Does Where You Work Dictate How You Work?

Recently my friend Erick Simpson over at MSP University wrote an interesting article entitled Where You Work Can Dictate How You Work. In his writing he offers some simple yet effective advice on how to make your work environment comfortable in an effort to gain the most productivity out of your workforce.

What interested me most about his post was his specific comment that:

When people are in the same space day after day, there needs to be some serious consideration about how the office is set up and whether the staff is consistently able to be productive.

Isn't that the truth. But I would like to look at it through a different "lens". Staff that are shackled to the same space day after day find it more difficult to maintain productivity as the environment begins to stale their mind as they feel "boxed in". No matter if they are in a creative job function or not, they need to be able to stretch the mind's eye... so they can tackle the challenge of business problems with a fresh perspective. One way to accomplish this is to allow your staff the ability to telework.

Teleworking comes under the guise of many different names. Telecommuting. Telepresence. Virtual working. Working in the home office. Whatever you want to call it, it is the ability to work OUTSIDE of the office, when you may be the most productive. It offers staff the ability to extend their workspace to their present location providing anytime, anywhere access to information and resources when they need it most. Maybe its so they can take the afternoon and work on the patio at the local Starbucks to just get away from office distraction. Maybe its working from home as they feel a cold coming on and don't want to spread it around the office to their peers... yet feel strong enough to still work. It could be severe weather preventing them from coming into the office, but to which would enable them to work from home for the day so you don't lose that work day of productivity. Heck, it might even be an ingenious revelation while at a friends house on a Friday night, and they just have to get that down on their mobile device and into the company SharePoint site before their Monday morning meeting with colleagues.

I believe it is not a matter of WHERE you work that drives your productivity, but HOW you work. I concede that Erick's points are right on the money when it comes to ensuring strong productivity while actually inside the office. However experience has shown me that there is a paradigm shift occurring in the small business world. Educated staff who have the right tools at the right time will be far more productive than their 'shackled' counterparts, no matter where they are physically located. That is a strong statement, and should be prefaced that it means you need to allow your staff access to your most critical business resources when they need it most.

There are plenty of different remote access solutions that can aid in this. And your trusted IT advisor should be able to provide you with the appropriate recommendations on how best to leverage your existing and future IT investments to accomplish this. I speak with hundreds of our own partners who focus on this and it amazes me the ingenious solutions that are made available to them these days, especially with Microsoft's Windows Essential Server Solutions class of product. I also hear many objections which quite honestly fascinate me as they are just plain myths that simply don't need to exist these days. Let me share just a few of them with you.

I can't control staff productivity when they work from home.

Really? Control is a strong word. How do you "control" them when they are in the office? Or when they are on the road? Business productivity is measurable. No matter where they physically sit. If you don't have Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Critical Success Factors (CSF) documented for their role and responsibility, perhaps the real problem isn't your control of their performance, but how you are "measuring" it. As long as they are meeting or exceeding your expectations, do you really care where they do it from?

Another thing to consider is motivation. Some staff simply may not be as motivated to work while out of the office. Because of this, if you DO allow people to telework, consider finding ways to measure their productivity in smaller doses, so you can ensure they stay on track for whatever goals or milestones are currently in target. And remember, teleworking may not be for everyone. If you need to crack the whip to keep them going in the office, they simply may not be an ideal candidate to work alone. Working with your staff, you will be able to determine what best works for you.

I need my staff in the office.

Really? That may be. I don't know your business, and simply can't judge that statement. However, teleworking is NOT an all or nothing game. Perhaps you let staff work out of the office one day a week. Or maybe allow them the flexibility to take longer "working lunches" out of the office. If they can technically telework, they gain the flexibility to do it when its appropriate. Like when they are across town. Across the country. Or around the globe.

Don't forget that teleworking also gives you a critical piece in business contingency planning.  You can read a recent postI did on the topic. Basically there may be times when you need the staff OUT of the office. Severe weather. Pandemics. Personal catastrophe. Whatever it may be, there may be times when staff can still be productive, and may not be in the office.

Teleworking is too expensive.

Really? Have you asked your trusted IT advisor for a quote lately? If you use Windows Essential Server Solutions such as Small Business Server or Essential Business Server, you have everything you need already built in. If you use firewall and VPNs from companies like Sonicwall, you may already have the right infrastructure.

And have you considered the conciliary costs? Of the top of my head, for your business that may include:

• Increased productivity. Staff with anytime, anywhere access have shown to work more efficiently when they need to most. So if they have an idea and can get it done in the morning before heading into the office... they just might do that. Some industry numbers show that productivity has been measured to exceed past 40% compared to their "in-office only" counterparts.
• Reduced rate of absenteeism. If someone has to stay home for the day for personal reasons (such as a sick child), how does your business cope? What if they could get some work done while they were at home? How about in the case where they are just coming down with a cold or flu, and you don't want them to infect the rest of the office? Teleworking can help here.
• Increased flexibility for real estate usage and costs.If you can have people work from home, at branch offices, or while on the road, you may not need as much office space. This can be real cost savings. Some companies like Jet Blue have their entire call center agents working from home, saving them millions of dollars each year in real estate and associated costs.
• Increased retention and attraction rates.Yes, an HR issue. Teleworking offers employees flexibility in a work-life balance, which they may consider when weighing their current job with other prospects. Happy staff are productive staff, and giving them the option to telework may really help retain and hire key employees.

Actually, as I write that about happy staff, let's explore how teleworking affects them:

• Less commuting. If you spend any time commuting to work, you know how stressful it may be. Imagine how your staff may feel. Here in the lower mainland of British Columbia it is not uncommon for us to see HOURS of commute when a problem occurs on one of the bridges. That is lost time that we aren't with our family and friends before and after work. Consider this... a 20-minute commute to the office (40 minutes round trip) consumes the equivalent of four 40-hour work weeks per year. Did you know that for many teleworkers, it is found that they use some of that saved time by typically starting work early, and stay working a bit longer in the day. (psst... that's another good thing for you Mr. or Mrs. Business owner)
• Saves them money. When teleworking, you use your vehicle less. You spend less on vehicle maintenance. You spend less on parking. You save a LOT of money on fuel. For some employees, that can equate to THOUSANDS of dollars going back in their pocket.
• Increases their work/life balance. When staff can work outside of the office they can typically get home earlier and enjoy time with family. A flexible work environment allows them more freedom and a healthier, less stressful business lifestyle.

Teleworking is not safe.

It's a common objection. To provide teleworking you have to allow people to remotely access sensitive proprietary information. That can be rather risky. And done incorrectly, can lead to breaches of security to information, confidentiality and integrity to your business. However, solutions such as AuthAnvil exist specifically to address that. By providing an identity assurance check when staff work remotely, you can gain confidence in knowing that those who are requesting such access are who they say they are, and are permitted to do so.

So teleworking can be safe and secure. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money, and may actually SAVE your money and increase staff productivity. This has positive impacts to your bottom line. So while I encourage you to read Erick's post on making your work environment comfortable in an effort to gain the most productivity out of your workforce, I strongly recommend you think beyond those four walls of your office. Consider that the WORLD can be your office, if you let it. Increase staff productivity not by the colours of your walls or the quietness of your printer, but in letting your staff tap into their greatest potential. Wherever they are. Whenever they feel empowered to do so. Just make sure they have their AuthAnvil token with them so they can do so securely. :-)

If you don't have a trusted IT advisor that can help you with this, let us know. We would be happy to introduce you to one of our qualified partners in your area. And if we don't have one, I'll help you myself!

Comments

[Erick Simpson]

Hi Dana;

Your post is also right on the money - and helps round out a complete perspective of best practices for increasing productivity whether in the office or telecommuting. I recently wrote an article for business owners regarding telecommuting here: http://ezinearticles.com/?Telecommuting-Gains-Traction-Because-of-Swine-Flu-Virus-Scare&id=2561434.

As you know, MSP University strongly endorses AuthAnvil as our preferred secure authentication solution(In fact I just referred a client I was conducting an onsite Technical Service Delivery SWOT for yesterday in San Diego).

Cheers!

Erick Simpson
MSP University
http://www.mspu.us