Telecommuting Options for your Employees

As a freelance writer, I work at home, and I’m highly aware how convenient it is to not have to commute to the office every day. Beyond being convenient, however, telecommuting is an extremely green option, since you’re not using fuel and polluting the air. Even if you have a hybrid or low-emissions/high gas mileage car, staying home is always the greener option.

So, should you give your employees the option to telecommute? Here are some things, good and bad, to consider:

• Will telecommuting lower productivity levels? It takes a lot of discipline to work at home, and if you’re paying employees by the hour or on salary, you might be paying for them to watch TV or do their laundry as well as work. It’s an honor system.
• How will your employees communicate with you? Will you require them to punch into a virtual timeclock? Will you expect emails or phone calls throughout the day? Sometimes, the level of communication your need just isn’t possible with telecommuting.
• Do you need to provide extra equipment? For example, if you offer a telecommute option for your employees, will you have to buy them laptops or cell phones? The expenses can really begin to mount.

If you’re interested in telecommuting, try adding one telecommute day every two weeks to test your theory. If it works out, you can have your employees work from home (or at least have the option to work from home) once a week or even multiple days a week. For some, you might even be able to allow them to work from home full-time, coming to the office only when need for a company meeting or consultation.

Telecommuting isn’t he answer for every industry, but a lot of people are spending a lot of money and killing the environment driving to work every day when they could very well do the same thing from home.