Ann All of IT Business Edge recently reported on how small and medium size businesses (SMB’s) are less likely to have employees telecommute than are larger companies. According to a recent survey by Citrix Online, 40 percent of SMB’s allow employees to work from home, compared to 76% of larger companies. It seems that the main barrier in the way to doing this is technological: while employing remote workers can lead to higher productivity and job satisfaction, it also requires the expenditure of initial investment in the proper technology to support these workers. Without being able to fully and securely integrate into the office remotely, telecommuting is often not worthwhile. Correspondingly, according to the survey cited above, 43% of SMB’s have the technology framework in place to support remote workers, compared with 76% of larger businesses.  As the different technologies needed for telework become cheaper and easier to implement, the percentage of small businesses supporting telecommuting should rise.

In the meantime, if you work for a small or medium-size business and want to pursue telecommuting, consider the following options:

• Build up the trust - Small businesses that are not used to employees working from outside of the office will tend to be more reluctant to let you out of their sphere of influence than would be a larger corporation that has internal policy and technology built to do just that. Although the company can theoretically gain in productivity from employees working where they are most comfortable, they also risk more by giving up on direct oversight. To overcome this, give them good reason to be able to trust you in the scenario where you would be working from outside of the office. Only with this trust in place will they feel more comfortable investing in the technology needed to make it work.
• Do your own research - Though a small business may be more open to change and innovation than a corporate behemoth that has dozens of people employed to set corporate policies, and thus a small business may be the ideal candidate to make the move towards supporting telecommuting, small businesses are also less likely to have extra man hours available to set up and support telecommuting policy and technology. If you feel that it is appropriate, take the initiative yourself. Research the pros and cons of telecommuting for your company and for your position. Look into the different technology requirements (you would be surprised how many free or relatively inexpensive solutions are out there that can help make the technology work for you). Present your findings to your managers. This saves them the work, shows them that it may be a very worthwhile proposition for them financially, and is an indicator that you are taking it seriously.
• Start Small - There is no need to go all-in from the start. Suggest that you start telecommuting one day a week. Keep a log of how your work is going, how it affects your productivity, commute and overall job satisfaction. One day every week or two is much more palatable as it does not require that every last piece of technology be in place and allows management to see first-hand how it is affecting you.

InsideRecuiting has published an article giving lots of insight into how companies are relating to telecommuting:

Workers are affected negatively by long commutes

• New survey by the Urban Land Institute: 69% of the larger companies (those with 100-plus employees) believe a long commute time increases employee stress, but 55% reported a lack of affordable housing near their location
• 76% of workers between 18 and 34 would be at least somewhat likely to make a lateral employment move in exchange for a shorter commute (Harris Interactive)

Telecommuting trends

• 45% of the larger companies offer flextime to reduce commuting time, but just 21% offer telecommuting
• 29% of companies say they plan to use a telecommuting program and will allow workers to telecommute every day, and 16% will allow workers to telecommute one or two days a week. Another 17% said they would consider it, if enough employees requested the option (EE)
• Korn/Ferry survey of 1,320 executives indicated that 61% believe telecommuters are less likely to be promoted, compared to their on-site colleagues. Still, 48% said they would consider a telecommuting arrangement

Impact on Environment, Finance

• IBM (25% of 300,000 workers telecommute) estimates that they save $700 million annually because of telecommuting
• Cisco has cut travel by 20% a year due to videoconferencing (two million miles of travel saved, CO₂ emissions lowered by approximately 10%)
• Sun has flexible policies regarding telework, offers local “drop-in centers” which save employees 90 minutes of commuting time ($63 million and 29,000 tons of CO₂ emissions saved annually)

Read more: Honk If Your Company Loves Telecommuting

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Sue Shellenbarger talks about the other side of telecommuting - people who work remotely and end up disliking the experience:

It’s an ironic twist on corporate America’s march toward telecommuting: A small but significant number of foot soldiers dislike the trend…A large majority of workers like working from home because it offers flexibility and reduces commuting costs and hassles. (As a longtime telecommuter, I am among them.) But the very perk that so many people covet in their quest to balance work and personal life is anathema to others. Among office workers who could telecommute if they wanted — that is, who have jobs or employer policies that permit working from home — 14% want to stay in the office…

Though this number - 14% - is definitely in the minority, it is still a significant percentage of people who for various reasons would prefer to work in the office rather than remotely.

According to the article, one of the main factors in telecommuting that causes this dissatisfaction is lack of social contact with ones coworkers. When working remotely, one cannot meet one’s peers face-to-face on a daily basis. For those who find this contact to be an integral part of their workday, the lack of it is something that can be very detrimental.

The article also talks about the steps that some individuals and companies are taking to try to address this issue. Some people make sure that they have daily schedules, maintain contact with coworkers via phone and Instant Messenger, or make a point of going into the office at least once every few weeks. Some companies retrain employees and managers to prepare them for working and supervising remotely, while others IBM (who have 40% of their 330,000 employees working remotely) have invested in programs to help rebuild their workplace culture:

IBM set about rebuilding workplace culture. The company last year began pouring new resources into the “IBM Club,” an 80-year-old employee organization that had shrunk amid 1990s spending cuts, revitalizing it as a vehicle for employee sports leagues, parties and networking; membership has grown to 90,000. Managers started “speed mentoring,” gathering employees in small groups with a senior manager for advice, says Monica Chambers, a human-resource manager. IBM also expanded and improved satellite offices as a place to meet and use support services. (Moves like IBM’s are fostering a boom in leased satellite and temporary office space.) Morale ratings rose 28 percentage points over 18 months, with 78% saying they were happy in their jobs, Mr. Pelino says.

Whatever is done to address this, potential dissatisfaction (especially because of lack of social contact) is something that any would-be telecommuter employee or employer should be aware of, and should take proactive steps to address and fix.

From the Telework Exchange (found via Shawn Malone), a study was just released based on responses from 200 managers from 45 different federal agencies regarding their attitudes towards teleworking:

Survey results indicate that only 35 percent of Federal managers believe their agencies support telework, despite a 2001 Congressional mandate that requires agencies to implement telework programs.

Despite these initial results, there is hope. The study demonstrates that attitudes toward telework improve dramatically as managers become more exposed to alternative work arrangements. Fifty-four percent of non-teleworking managers have favorable views of telework. That number jumps to 75 percent among managers who telework themselves.

The message is that more managers should try telework and understand its value.

The study recommends giving more managers the option to take part in teleworking pilot programs (since the managers who telework view it more favorably than those who don’t) as well as educational efforts across government. I would however hesitate at recommending that large numbers of managers start telecommuting to work - after all, at least not on a full time basis (after all, you do need some face time when you are managing)