How to Build a Strong Telework Program
Last week, we hosted the second Better Business Challenge Lunch-n-Learn The Cleanest Commute sharing what teleworking has been like during the COVID pandemic and how businesses can incorporate teleworking into their future operations. I’ve compiled these five key takeaways from our guest speaker, Sara Pennington at TJPDC’s RideShare, and our panel of business leaders from Sigora Solar, Indoor Biotechnologies, and Apex Clean Energy. Or you can watch the recorded one-hour webinar on C3’s YouTube Channel here.
1. We can do this!
Sara reported that prior to the health crisis, 80% of workers showed an interest in teleworking, but many were not. With the onset of the pandemic, however, a large portion of the workforce began working from home out of necessity for safe social distancing. RideShare’s Sara Pennington reminded us, though, that telework in the time of a pandemic isn’t a normal telework situation. Typically, employees would telework part time, not 100% remote. It also comes with unique challenges like unresolved issues with our IT, work spaces with numerous “co-workers”, and other distractions.
Nevertheless, so many of us became overnight experts on telework-enabling technologies like Zoom and began to see the positive effects on reducing our vehicle miles traveled. And for the bottom line? During the first few months of shelter in place, US employers were able to save $30 billion dollars a day by utilizing telework (Global Workplace Analytics). So in many ways, the pandemic has shown us that it’s possible for more of us to telework.
2. The benefits are hard to ignore.
There are other benefits to teleworking, which include:
• Maintained (sometimes increased) Employee Productivity
• Promoted Safety
• Recruitment and Retention of Employees
• Reduce Stress, Work/Life Balance
• Decrease Absenteeism
• Enables Growth without Increased Costs
And get this. If everyone with the ability and desire to work remotely did so 50% of the time, the greenhouse gas reduction would be equivalent to taking the entire New York State workforce permanently off the road!
3. A formal policy can make things much smoother.
Telework agreements between employers and employees can be formal or informal, but the experts at RideShare emphasize the benefits of developing a formal policy. By outlining expectations and communication processes ahead of time, management and employees can avoid stressful situations or uncertainties.
With COVID telework likely happened quickly and few organizations had set standards. So now is a good time to develop a formal practice or policy, using what we know works and what doesn’t work can help to ensure that teleworking remains a viable option moving forward.
Determine which positions are a good fit for telework since it may be more difficult to work from home for certain roles.
Develop a process for receiving feedback
Address concerns or adjusting to changes is also a great practice to ensure employees feel heard and valued. This could be a regularly scheduled company-wide survey, dedicated team meetings for gathering feedback, or “office hours” with business leaders like general managers or CEOs.
4. Plenty of tools and resources are available.
Here in Charlottesville, we’re grateful to have a local RideShare program with TJPDC. Most known for their support in coordinating car or van pooling, RideShare has been developing tools for telework programs long before the global pandemic began impacting our lives.
In addition to the their Telework Portfolio (filled with sample agreements, templates, and supporting articles), RideShare also offers direct support for assessing the telework needs and goals of your organization, developing a telework structure that can work, drafting a letter of understanding for staff, and trainings for creating and updating policies or assessing existing programs. Give them a call to help design a program or policy that works for your business.
They also has a great app called AgileMile that tracks the miles saved by teleworking or using alternative forms of transportation like the bus or biking. It even tells the user the carbon emissions saved from telework, giving a real-time look at the benefits of each saved trip, and offers rewards/discounts.
Whether it's Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Trello, or Slack, finding the right tools to support your team is key to making telework work for everyone. Our business panel showcased that not every tool is right for every organization; so this shouldn’t be a one-size fits all approach. In general, look for solutions that support:
• Designated Communication Channels
• Task Managers for Both the Employee and Manager
• Collaboration Tools
• File Sharing
• Feedback
5. Keeping your team connected is important.
Teams have been able to adjust to a lot of changes during this health crisis and adapt in ways to make working from home possible. But one thing missing is the connection we have with our co-workers or “work family”.
At Sigora Solar and Apex Clean Energy, Sarah Nerette and Madeleine Ray said their teams have been connecting with virtual events, recurring all-team meetings, and by offering open door hours to discuss topics with business leaders. Apex took part in our Home Energy Challenge — creating two teams who competed against each other to see how many carbon-footprint reducing actions they could take. By finding ways to connect (virtually) around something motivating like the HEC or climate trivia night, these teams are finding ways to foster team camaraderie, even from a distance.
One tool RideShare’s Sara found fun and energizing is called WooBoard, where team members can post “wins”, recognition, and celebrations on a virtual announcement board.
With so many benefits, resources, and tools, teleworking is not only possible, but a desirable solution for reducing operational costs, increasing employee satisfaction and retention, eliminating transportation-related GHG emissions, and the need to continue social-distancing.
But even when offices can safely return to in-person work, let’s keep the best of telework and keep commuters at home!