Discussion
DAVE: “Did you hear that Marlene is retiring?”
SUSAN: “No! When?”
DAVE: “I think within the next 2 months. I’ll send you the email I got about it.”
SUSAN: “Good for her, Marlene has been a fantastic resource for many years. I wish her well. On the other hand, that is not good for us. She’s one of our best analysts and will be hard to replace.”
DAVE: “She really is one of the best we have. A real blend of experience and talent that is not easily replaced. Hey, can I change the subject for a minute?”
SUSAN: “Sure…what’s up?”
DAVE: “What’s your experience with telecommuting and other alternative work schedules?”
SUSAN: “I have a few people who are on alternative work schedules in my office.”
DAVE: “Well, within a week’s time, I’ve been asked by two employees for alternative schedules. Jim asked to telecommute on Fridays and Nancy asked for a compressed work week.”
SUSAN: “What’s the problem?”
DAVE: “I’ve never had that happen before. I’m kind of concerned. How will I manage the situation? How can I make sure that they will get their work done?”
SUSAN: “You have some great questions and reasonable concerns. First, you need to figure out whether this is something that works for them, for you, and for the organization. Regarding their request, it’s not an automatic “Yes”, but you should also not have it be an automatic “No” either.”
DAVE: “I agree, both of these types of programs are not absolute “employee entitlements”, but on the other hand, I want to feel like I am trying to do what seems right for some valuable employees. I am also worried that if I approve this for one of these employees, then the other employee is going to expect it too.”
SUSAN: “That’s not the way it typically works when these types of flexibilities are considered. You need to review each request separately. You need to think over a number of things, like how well suited the employee is for this type of work arrangement, how well suited you are as a supervisor to manage the situation effectively, whether the occupation can adapt easily to an alternative work schedule and whether you can put in place any infrastructure needed to support the arrangement.”
DAVE: “What do you mean by infrastructure?”
SUSAN: “For example, if they telecommute, they may need a computer and access to our network.”
DAVE: “I see what you mean. My biggest concern is making sure that they get the job done and that I am able to communicate with them effectively.”
SUSAN: “Remember when Joyce in my office asked me about telecommuting? My initial reaction was to say ‘Forget it.’ I thought that it would just be too hard to keep track of her work. But then I remembered that John Smith over in Adjudications had been authorized to manage a Pilot Telecommuting Program a couple of months ago. I called John for more information and a way to look at the request for ways that it could be accommodated. After reading all the literature John shared with me, I assessed the tasks of the occupation, her demonstrated ability in the past to complete those tasks, my ability as a manager to review and measure the work, I decided to give it a go with the agreement that we would both assess our pilot effort in 3 months. Well, the first 3 weeks were shaky. I constantly felt frustrated because she didn’t seem to be able to deliver the products I wanted. Finally, we sat down and talked about it. During our conversation, I realized something about my own communications skills. Normally, during the normal business day, I have a habit of stopping by my employee’s offices and getting quick updates on the progress of ‘work orders in process’. This was convenient and allowed me face time with employees and the opportunity to comment on their work progress ‘a little at a time’, suggesting changes to the product before the employee had finished their effort and moved it forward to me for ‘final review’. When Joyce went on the telecommuting pilot, this intermittent ‘face time’ was not occurring with her any longer and thus Joyce would turn in ‘on time’ products that I had not seen before they appeared on my desk for final review. The products never received the benefit of intermittent review before arrival on my desk. Joyce was no longer receiving the benefit of my little intermittent meetings where she had, in the past, received my suggested changes before she would stamp something ‘final’ and place it on my desk.
It became obvious that the products appearing on my desk did not have the benefit of these visits and I was not able to make my expectations very clear over the phone. After I realized this, I re-evaluated my own management and supervisory communication style and instituted a system where we communicated from my office every morning via conference call with members of the staff that were telecommuting and members of the staff that were scheduled for the office that day. With this new simple procedure, things got much better.”
DAVE: “Sounds like you learned some better management skills because of it (both chuckle).”
SUSAN: “It’s funny how that experience did help me to learn how to manage, organize, and supervise better all around!”
DAVE: “Well, I’ll take your advice. I will think about these suggestions a little more and I’ll treat each situation separately so that I can make a sound decision…”
