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Telework Still Top Of Mind With CIOs, But With Caveats
Even though Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer rocked the business world by recently shutting down all telecommuting at her company, CIOs and other senior managers polled by Janco Associates for CIO Insight continue to warm up to the idea of allowing “certain employees” who “earn” it to work from home, either daily or on selected days. According to Telework Research Network, more than 3.1 million U.S. professionals telecommute for more than half of their working hours, up 76 percent increase since 2005; and 20 million employees work from home at least one day a week. Because the C Suite wanted solid telework guidelines aimed at protecting productivity, work quality and data assets, Janco developed a number of best practices for CIOs and other tech managers to consider as they put together employee programs, including the following:

>> Enterprise managers will determine which jobs are appropriate for telecommuting, and not employees.

>> Telecommuting doesn’t change the amount of hours a staffer works. And if children are at home, someone else needs to be caring for them.

>> Telecommuters must be present at all mandatory meetings; managers will determine if teleconferencing is acceptable on a meeting-by-meeting basis.

>> Regardless of whether the telecommuter uses a personal computer or an enterprise-furnished one, all corporate data and sensitive information remains the company’s property.

>> Additional expenses incurred by telecommuting employees can be reimbursed if pre-approved by managers; however, if personal equipment is being used, the business is not obligated to repair or service it.