It's Time To Review - And Renew - Your Telecommuting Policy

April 8, 2009
It's Time To Review - And
Renew - Your Telecommuting
Policyby Brownlee Thomas, Ph.D.for Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals
Making Leaders Successful Every DayFor Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals Includes data from Business Data Services
April 8, 2009
It's Time To Review - And Renew - Your Telecommuting PolicyThe Economic Downturn Spurs Many Firms To Revisit Telecommuting Costs And Opportunitiesby Brownlee Thomas, Ph.D.with Christine Ferrusi Ross and Sean Galvin
Executive SummarySourcing and vendor management teams should work with IT and human resources (HR) to regularly review the company's telecommuting policy. The current economic situation is pushing many companies to look for new ways to: 1) increase employee productivity; and 2) reduce operational costs. Over the past few months, we've had a growing number of client inquiries about telecommuting best practices. Some firms are trying to build a business case for expanding their telecommuting program. Others are standardizing their support for telecommuting with the aim of lowering costs. Most companies will save money by formalizing their telecommuting policies and standardizing support practices. Informal policies and ad hoc support result in inconsistencies about who can telecommute and what costs the company covers. Additionally, absent a formal policy, IT support costs will be higher when nonstandard and personal devices are connecting to the network.
table of Contents NOTES & RESOURCES2 Companies Have Significant Existing Forrester fielded several user company client Telecommuting Efforts Underway inquiries about best practice telecommuting Telecommuting Benefits Are Hard To Quantify programs and policies, and used data from the Enterprise And SMB Networks And 4 Formal Telecommuting Policies Are a Must-Have For Firms Today Telecommunications Survey, North America And Europe, Q1 2008.Defining A Telecommuting Strategy Is The First Step Related Research DocumentsEffective Telecommuting Policies Should "Create A Companywide Mobile Policy" Include Answers To Four Key Questions August 14, 2006 Enforcement Is Necessary To Ensure "How To Write A Telecommuting Policy" Compliance September 23, 2004recommendations "A Clear Strategy Will Help IT Effectively Support 8 Keep Your Telecommuting Policy Current Remote Workers" 9 Supplemental Material August 24, 2004
© 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please email clientsupport@forrester.com. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com.2 It's Time To Review - And Renew - Your Telecommuting Policy For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals
Companies Have Significant Existing Telecommuting Efforts UnderwayA growing number of enterprise employees are telecommuting - ranging from ad hoc work from home due to temporary family situations to full-time telework/home work arrangements. In fact, a recent Forrester survey found that 23% of the North American and European enterprises (companies with 1,000 or more employees) responded that a significant portion of employees spend 120% or more of their working time telecommuting or working away from the office (see Figure 1). Among our findings from the survey:
· More North American than European enterprises support regular telecommuting. On average, 17% of employees at North American enterprises report having employees who spend at least 20% of their work time away from their normal work desk or work from home. This compares with an average of 14% of employees at the European enterprises surveyed.
· French employers are more conservative than others about telecommuting. The French companies that participated in the survey reported that an average of 9% of their employees telecommute 20% or more of the time. By contrast, 18% of employees working for large UK companies, and 15% of employees working for German enterprises telecommute regularly.
· Size doesn't play a big role in an enterprise's decision to support telecommuting. ... [download for more]