This year’s Telework Week, which ran March 3-7, drew 163,973 pledges, more than four times the 2011 number. The average Telework Week participant teleworked two days during the week, avoided a 45-mile round-trip commute into the office and saved 4.5 hours and $90 in commuting costs for the week.
We recommend that clients pilot a telecommuting program before they commit to a long-term program. Every business is different and flexible work arrangements should reflect that. Setting aside a week to test remote operations can also help test business continuity before the next winter storm or other natural hazard.
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
Working from home has its challenges. Five home office professionals share their secrets on making it work.
As a freelance writer, I spend the majority of my working time in my home office. While zero commuting hours, the ability to work in my pajamas, and flexibility over my schedule sound like a dream; working from home also has its challenges.
One suggested step in this article is “Create a Commute”. We all need time to ease into the work day, whether it is through an actual commute, or a work-at-home equivalent. The good news about the work-at-home equivalent is that you have more control about what you get done.
This article gives a good example of a work-at-home commute:
“Steve Cappoccia, account director at Warner Communications says he creates his own version of a commute by setting aside time at the beginning of the day to create a list of priorities for the day, update social media pages, and browse emails to allow for the smooth transition into work mode.”
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
Telework is slowly gaining a foothold in the federal government, but changing the attitudes of managers and supervisors who want to see their employees face-to-face remains a constant struggle.
A report by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released in December found that a total of 301,372 federal employees teleworked at least once during fiscal 2012, the most recent data available. This represents about 14 percent of all federal employees and about one-third of those who have been designated as eligible to work remotely.
The benefits of teleworking have been well chronicled. For employees, it means avoiding long commutes, saving time, improving work-life balance, having greater job satisfaction and gaining a sense of empowerment. For the government, it can save money on overhead, provide better citizen services by extending hours, ensure continuity of operations during regional and national emergencies and snow storms, and lead to improved worker performance and greater productivity.
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
More bad weather headed your way? Take a tip from the government. Sound strange? Take a look at this: At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where 73 percent of the 11,000 employees telework between one and five days a week, it was business as usual during recent weather-related closings.
The government has become one of the biggest proponents for telework recently and we are not surprised. From their trial period during “Telework Week” to having 73% of an office formally telecommuting, they are making sure to introduce telecommuting to their employees- and effectively.
We remind our clients that they should not see or treat telecommuting as an immediate cost-saving measure. Building an effective, long-term program is an investment. Training, communication, support, technology, and protocols come together to make a telecommuting program successful in the long run. The best advice? Don’t cut corners!
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
I wrote the first draft of this column before 8 a.m. on a Sunday, working in my pajamas at the standing desk in my home office.
A new study says I have good company in that kind of work flexibility, and not just among entrepreneurs and those who work for themselves. Nearly one-third of full-time employees do most of their work in homes, coffee shops, and other remote places, according to the Flex+Strategy Group report.
After extensive study, here are the best ways I’ve learned to make this arrangement work….
Let’s add #10: Own your remote job. Too often remote workers apologize and it is far from necessary. Successful remote workers take their work seriously and become experts in allocating resources- especially time! Workers that invest and allocate resources wisely are a great asset to any company, regardless of location.
For example: An hour-long morning commute could become 15 minutes spent mapping out the day’s work plan and 45 minutes of heads-down thinking work without the distraction of 8:00 AM emails from co-workers. Nobody loses!
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
A ubiquitous culture of presenteeism is damaging productivity in UK offices, according to new research by fit out and refurbishment specialist Overbury. This is despite 77% of office workers having more flexible working options open to them than five years ago and expecting this trend to continue into 2014.
Four in five (80%) claim those who spend more hours in the office are thought by bosses to be working harder, while two thirds (66%) say being seen to work late increases an employee’s chance of promotion. More than two thirds (67%) of those who sometimes work from home admit to sending emails early in the morning to stop colleagues thinking they’re having a lie-in.
Companies are willing to invest millions building collaborative work settings. However, many of those same companies forget to focus on establishing and consistently supporting an appropriate workplace culture that leverages collaborative settings. Presenteeism is one of the culture “roadblocks” that can keep that investment from paying off.
From the article: “More businesses need to realise that great ideas don’t arise from sitting at the same desk all day. Instead we must enable people to work in different environments depending on what they’re doing at any one time to push productivity through the roof.”
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
Back in January, Forbes contributor and CEO of TalentCulture Consulting Group Meghan M. Biro made a not-so-bold prediction: telecommuting is the future of work.
It is important that organizations do not see telecommuting as the only future work setting. Organizations vary in what they need in a work arrangement. The future will be flexible work, of which telecommuting is just one option. For example, organizations offering condensed work weeks still require workers to work in-office, they just have the option to work longer hours on fewer days. Other companies are considering using temporary telecommuting as a way to help mothers transition back into work and the office after maternity leave.
HP and Yahoo brought their telecommuters back into the office, but that doesn’t mean that flexible work is detrimental to all companies.
We advise our clients to think about the kind of work they do, how their employees work, and what they need in order to be productive. By planning and clearly understanding these three things, organizations won’t be stuck in situations like HP and Yahoo. They will know which members of the workforce can and should work flexibly. They will also know how to implement and support an ongoing program.
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
the ice storm that hit metro Atlanta left thousands of employees stuck not at their desks but at their steering wheels.
Now that there is a ton of forewarning about the impending winter storm that will hit the area this week, scores of companies and workers are embracing teleworking to remain productive when the bad weather finally arrives.
Over 2000 cars were abandoned during Atlanta’s “stormy” commute last month. This week, Atlanta businesses are preparing for impending winter weather by implementing formal and informal telework policies.
An organization with telework policies won’t miss a beat during unexpected weather events and can keep employees safe.
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
Over the past 30 years, at the same time the percentage of commuters driving has flatlined, the share of people working from home has exploded, almost doubling since 1980. Telecommuting is controversial — some suggest it increasesproductivity while others maintain the valueof offices — but it is gaining popularity no matter its merits.
Telecommuting is not just a cost save for companies, it can also be acost save for taxpayers and the community in the long run.
With fewer people on the road during peak hours, we could see a decrease in expensive transportation levies and infrastructure requirements.
How could the benefits of telecommuting further Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in your organization?
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
The future is upon us: the millennial generation. Millennials come armed with mobile devices of every size, and the corresponding mindset that immediate access is a necessity. In a workforce increasingly comprised of millennials, how can an enterprise harness the power of its mobile workers to be more efficient while still fostering creativity and innovation?…
Leveraging mobile technology: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
Technology allows us to make almost any place into a workplace. What winning combination(s) of technology and place lead to productive work for you?
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
Marissa Mayer found herself at the center of a controversy when she issued a mandate that all Yahoo employees must work in one of the company’s offices.
Many people saw this as an indictment against the telework movement, which has become a mainstream option in recent years thanks to the explosive growth of mobile and cloud technologies that allows many professionals to work anyplace they have Internet access. As Yahoo played damage control about the decision, describing the decision as necessary for Yahoo’s situation and not a value statement about remote workers, a picture began to emerge of wide scale corporate dysfunction.
Yahoo is a great example of why you shouldn’t leave a telework program on auto-pilot. Here are some tips for setting up a program.
Stegmeier Consulting Group can assist with a wide range of challenges involved in implementing a workplace change initiative. Contact us to find out how our services can help your organization.
Changing the way organizations manage workplace change
About SCG
Stegmeier Consulting Group is a 100% woman-owned small business. We’re a team of behavioral change agents & data specialists, with expertise in people & place.
We work with corporations, civic partners, & higher learning institutions to lead data gathering, strategic planning, and change implementation efforts.
SCG feels strongly that every employer should strive to create a respectful workplace for each employee. It’s why we started Project WHEN, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to eliminating all forms of workplace harassment.
Our financial support has allowed the organization to grow and begin impacting work communities everywhere. We encourage clients to consider donating or getting involved in the movement with us.
