HR Leadership Council EUROPEAN BENEFITS TOOLKIT
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Implementing a Successful Telework Programme
IMPLEMENTING A SUCCESSFUL TELEWORK PROGRAMME
Purpose: To Implement A Successful Telework Program
Irrespective of a company's specific business needs, certain common action items greatly increase the
probability of success for any teleworking program.
Directions
Use the presentation to communicate your teleworking initiative, its benefits, and what it requires your HR
staff to help you implement and maintain a successful teleworking program.
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Step1: Identify Goals and your
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Objectives
Goals and objectives serve as a basis for designing
teleworking programs and provide benchmarks
against which to measure its success.
Questions to Address
Determine what you want to
accomplish.
Is it to save real estate? To increase
productivity?
Reduce employee stress and
absenteeism?
Reduce the need for parking spaces?
Consider both costs and benefits to
ensure you
find a system that works for your
company.
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Step 2: Appoint a Telework your
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Coordinator
Successful teleworking ventures need advocates to
promote the program and coordinate related
activities.
What a telework coordinator does?
The telework coordinator:
Manages the overall telework
program to help improve the quality
and effectiveness
Is typically an individual in human
resources
Is responsible for:
Organizing teleworker schedules
Arranging proper equipment for
each teleworker
Tracking program progress
Promoting the benefits of
telework among employees
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Step 3: Create a Teleworking your
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Committee
Creation of a committee comprised of managers
and employees helps gain insight into their
viewpoints about a teleworking program.
What a telework committee does?
The telework coordinator establishes a
committee composed of representatives from:
Human resources
Legal
Information technology
Management
This helps:
Establish program goals, objectives,
written policies and procedures
Develop an implementation plan
Schedule with milestones
The telework committee is responsible for
determining the three most important
elements of the telework program: policy,
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Step 4: Analyze Technology Needs logo
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and Costs
Analysis of information about equipment and
technology required to initiate off-site work,
enables cost estimation for project.
Technology Requirements
Internet-compatible PC with modem
Internet Access
One or two telephone lines
Fax machine or fax software
FTP Access
Printer (may be necessary for some)
Barcode reader (may be necessary for
some)
Additional peripheral equipment and
adapter cards
may be required depending on work (e.g.,
scanner,
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Step 5: Draft a Teleworker Policy here
Creation of written policies and agreements that
specify roles, responsibilities and requirements for
company and teleworkers help to gain agreement
on teleworking terms and conditions.
Components of a Telework Policy
• The definition of teleworking at your organisation.
• The actual policy statement explaining the support for teleworking.
• The principles for teleworking at your organisation. This section may include
brief statements regarding business needs, basic terms and conditions of
employment, provisioning of equipment, eligibility criteria, the need for a
designated work space, the telecommuting agreement, tax implications,
dependent care, and how to determine when the employee can telework.
• Benefits and drawbacks of teleworking.
• Selection considerations for teleworking candidates. This may include the
job characteristics, the teleworker characteristics, and the supervisor
characteristics which will be considered for teleworking at the organization.
• A section detailing the equipment responsibilities helps understand what
equipment will be provisioned, how to obtain it, and what happens if it
breaks. Company policies regarding proprietary information and security
may also be included.
• Evaluation process of the teleworking program.
• Time keeping or posting time cards needs to be addressed.
• Safety policy. This may include a brief statement on ergonomics.
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Step 6: Build a Business Case here
Support from senior management is critical for
success of a teleworking program. Program goals
and benefits should be outlined to management to
achieve while building a business case.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Teleworking
Benefits Drawbacks
•Saves costs •Leads to isolated
•Enhances work
productivity environments
•Reduces •Requires initial
absenteeism start-up
•Increases costs
employee •Creates
morale information
•Lowers office security risks
costs •May lead to a
•Improves loss of
work/life distinction
balance between
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Step 7: Train Managers and logo
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Employees
Training of teleworkers helps better understand
and manage the new ways of working.
Telework Training
Training may be divided into 3 sections:
Manager training
Team training where managers and
teleworkers discuss
issues that impact their relationship
Teleworker training
Training sessions include the following key
issues:
• Developing performance management
skills
• Enhancing communication with people in
the office
• Setting good objectives and measuring
Step 8: Launch the Telework
Programme
Managers need to help employees adapt to this
culture change in the initial stages of
implementing a telework programme.
Implementation Tips
Facilitate communication with all
teleworking and
non-teleworking employees regarding
program
arrangements, including coverage,
communication,
and responsibilities.
Emphasize equality among teleworkers
and non-
teleworkers.
Define expectations for working
remotely.
Organise regular meetings for
teleworkers to stay in
touch with office employees and to
maintain
cohesive teams.
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Step 9: Evaluate Program logo
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Regularly
Regular program evaluation enables fine-tuning
and making improvements as necessary.
Evaluation should also include tracking associated
costs and benefits.
Telework Evaluation
In order to measure success of the telework
programme, the telework committee should
develop an evaluation plan. This plan must be
based on quantifiable program goals
and objectives to measure and compare
results. Evaluation plans typically include
analysis of the following:
• Productivity
• Operating costs
• Employee morale
• Retention
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Resources here
Business Case for Teleworking
Communicating a Telework
Programme
Determining Teleworker
Eligibility
Assessing Teleworker
Effectiveness
Developing a Teleworking
Proposal
Technology Checklist for
Teleworkers
Telework Objectives
Teleworker Task Worksheet
Telework Evaluation Dashboard