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Is Telecommuting Good for Our Small Business in 2014?

Tristan Anwyn

February 18, 2014

Being able to work from home may seem appeal to your employees, but is it a good fit for your small business?

With the Telework Research Network estimating that around 30 million Americans work from home regularly, telecommuting clearly works well for some businesses.

What are the pros and cons of telecommuting, and how can you make sure it works well for your business if you decide to do a trial run? 

Pros: Not Just Coming To Work in Your Pajamas

Some small business owners fear that telecommuting means their employees will be watching the big game when they should be hard at work on the big project.

In actual fact, telecommuting can increase employee morale and allow for more flexibility in your company.

Working from home is seen as a treat and a sign of trust, fostering a good work life balance. As such, you might find your employees are more motivated in general and take less sick days. 

Telecommuting also has benefits in terms of productivity and outgoings.

Your employees can get more done if the longest trip they need to make is downstairs to their lounge rather than driving an hour on the freeway. Allowing even part-time telecommuting means you'll need less space overall, which means less money spent on light and heating bills. 

One last bonus that is well worth a mention: Telecommuting can be used as a draw when recruiting new employees, showing that your company offers the chance to fit work in with the demands of daily life. 

Cons: The Office without the Water cooler 

Telecommuting has a lot going for it, but if you're wondering about the telecommuting trend and how your company can handle it, you need to look at both sides.

Telecommuting obviously cuts down on face to face interactions, which can negatively affect team bonding. Employees who work together regularly have the chance to bond, and indulge in a little small talk here and there to get to know each other better. It can be hard to keep this team cohesion with telecommuting. 

Remote workers may also find that their office-bound colleagues resent their freedom, and resent you for granting it to them.

It's important to make it clear that they are still working as much and as hard, and ensuring that the rest of your team feels valued and rewarded for their work in-office. 

Telecommuting offers a lot of benefits, but you'll need to avoid these pitfalls with careful planning and a clear vision of how you are going to implement remote working in your company. 

Making Telecommuting Work for Your Business

A lack of ground rules can make telecommuting confusing and unproductive, so before you decide to go ahead, make sure you lay out some ground rules.

Your employees need to understand: 

• How often they can telecommute; 
• What they will be expected to achieve while working out of the office;   
• Whether they are expected to be available for phone or email contact during certain hours. 

Your employees will need a clear vision of how telecommuting will work and what the boundaries are.

Set identifiable goals for remote workers, and establish how you are going to check that those goals are being met. 

Regular check-ins and face to face meetings are an important part of telecommuting.

Establish how often employees will be expected to show up in the office (once or twice a week is a good minimum), and which meetings are non-negotiable. Regular in-person meetings are important in keeping your company culture strong when some of your employees are working outside the office. 

The flexibility of telecommuting and the positive effect on morale makes it a good choice for many small businesses.

If you decide it's a good fit for you, keep this in mind: The aim of telecommuting isn't to remove employees from the office, but to keep the company culture and ethos with them wherever they are working.

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