Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - February 27, 2013.
#763 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,904 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: TeleWork 2013 - June 23-24 - www.telework2013.com
Special Note: “Not Yahoo! about Yahoo’s Telework Policy”
Response to Yahoo’s No Teleworking Decision: Most of our readers have heard reports about Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer decision to have teleworking colleagues shift to working at the office. The comments from HR director Jackie Reses included the statement “speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home”. I have been contacted by many learning colleagues and members of the media for a reaction to Yahoo’s decision and what it said about the future of Teleworking. Here is summary of our thoughts:
“Not Yahoo! About Yahoo’s Telework Policy”
By Elliott Masie, Chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM and Host of TeleWork 2013
Teleworking got a major news infusion when an employee leaked a policy shift from Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer to eliminate teleworking or working from home options.
I am not thrilled or yelling at Yahoo! about the news stories — but not because it might be a threat to teleworking; rather, it is not fully clear how Yahoo’s decision maps back to changes that CEO Mayer wants to make in the culture of her organization.
Teleworking is an evolving process. Many organizations now have 17% to 60% of white collar employees working from home. Many organizations have shifted customer service, sales and other jobs to a 100% teleworking level. And, we are tracking a 3% annual growth in teleworking.
So, what is the impact of teleworking on culture and employee performance? That is a complex question and is based primarily on the skills of the organization, the teleworkers themselves and managers/leaders in the organization. If handled well, teleworking can be a major plus for both employees and organizations. It can expand the pool of talent that can be hired, lower the transportation or office costs and in some instances provide a more lifestyle and workstyle positive environment for workers. But, if handled poorly, teleworkers can be and feel isolated, left out of key conversations and less bonded to the organization. Telework, like other organizational configurations, needs to be DESIGNED well and have evidence-based measures of impact.
I wish that Yahoo’s statement was not just a loud boom about the end of teleworking but rather laid out a continuum of when and how office-based, telework-based or blended location made sense. I wish that the conversation was really about culture and collaboration - not about location or commuting. And, I wish that it was not leaked from an employee, but rather posed as a collaborative process to maximize Yahoo and the employees.
Why are we shifting to teleworking? The reasons range from a desire to hire the best employees (regardless of location) to a desire to reduce office and commuting expenses to lifestyle benefits for employees who can work effectively from a private space at home and still have “presence” for an older parent who is living with them. Many of our Learning CONSORTIUM members have made teleworking the default - hiring people who will work either from their home or from a remote satellite office. And, the technology of collaboration - from easy access to video conferencing to digital collaboration - can bring together a dispersed team if done well.
Teleworking also comes in many sizes and flavors. For example:
- Organization Continuity Telework: The U.S. Federal Government has asked agencies to prepare most employees to be able to telework with remote and secure computer access in case of a storm or other emergency. In other words, if the organization has to shut down the office, work can continue.
- Personal Contingency Telework: An employee is not feeling well or for some reason can’t come to work on Tuesday. Telework options allow the organization to have them continue to work from home without contaminating their fellow team members or missing a key meeting.
- Blended Telework: Many workers are blending time in the office with time at home for work. They may select those times that team face-to-face meetings are scheduled or shift to a less distracting home-based setting for writing or quieter work tasks.
- Distributed/Remote Telework: Hire the best employee for a job, regardless of their location. Shift the hiring conversation from “when can we relocate you” to “how can we set you up for successful telework and schedule occasional time at the office.”
- Telework Choice: Some organizations have given employees the choice of telework, blended or office-based location and many workers in every generation are choosing telework, assuming they can hit performance goals and be an active part of the team culture.
- Telework Mandated: Many organizations have shifted entire functions (e.g. field sales, customer support, development roles) to a 100% telework basis.
The reality is that organizations and employees will make choices amongst these options and will increasingly learn how to shift, adjust and develop new competencies or leverage new technologies to support all types of telework.
I am not “Yahoo!” about Yahoo’s teleworking decision because it overly simplifies the issue of how we work in a distributed, connected and agile world with a changing labor market and work/life balances. I respect Yahoo’s CEO Mayer for her leadership of the company and would hope that she shifts the conversation to the CULTURE rather than a locational issue. And, there are clearly times when telework will not work for a team, employee or total organization. But, I doubt that Yahoo will ban teleworkers in the long term.
I am both a teleworker and the CEO of a company that employs teleworkers.
It is critical for me to blend my own and other team members’ presences. I have a 72 inch screen in my office to Skype with team members in Virginia, Shanghai and India. And, there are certain key roles that would not be optimized as telework based at The MASIE Center. However, we could not operate a global company with a slim staff and over 230 Learning CONSORTIUM members if we did not leverage teleworking, video conferencing, digital collaboration and ongoing adjustment of our culture to make it work.
Recently, a seven year employee gave birth to her first child. As we were negotiating her maternity leave benefits - and more importantly the culture adjustments for her as she left and will return to the office - we both saw telework as a key mutual benefit. We will provide an opportunity for her to spend more time at home but start to engage at the level that works for her via a flexible telework culture.
Telework is going to be a major component of our work lives going forward, whether or not we or our CEO’s like it. The issue is not “To Telework or Not to Telework”; rather it is “How do we create the best culture for all employees, regardless of location and teleworking options? We will use data to watch how we succeed or fail in our hiring, our retention, our customer satisfaction, our agility and our work/life culture.”
I invite organizations to leverage Yahoo’s discussion to have a serious conversation about the options, skills, competencies and culture shifts we want in our organizations that are leveraging telework. Let’s have the audacity to experiment, evaluate and even openly talk about failures as we continue the evolution of our workplaces and work lives.
I’d love to hear from you on this topic. Send me a note to emasie@masie.com
Yours in learning (and telework),
Elliott Masie
Host, TeleWork 2013 and Learning 2013
email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie
MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie
April 10, 2013