Despite the benefits of being able to bring the office home, some aspects of the corporate environment simply can't be shared by a homebound telecom-muter.
So what does this mean for in-house PR or communications professionals, when it comes to creating a communications plan that keeps telecommuters aware and included in the corporate environment?
For the 10 million people nationwide who telecommute on an average of two days a week, effective communication between employers and co-workers is a huge potential problem. But a little anticipation, preparation and, of course, technology, can make a home into a virtual office, with the only thing missing, being, face-to-face contact.
Problems Can Be Solved
Robert Moskowitz, president of the American Telecommunicating Association, Washington, D.C., deals with about 100,000 members worldwide and serves as a support, information and resource center for telecommuters.
"There are very few people who never come into the office duing the week, so communications is not really all that different than if a few people were out of the office on any given day. A lot of the communications problems seem bigger than they really are. With some training, if they're alerted in advance of the problems, it's no big deal," Moskowitz said.
The practice of telecommuting is definitely on the rise, according to Dr. Charles Grantham, a founder of eWork Systems, LLC, a software development company in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Telecommuting - or "distributed work behavior" as he calls it - is expected to grow at a rate of 10 percent a year for the next five years.
Right now, about 86 percent of all major corporations have some kind of work coming from outside the office, said Grantham.
Communication outlets are just as vital for office workers as they are for telecommuters. Certain tools, however, help close gaps, the obvious ones being e-mail, phone, fax, intranet and company Web sites.
Videoconferencing, which is the closest thing to physical communication, is not the answer for effective internal communication, said Grantham, because "it just simply lets you see a face, there's no real value in it."
Instead, Lotus Notes is a tool he highly recommends, because it keeps a running record and tracks conversations employees have with each other through e-mail.
For companies looking for ways to improve corporate communications, Grantham suggests: having a specific buddy at the home office, so the telecommuter can check in at least twice a day with this person, and scheduling specific times to speak to co-workers or managers.
He said that many times if there are a few telecommuters, they will physically get together once a week or so, or contact each other on the Internet to alleviate some of the feelings of social isolation from the rest of the company.
America Online Inc. [AOL] even has a program called the Buddy List that alerts telecommuters from the same company when others are online, so they can talk to each other.
"We encourage supervisors to communicate as if [the telecommuters] were in the office, and we make sure the telecommuter and co-workers know what telecommuting is, and to feel comfortable, say, calling the person at home, not apologetic about it," said Susan Sears, district manager of PR at AT&T [T] in Phoenix.
AT&T has an electronic billboard on its intranet that serves as a virtual "water cooler," where co-workers can socialize online. That way, said Sears, "they can still feel a sense of camaraderie and being part of a team."
Dave Sullivan, PR director at an AT&T division in Basking Ridge, N.J., uses tools like audio broadcasts of important meetings or speeches that any telecommuter worldwide can access.
Recently, the company broadcast a live, two-day analyst conference, complete with graphics and charts.
AT&T also uses a broadcast AUDIX service, which sends reminders of upcoming events or announcements to employees worldwide.
Many AT&T telecommuters are in daily contact with customers, so the PR and employee communications departments post "sales channel advisories," which alert employees of new commercial campaigns, deals or products, so the customer doesn't find out about them before the employee.
"If telecommuters take the time to access the news, it gets there as fast as it can, and we make sure we tell them before we alert the news media," said Sullivan.
Hewlett-Packard Company, [HWP] Palo Alto, Calif., has about 2,500 telecommuters out of a total of 112,000 employees worldwide, and countless others who are traveling on business on any given day.
The company keeps out-of-office employees aware of news by updating the Newsgram, an electronic newsletter, accessible on the company intranet whenever news happens.
"Whether it's three times a day or a week, as soon as something happens, we update the newsletter," said Mary Lou Simmermacher, PR representative for HP.
(ATA, 800/282-4968; eWork Systems, 510/974-014; AT&T Phoenix, 602/730-9624; Hewlett-Packard, 415/857-7794)