Last week’s disappointing 10.2% unemployment figures may have pushed employee-retention strategies a bit further down the priority list. That’s a mistake.
One of the key lessons of this severe economic downturn is the value of people. How many of you have had to let really valuable people go for no other reason than the business downturn? And how many have had to readjust lifestyles after pay cuts?
Chances are, the people who are left at your company (not to mention many who were forced to leave) are pretty valuable. Creating an environment that fosters loyalty and longevity is vital because when the job market starts to turn, you don’t know how it might affect your most valuable resources—your employees.
Fortunately, there are some key benefits you can offer them now to increase the chances they’ll stay with you long after the economy has rebounded. Telecommuting and mobile networking are two key benefits enabled by borderless networks that give employees a more flexible work-life balance—and often reduce IT and facilities costs.
Nearly 85% of companies say they are increasing support this year for telecommuting. The potential savings on facilities costs clearly is a driver; businesses can save up to $20,000 per year per employee by moving them from an urban location to a home office. A more important driver, given the topic at hand, is the ability to improve employee retention.
Employees know telecommuting either full- or part-time is a nice gig. Let’s face it: Working from the comforts of home in comfortable clothes on a cold, snowy day has its benefits! What’s more, because many workers have been given pay cuts, saving on commuting or dry-cleaning costs helps their personal budgets. But perhaps the biggest benefit is the improved quality of life—more time to spend with family or friends, rather than commuting.
Telecommuting often goes hand-in-hand with mobile workers, whether they are building inspectors traveling around a county, or salespeople traveling around the globe. Location becomes totally irrelevant to the job at hand. With the right equipment, services, and security, there is no reason many workers can’t do their job from a car, airplane, home office, or beach.
From an IT perspective, each person is a “micro-branch.” Micro branches require a fairly consistent IT set-up that includes broadband access from the home with a wireless router, mobile broadband access, laptop, mobile phone, collaborative applications, and secure communications typically using SSL VPNs. Some also add optimization clients to improve performance, Voice over IP to integrate with a softphone, or video gear for desktop or room-based video conferencing. On average, companies spend about $6,000 per year for an average set-up, more for the add-ons.
Once the IT staff develops the corporate standard for different types of telecommuters, they can implement a cookie-cutter approach to get the micro branches access to their centralized applications and data. Through hosted or managed services, or Internet VPNs, they can connect to business partners as well.
By extending this flexibility and freedom to employees now, they will grow comfortable with the telecommuting world before the job market rebounds and your competitors try to hire them away. Fostering this loyalty and lifestyle today will improve your employee retention and stability in the future, ultimately enabling you to be more competitive.
Robin Gareiss is Executive Vice President and Senior Founding Partner for Nemertes Research, where she oversees research projects and direction, conducts strategic seminars, develops cost models, and advises leading enterprises, vendors, and carriers. She currently serves as chief financial officer, as well.
For the past 18 years, Robin Gareiss has worked closely with hundreds of senior IT executives, analyzing their use of technology and capturing best practices. Ms. Gareiss is a widely recognized expert in voice over IP, convergence, collaboration, carrier services, IP networking, and branch-office technologies. She is a sought-after speaker at conferences and trade shows, including Interop, where she serves as chairperson for the Branch Offices track, VoiceCon, Mobile Business Expo, Supercomm, Telecom, and CeBit America. She also writes the Branch Offices Best Practices column for Network World.
Ms. Gareiss also has personal experience managing operations and developing new product offerings. Her entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding and overseeing marketing and business development for American Eco-Systems, a water-purification business in Illinois. She also served as president of Living Hope Lutheran Church, and ran several successful fundraisers for children’s cancer and other charities.
Before joining Nemertes, Ms. Gareiss shaped technology and business coverage as Senior News Editor of InformationWeek, a leading business-technology publication with 440,000 readers owned by the $359 million organization CMP Media. Prior to joining InformationWeek, Ms. Gareiss served in a variety of capacities at Data Communications magazine, where helped set strategic direction, oversaw reader surveys, and provided quantitative and statistical analysis. At these organizations Ms. Gareiss also helped develop, organize, and operate Web sites, TV, and print coverage of major trade shows. She has won numerous, prestigous awards for her in-depth analyses of business-technology issues.
Ms. Gareiss also taught ethics at the Poynter Institute for Advanced Media Studies. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, and American Medical News. Ms. Gareiss has a BS in journalism and a minor in education, with honors, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She lives in Illinois with her husband and four daughters.
About Robin Gareiss
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