Telework

You know a concept has really taken off when its undergoes a name change. Now that "telecommuting" has become "telework," that must mean it's mainstream.

The name change makes sense, of course. You're doing your work via the telecom, not going anywhere. But I digress.

There are a number of advantages to having your employees work offsite. For instance:

You can get more work out of them Currently, I spend 90 minutes a day commuting by bus and train. If I could get those 90 minutes back, I'd be willing to give an hour to work and keep 30 minutes for myself.

They're in a better mood They're not dealing with "post commute" fatigue in the morning and their not watching the clocks they don't miss the bus in the evening. Creatives do better when they're not stressed unnecessarily.

They can follow their own work habits, not someone else's Creatives are very individualized. Some prefer to spread 8 hours over 12 hours, some prefer to get it all done in a bursts of energy, and others would rather work late into the night so they can watch Ellen during the day. Telework helps avoid cramming everyone into the same working style.

Employees save money And everybody's good with that. Gas prices aren't going to go down until, oh, never, so keeping people off the roads keeps money in their pockets, and they like that. And if your firm offers transit subsidies to get people to use public transportation, well, now you can save on that.

It's good for the environment An article a couple weeks ago reported that 1.35 billion gallons of gasoline could be saved each year if everyone who could telework did so 1.6 days a week. That's good for Mother Earth, and it resonates with many of the people working for you.

It lowers your real estate costs Office space is pretty expensive, and you can cut back on it dramatically if people are working remotely. If there are times when they have to come in, some firms have gone to hoteling and will have offices and conference rooms available, albeit on a smaller scale.

There are some potential problems with telework. For many traditionalists, these problems provide enough reason not to do it. Of course, that's because they haven't tried to find a way around them:

Out of Sight Some managers are concerned that, if they can't see their employees, they may not be working. The trick here is to focus on your employees' output without worrying what they're doing every minute of the day. And frankly, if you don't trust them, what does that say about your working relationship?

Group Work Some work needs to get done in groups. Very often you'll have teams that need to come together and hash things out. Some of that can be done online, of course...iChat and Google Docs can help bring work together even if the people don't come together. Providing a central office where people can come together or making use of telework sites or libraries as meeting points can get a group together when it's needed then allow it to disperse when solo work is better.

Individual Working Style As we noted above, everyone has their own style, and for some, that style is working in a group. Some do it because it makes it easier to slack off if there are others around to talk to, but for some Creatives they feed off the energy of a group of bright people working hard together. You need to tailor the office style to your employees' requirements...don't implement a really great idea only to see productivity fall off.

Information Sharing and Security In the office you "hopefully) have a network with good security. Bouncing around with telework, though, each individual is largely responsible for their own information security, and not all of us are experts. This can be a real problem, so you should invest in a security consultant to help you out.

Separating Work and Home This is a biggie, and it's one reason you'll get pushback from some employees. I know that when I work in an office I like to turn that off when I get home. I think if I teleworked it would be different, but I'd need a room set aside at home that was for work only, so I could close the door and get away. Still, when I was a grad student I mostly worked at home, and it was hard to turn it off...it seemed like the work was always there. Some people will just keep working and working when the work's always in front of them...a good friend of mine had his computer in his bedroom and would work the strangest hours, and far too many of them. For those who need the separation, either offer an office or find a separate site like a telework facility.

For a lot of creative industries telework has become, if not the norm, at least accepted and often expected. Artists and designers who can sketch anywhere and photographers who always carry a camera are already used to the idea of working any place.

For many bureaucracies, with set working hours or regular interface with customers or other organizations, telework has not been warmly embraced. But even in the US government there are exceptions...the Patent and Trademark Office, which has some very smart people examining the work of true Creatives has one of the most flexible work plans of any government agency, and it works very well for them. If even the government can make something like this work, surely you can consider it yourself.

Retaining Creatives

You invest a lot in your employees. You spend money recruiting them, then you integrate them into your business which takes time and often money. There's a sunk cost associated with hiring new employees, and it's helpful to avoid sinking it again.

So, once you've got 'em, how do you keep 'em?

Well, you need to find out what they want. What's important to your Creatives? And once you figure that out, you need to decide if it's something you an offer.

A lot of people are looking to grow in their jobs. Figuring out how to do that in a creative field can be tricky. Bureaucracies often have defined career paths...on a recent episode of American Dad, Stan was thrilled to have moved an eighth of an inch up the CIA's organizational chart. But Creatives tend to have more individualized goals that can't be as easily defined and don't always fit a pattern. That reinforces the need for you to understand not only their skills but also the changes they've gone through -- remember, the person you're retaining isn't the same person you recruited.

Among the popular retention tools are training and education. From the employees' perspective this helps them develop their skills and become more marketable, which doesn't mean they're necessarily going to leave, but it's always nice to have options. This points to a problem, though: you offer development opportunities, they take them, and then they leave. Consider some sort of contract that requires them to stay with the company for a minimum time in exchange for classes. You may not be able to afford to put people through degree programs, but consider individual courses or certification programs.

A lot of people are looking for advancement to convince them to stay. For some, this means moving into new positions with more responsibility and opportunities for leadership. For others, in means the chance to expand into different fields...maybe your interior designer wants to shift from residences to corporate offices. Sometimes advancement can be horizontal rather than vertical. Once again, this requires you to actually talk to people to figure what's important to them, since there's no one-size-fits-all concept of progression.

The old standby, of course, is improving compensation and benefits. This seems like a no-brainer. But remember, by doing this, you're setting new expectations. If you're offering some kind of one-time bonus you need to make sure they understand it's one-time, or they'll be expecting it again. Likewise, be careful that other employees don't get the idea that they're automatically getting the same thing as soon as they have enough time under their belts, because a broken promise (even if only one person thought there was a promise) can lead someone to quit. Permanent changes are probably best. So consider raises and increased vacation time. One thing, though: avoid using flex-time as a retention perk. Flex-time isn't a benefit, it's a way of doing business, but too many people wave that around as an enticement to stay.

Don't get wrapped up in the idea that you have to retain everyone. Some people you don't mind losing, so don't offer them inducements to stay. Unless you've made some contractual obligation, you don't have to offer raises and other benefits to people unless you want to. When you create programs designed to retain employees, make sure you tailor them so you only keep the ones you really want.

Get 'em Ready

Graduation is hitting soon for high school and college students and many of them will be showing up on your doorstep ready for work. Many of them will have worked before but often in a different field and typically not on any sort of career path. So their concept of the workplace is more likely to be based on The Office or Ugly Betty than on reality. What can you do to help them get started?

Teach Them What's Important

When you get to college, professors don't care what you got on your SATs, they only care if you can explain why Shakespeare had so many plays about cross-dressing. By the same token, the days of Dean's List or winning the Pep Band Chug-a-Thon really mattering have passed once you've taken off the cap and gown. Your new employees need to start focusing on the things that matter at work and understand that what made them successful in school might not be the same as what makes them successful here (it might be, but it might not). You need to change their mindset and make them realize that blowing off a project for four months and doing it all the night before is no longer acceptable. Until they're in senior management.

Introduce them Around

In a small company they're likely to meet everyone in your office. In a large company they could go years before meeting people face to face that they deal with via e-mail. Take the time to walk them around and introduce them to people, don't just leave it up to them to do it on their own. They probably need to meet people outside their day-to-day group, and if you walk them around, people will associate them with you and remember where they work.

Have a Sponsor for Them

Designate one of their co-workers -- preferably a volunteer -- to "sponsor' them. The military does this when new people come into a unit, and it's especially helpful when those new people are coming from around the world. the sponsor helps with things at work but can also help with other issues like checking out neighborhoods where the newbie might rent or putting together a little city guide cobbled together from all the city guides available online. They can also help explain company benefits, with which your hew hires might be unfamiliar, seeing as they've probably been on mom and dad's health insurance and always had their vacations defined for them by their school. Giving someone a definitive contact point can relieve a lot of anxiety.

Set Objectives...and Follow Up!

They're going to need some guidance about what to do...the things you and your existing employees take for granted are unknown to the newbies. Sit them down early and explain what is expected of them, and b e sure to follow up with them soon and see if they're doing it and if they have any questions. Letting them know they're on the right track keeps them from guessing and maybe wasting a lot of time. this kind of feedback is especially important for today's new grads, who in many cases are used to get a lot of regular feedback and really want to know how they're doing.

Save the Politics for the Democratic Primaries

It's tempting to explain the internal power struggles because in many cases you can make yourself look like the king of the hill. Don't. let them figure out the bureaucratic politics on their own. Such dynamics are stupid enough as it is, and who knows, if you get a bunch of new grads at once they'll just ignore the office politics and focus on doing good work and then BOOM you've got a culture change. That's not going to happen, of course, but it sure would be nice.

Cut the Cord Early

Having said all of this, it's important to let them go on their own soon. Give them the information to succeed but then let them succeed. You can't baby people and you don't want to give them the idea you're always going to take care of every detail for them. Let them build networks among their peers and figure out their own relationships.

It's exciting to get new hires because you can really mess with their heads and mold them into images of you. But if you can just give them a start, you've done enough.