roundtable discussion or luncheon where managers can discuss their
concerns about telework. It could be beneficial to repeat this periodically so managers have the
opportunity to share their experiences, the problems they've encountered, and solutions they've
discovered.
- Put a support system in place for managers. Managers should receive some
type of training, or at least should participate in the same training that teleworkers receive.
If new technology is going to be used by teleworkers, make sure managers are trained to use it.
- There is a very real temptation to micro-manage the program and the personnel.
This can produce a lot of unnecessary work for everyone, and worse, cause unnecessary resentment
from employees and managers alike. Employees and managers should be treated like responsible
professionals, not truant teenagers. Don't institute rules when guidelines will suffice and
allow managers some flexibility to make the program function best in their department and for
their employees.
- Managers need to understand that there are alternatives to "management by sight".
Many managers worry that they won't be able to manager employees that they can't see. Provide
managers with alternative ways to communicate with employees, such as Instant Messaging, or
webcams. Explore these alternatives with managers and employees and provide the equipment and
training to make sure everyone can use the new tools.
- Managers and employees both need to understand that working at home is still
'working', and the home office is still 'the office'. Some managers feel they are intruding when
calling employees at home.
- Upper management may suffer from the same misconceptions as line managers;
specifically, that what they can't see isn't happening. When they see a room half empty, they
may feel that the manager doesn't have enough to do. Executives need to realize that managing
remote workers is as much work, if not more, than managing in-office workers.
- Trust is important. Managers need to trust their employees to do their jobs.
Managers will know soon enough which employees deserve that trust. Established teleworkers report
that being trusted by their manager and their employer is one of the benefits of telework and one
of the reasons they don't consider looking for work elsewhere. If Management provides it's
managers with the appropriate training, guidelines, and environment for telework, then it needs
to trust managers to administer the program within their departments.
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