Teleworking hosts many potential benefits for a business - increased productivity, lower overheads, increased employee satisfaction and a wider geographical area from where to find staff are just a few of the potential benefits of teleworking that may apply to your business.
However, to realise these benefits you need to ensure that you are strategic in the implementation of teleworking. If you are going to explore and implement teleworking in your business you need to ensure you cover all of the four bases mentioned below. Failure to do so will exacerbate your risks and limit your chances of success.
Have the policies in place- If staff are to work from home you need to ensure that your staff members understand that their roles and responsibilities. They need to understand what is expected of them when working from home and how they report their activities throughout the day.
Be realistic about whose roles will work through teleworking - New technology might bring with it the promise of a remote workforce but sometimes people do need to be in the office. Some roles are not suited to teleworking in your current business structure. You need to identify which roles may suit and for which roles you won't consider allowing staff members to work remotely.
Trial teleworking with trusted staff members - You cannot implement remote working procedures on an adhoc basis or with everybody in the beginning. A trial process is necessary and recommended. You need to offer a teleworking arrangement to trusted staff members who will provide you with the feedback you need as part of the teleworking process. You should also only trial teleworking with those staff members you expect to do the work.
Have the right technology in place to better ensure its success - Working from home is not necessarily a new phenomenon but it is becoming more prevalent as technology improves. If you want to improve your chances of success you need to ensure you have the right technology in place. You need to ensure that staff are equipped to succeed when working from home.
Teleworking has many advantages for business but you need to ensure that you plan for success. As they say, failing to plan is planning to fail. If you have your policies, if you test how it will work and you have the right technology in place there is no reason that you should fail.
At Best Business Deals we can help you implement teleworking procedures in your business by providing you access to the right technology and advice. Give us a call today if you would like to discuss empowering your team further.
Hamish Jones is the Managing Director of Best Business Deals, a premium provider of hosted PBX and other solutions If you are interested in finding out more about hosted PBX can help your business, get in touch with the team at Best Business Deals today.