Re: Alternative Work Arrangements.
The purpose of this proposal is to suggest the various types of work arrangement for the employees to do their jobs. It is necessary to understand the type of job that would allow an employee to work from home, or create a different type of work arrangement. Depending on the nature of work, companies offer various options for the employees to telecommute and work, or work from home.
Current Procedure:
The current work policy is equal to all the employees at all levels, and every employee is required to commute to work every day. Employees come to work either by the company buses, personal vehicles. The employees staying nearby the company come by walk. There are employees who commute up to 40 miles to and fro from their home to reach the company. The company has a policy to drop the employees in company cabs till their door step, if an employee is working on job after 20:00 hrs. No employee is entitled to work from home because of the data integrity and customer data security.
Problems with Current Procedure:
The current work arrangements poses several challenges to the company, and the employees. The main challenge is the traveling distance to the company, which is located around 60 miles on the outskirts of the city. Employees commuting in bus spend nearly one and half hours to reach the company as the maximum time is spent in traffic and signals. Employees feel they are spending lot of time commuting, which directly affects their productivity, and they are losing on their work life balance.
As no employee is allowed to work from home because of the security and data integrity issues, employees are forced to come to office on a daily basis. Women employees find it most difficult to commute to office due to their personal reasons of taking care of the family. Employees are allowed to take leaves, but not work from home in healthy conditions. As the bus timings are very strict, many employees even miss the buses and have to commute on their own using the metro trains or through personal vehicles which delays their entry timings.
Employees feel burnt out working for long hours, sometimes more than 8 hours due to stringent timelines to deliver the product. Many employees stay after working hours to complete the assigned task which results in losing their work life balance, and they feel exhausted and tired, which results in sick leave the other day.
What are some alternative work arrangements?
Working remotely is considered as an alternate work option by creating a simple list of server connections in the central server. When employees work from home, a maximum percentage would be working from home offices; therefore, the trust factor from the company also develops on the employees related to productivity. Flexible work arrangements are so much becoming a part of employee’s life that they do not think about the fact that when they flex their schedule, it will be considered as a flex arrangement.
Benefits of telecommuting and alternative work arrangements
The employees and employers have actually found telecommuting to be an equally beneficial arrangement in many instances. Few benefits of these arrangements are increased retention of esteemed employees, happier employees, increased productivity, cost savings, improved work life balance, an increased respect towards the company by building trust between the employer and the employee. The company sees huge benefits when there is an increase in the telecommuters. The companies can see around 50% to 60% benefit per employee when the employee telecommutes . The arrangements of flextime can be quite clear when the influences are made from satisfied employees to improved business performance.
Instituting a Telecommuting Program
Factor 1: Analyze telecommuting program
The companies and the management staff must ensure that any telecommuting program is helpful in the growth of the company, and it benefit the employers and the employees. These programs efficiently address its various operational needs. For example, some there are some positions that need maximum on-site presence. These positions vary from management positions to those in which face-to-face communication with clients or other members of the workforce is vital. It is not advised for companies to adopt the strategy of one size fits all parameter and the program must be based on position by position.
Factor 2. Operational Efficiency and Morale
Companies conduct broad investigation before purchasing and executing new technologies required in implementing a telecommuting program. Information technology personnel shapes the program policies and anticipates distant workplace needs of teleworkers. In addition the impact of telecommuting on other departments, both in terms of operational efficiency and morale is also considered.
Factor 3: Contacting the legal experts.
Providing the employees to work from home can be simple; however, it has some legal obstacles that are to be fulfilled. The factors to consider for employees working from home is the compensation and state overtime regulations, the degree of specific accountability for company property. Legal counsel also reviews the telecommuting programs to ensure the company complies with the employment laws.
Factor 4: Equipment and cybersecurity
As productivity is very vital for employers who give their employees the freedom to telecommute, the security of the devices used in remote work accessed outside of the secure office network will be prioritized. All business devices are password-protect data transmitted from these devices are encrypted. GPS will be activated on these devices to track, and software applications that can erase data if the device is stolen will be installed on the device.
Factor 5: Deterring hatred.
Employees working onsite will be treated equally, and it is required by the company that the employees who telecommute do their full jobs offsite and not rely on others all the time. Communication technologies such as Skype can be used to be in contact with the remote employees. Favoritism would not be considered and the employees would be aligned to the telecommuting policy that will be updated periodically depending on company needs.
Schedule
The following chart shows the actual time frame from inception to completion.
Costs
The total cost for implementing the telecommuting project for the employees is estimated at $1800. This estimate includes $1000 for hardware, and security devices items and the actual cost of the items will be significantly less as they are selected based on price and availability.
Qualification
Federal law requires agencies to establish telework programs but does not give individual employees a legal right to telework .
In preparation for this proposal, I made an on-site visit to Vartec Telecom – Telecommunications and conducted a personal interview with their Human Resources Officer. The officer explained me their current telecommuting system where many employees are required to be in office due to data security and storage of huge database with customer personal information. On seeing the proposal, the officer agreed to provide an appointment with the higher management, and applauded on the proposed alternative arrangements of work.
Conclusion
A well analyzed and planned telecommuting system would aid in productivity, and happier employees. Any additional groups of employees can also be offered these alterative work arrangements and the company guidelines would need modification. With this kind of arrangement an employee will still feel like part of the team and increase productivity. I look forward to starting on this project as soon as possible.
Works Cited
Network World. "Management Strategies - Alternate Work Arrangements." World, Network. Network World. 27. Vol. 18. Published by IDG Network World Inc, 2001. 1-48. Document.
United States Office of Personnel Management. Guide to Telework in Federal Government. April 2011. <https://www.telework.gov/guidance-legislation/telework-guidance/telework-guide/guide-to-telework-in-the-federal-government.pdf>.
