Flexible-workplace hurdles
Still, he sees room for improvement when it comes to virtual-workplace tools. For example, Short communicates with HP workers in Singapore but says videoconferencing isn't yet ideal. Low-resolution video with slow frame rates -- apparently due to limited Internet bandwidth -- has made videoconferences difficult to use effectively for tasks that require attention to detail, he says. "We have tried to use [videoconferencing technology] now and then, but it is still plagued by some glitches."
Other challenges stand in the way of flexible working arrangements. They include ensuring that company data isn't at risk when employees work from home, convincing managers to supervise based on results rather than seat time and making remote employees feel connected. People working in their homes can get alienated, IBM's Ferris says. "Employees want to feel a part of the team," she says.
Successful job-sharing requires a good deal of trust and much communication, Ward says. She and a partner supervised other HP employees, who occasionally tried to play one manager against the other. "You get tested sometimes," Ward explains. "If we had given conflicting responses to an employee, that would have been terrible."
Nilles suggests that companies create ways to quantify the performance of telecommuting workers. Fewer than 5 percent of telecommuters "fit their manager's worst fear -- they do go to the beach or play golf", he says. There is probably a higher percentage of office loafers, who have learned to look busy, Nilles says.
Gartner's Berry recommends that companies offer flexible work rules as a way to hold on to employees during what she sees as a coming shortage of technology talent.
It's debatable whether a labour crunch is on the horizon. But there's general agreement that flexibility -- when done right -- works.
Ward, for one, says she's become more loyal to HP because of its willingness to accommodate her parenting goals. And she suggests that companies can win the hearts of people beyond their direct employees with workplace flexibility. "When my kids were little, it was great to be home those two days a week," she says. "My kids love HP for giving me that opportunity."
