Tips for effectively managing teleworkers

The rapidly growing number of teleworkers translates into an increasing amount of responsibility for IT managers who must keep track of them. Given those formidable numbers, how can IT managers stay on top of teleworker productivity and company profitability?

Challenge No. 1: Managing remote workers

Managing remote technology is tricky, but managing remote workers may be even trickier. Telework tends to amplify pre-existing organisational weaknesses, says Michael Dziak, author of Telecommuting Success and president of the consulting firm InteleWorks. So if the organisation already has a weak management policy, the policy should be updated before teleworking begins. "Telework forces managers to sharpen their basic skills, including measuring performance by results, effective interpersonal communications, mastery of electronic tools, leadership and team building," he says. "Creating an effective telework environment requires a blending of soft skills with modern management techniques, plus a telework-influenced framework."

Dziak provides some tips for IT managers on how to create an effective telework environment:

Identify tasks suitable for remote work: It might be easier to make a list of positions that are not suitable for telework than a list of those that are suitable. The key to successful telework is identifying those tasks that can be performed remotely.

Establish the ground rules: The only way telework relationships will be successful is if all participants use the same rulebook. Your company's Telework Policy and Procedures should be made available to teleworkers and managers.

Be prepared to enforce the policy: Each time a question comes up about a telework policy, the manager or teleworker should be able to find a guideline in the policy or procedures manual or be able to make a decision in the spirit of the rules. When the policy inadequately covers an issue, the company should take it as an opportunity to update the policy.

Practice effective meeting management: Meetings are a necessary part of any organisational process. In a telework environment, situations in which co-workers gather and interact become even more important to the effectiveness and cohesiveness of the team. Good meetings don't just happen -- they require preparation, planning, execution, control, and effective follow-up. Smart managers establish a clear set of goals prior to a meeting, increasing the chances that the effort will be successful.

Provide effective support: A teleworker with broken technology tools might as well be signed out. A manager must ensure that the teleworker is prepared with solutions to potential obstacles, contingency options for failed links and equipment, troubleshooting checklists, and a list of contacts for support.

Manage all direct reports by results: "Good managers rarely need major adjustments to their performance evaluation process to accommodate teleworkers," Dziak says. "If the manager manages by evaluating work output, it actually becomes easier to keep track of teleworkers' work output and perform evaluations."

Smart managers break employee work into objectives, projects, tasks, and action items. Assigning, tracking, evaluating, and rewarding work output using these specifics dramatically improves a manager's knowledge of work activities, consistency in establishing expectations, and ability to objectively determine whether those expectations are being met.

Even in a telecommuting environment, however, the basics are still valuable. Timothy Himes, vice president of network services for Willow CSN, a US-based call centre outsourcer whose home-based customer service reps take calls for major corporations, says managers of telecommuters shouldn't forget tried-and-true techniques: "Provide clear instructions and deadlines, interim checkpoints, and regular feedback. Build in regular progress reports."

Next page