19960902
TELECOMMUTING CONSIDERED BY PR DEPARTMENTS, EMBRACED BY AGENCIES
September 2, 1996
With its heavy use of computers, phones and faxes, the public relations profession is a prime candidate for telecommuting. While there are no hard figures available, anecdotal evidence reveals a growth in the practice in corporate PR departments. Working remotely from home appears to be even more common at PR agencies, with a telecommuting option the norm, rather than the exception.
For employers as well as employees, the option to at times work from home, linked by e-mail and the telephone, holds a number of potential benefits. For employees, the obvious benefits are the ability to work free from office distractions, and better balance personal and professional commitments. A survey of Fortune 1000 companies completed earlier this year by information clearinghouse Telecommute America, Phoenix, found the majority of responding executives citing several benefits, including improved morale, reduced office space costs, lower employee stress, improved employee retention, lower absenteeism and higher productivity.
AT&T Corp. [T], logically an advocate of telecommuting (and in fact one of several corporations and government agencies providing financial or other support to Telecommute America), adopted a corporate-wide telecommuting policy in late 1993. Susan Sears, district manager/public relations, Phoenix, said that today about 28 percent of AT&T management-level employees regularly telecommute from home. Another 10 percent have "virtual offices"--they work from home or floating, temporary locations made available to them on company premises.
While Sears said AT&T has not tracked telecommuting specifically for its scores of staffers in corporate communications and public relations, she is sure that the percentages are in line with those for the corporation as a whole.
Like many companies, AT&T on a case-by-case basis makes decisions about providing computers and other equipment to employees. The company also provides training for employees and their supervisors to help them work together effectively.
Other corporate PR departments have not found the need to offer the option of telecommuting. Bill Werfelmann Jr., a vice president at New York Life Insurance Co. [2141Z], New York, said there are no regular telecommuters in his company's corporate PR department. And at Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P., New York, telecommuting in the "Big Six" accounting firm's 20-person corporate PR department "hasn't been considered," said David Nestor, director of public relations.
Agencies Enthusiastic
Some of the strongest backers of telecommuting are found in PR firms. In Portland, Ore., KVO Advertising and Public Relations' liberal telecommuting policy is one of the reasons the firm was chose this year as the "Best Place to Work" in a study of all companies in the state by Oregon Business magazine. "I'd say that about 25 percent of our PR staff [15 out of 60 persons] are regular users," said Sharon VanSickle, partner.
Some agency managers wonder whether employees working at home will be able to bill the same number of hours as employees in the office. At KVO, an analysis revealed that employees working at home kept pace with--or billed more than--their office-bound counterparts, said VanSickle
"I'm delighted that we're able to do it," said Jim Frankowiak, president of Public Communications Inc./Florida, (PCI) Tampa. He said three of the firm's 15 staffers are regular telecommuters. Agreeing that telecommuting is not only a benefit for employees wishing to balnce work and personal lives, he said that it also benefits employers. One way is that it allows them to keep good employees that it might otherwise lose. Telecommuting "is causing us to rethink some of our traditional positions" about the need for staff always to be in the office, he said. (Telecommute America, c/o Spector & Assoc., 212/967-5858; AT&T, 602/730-9624; N.Y. Life, 212/576-7000; Coopers, 212/536-2000; PCI, 813/226-2772; KVO, 503/221-1551)