Is Telecommuting Appropriate for an IT Department?
CareGroup CIO John Halamka has written a probing, in-depth article about IT telecommuting, identifying problems and devising solutions. Here is an excerpt.
In my 10 years as a CIO, I’ve strongly believed that productivity is optimized when everyone meets and works in close physical proximity. That way, teams get the benefit of being able to brainstorm in person, respond to urgent issues as a group and build trust among one another. I didn’t think telecommuting was right for IT departments.
This article is my official about-face on telecommuting and flexible work arrangements. A variety of factors have changed my opinion on the best way to get work done.
First, the travel required to bring employees together in an office has become burdensome and expensive. Metropolitan areas are clogged with traffic, and gas prices are causing financial hardship. On average, I spend 1.5 hours in my car each day commuting a total of 20 miles to and from my office. Many of my staff members spend as much as four hours a day commuting. That’s almost the equivalent to half their workday. At the same time, people’s awareness of the environmental impact of those long commutes is on the rise. If working flexible hours reduces an employee’s commute by an hour or more each way, productivity and staff satisfaction will rise.
What’s more, face-to-face meetings that take weeks to schedule no longer support the pace of IT change and the level of service demands. Finding all the talented employees I need on staff within a reasonable commuting distance is also challenging. And for some jobs, the interruptions an office brings may actually reduce employee productivity. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts recently piloted a flexible work arrangement and found that productivity for 200 staffers working from home rose 20 percent; only two participants had performance issues.
Given these facts, I believe IT leaders are obligated to explore the entire spectrum of flexible work arrangements including telecommuting, homesourcing (a combination of outsourcing and telecommuting), virtual teams, and replacing travel with teleconferencing. Staffing an office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. doesn’t make sense if it requires employees to spend hours in traffic.
The article continues.
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