Winter storms may have made it difficult to traverse the roads in parts of New Jersey this week, but not all employees are on holiday. For some, the slick, snow-covered commutes are a necessity.
But those companies looking to boost process improvement and sales effectiveness might have considered another option – working from home.
Telecommuting is more common than ever. And if it’s an option in your industry, it’s a no-brainer on winter-weary days like these.
NJ.com recently detailed the benefits of “Pushing productivity when blizzards freeze corporate operations” by profiling an IT firm in Parsippany called IND Corp. When roads were impossible to traverse, employees were able to connect from home. Client support reaching as far as West Orange went just as smoothly.
Managing employees logged in from home requires setting up systems in advance, which can include tracking hours worked out of the office. SaaShr.com, in Branchburg, a provider of Web-based human resources services, said putting a basic remote time-tracking system in place can take as few as 20 minutes.
Alexandra Arbelaez, business development manager with SaaShr.com, said in an e-mail that such a system ensures employees are logged in and on duty when telecommuting. She said features can be added to let employers know how much time workers spend on each task.
To guarantee workers are at their remote stations, she said, employees can be required to call in from a predetermined number, such as the home phone. “It ensures that employees are actually punching in at the time they should be,” Arbelaez said.
Is telecommuting an option for your business? Might it boost your productivity? Why or why not?
This post is brought to you by the good folks at Dale Carnegie Training of Central & Southern New Jersey. We would love to connect with you on Facebook and Twitter @CarnegieJersey.