The monthly unemployment rate gets a lot of attention from the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and of course from the Federal Reserve. But there is another side of the employment coin that does not get as much attention. Still, it is a concern that is equally important to our nation’s economic well-being: filling empty positions with qualified employees to maintain full productivity.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, small businesses with less than 20 employees represent nearly 89% of our country’s business employment. This article looks at how teleworking can assist these small businesses in achieving their staffing and productivity goals.
Wikipedia Definition: Telecommuting, also called remote work, telework, or teleworking, is a work arrangement in which employees do not commute or travel (e.g., by bus or car) to a central place of work, such as an office building, warehouse, or store. Teleworkers in the 2000s often use mobile telecommunications technology such as WiFi-equipped laptop or tablet computers and smartphones to work from coffee shops; others may use a desktop computer and a landline phone at their home.
While on vacation in Santa Barbara this past March, I scheduled a dinner with an old friend. Mark is a CPA. He is the principal in a small, highly regarded local accounting firm. I arrived first at the restaurant. When Mark walked in, I noticed that his eyes were red and his clothing was somewhat disheveled. I thought he looked awful. So naturally I said, in my usual candid way, “Mark, you look awful!”
Mark just smiled and responded “tax season.” As we continued through dinner, Mark explained that four members of his accounting staff had resigned and left California in the past few months. They just couldn’t make it with the high cost of living – particularly the unaffordable housing market. For the same reasons, he wasn’t having any success filling the positions. The labor market was too tight in Santa Barbara County, and getting qualified accountants to move there for a salary that would not bankrupt him was nearly impossible. Instead, he was picking up the slack in advance of April 15 by working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. Brutal! (It actually made me feel honored – and slightly guilty – that he had taken time to meet me for dinner!)
I knew that there was insufficient time for him to correct the problem before the IRS filing deadline. Still, I suggested that he consider the use of hiring telework employees. Perhaps employees living in other parts of California or even in other states could solve his staffing problem. The type of work being done by his accountants required no personal interaction with clients – Mark did that himself. The accountants’ work was entirely computer-based and could be done … anywhere.
Mark’s initial reaction was a blank stare. Cleary this was a paradigm shift for him. But slowly, the lights began to come on. “Hmmm. Why didn’t I think of that before?”
I just got an email from Mark this week thanking me for my suggestion. He hired two accountants living in low-cost Nevada. They were working out just fine through teleworking. Two more from Oregon were in the middle of the interview process. Apparently, problem solved. (The next dinner is on Mark).
Santa Barbara is not the only high-cost community in the U.S. where it is difficult to attract new workers due to the outrageous cost of living. This problem occurs in numerous highly desirable, yet costly cities located everywhere from Santa Barbara on the west coast to Stamford, Connecticut, on the east coast.
I have seen several lists that name 50 such communities and read numerous articles that describe the difficulty in hiring new employees in several of these cities. In fact, for Stamford, Sperling’s Best Places on-line city assessment notes: “Unless you’re single and make a good living in NYC, or you have a family and make well over $250K/year… don’t expect to live well here.” Not an encouraging assessment for a worker considering a job in Stamford. Or for a small business in Stamford looking to hire.
I suspect that Mark’s teleworking solution would work out just as well for solving small business staffing problems in Stamford and many of the other 50 high-cost locations.
We repeatedly hear stories of successful businesses that have begun as start-ups working in limited space in a home garage or basement. These small businesses inevitably need additional staff to accommodate growth. But where does a small business that is working in a garage or basement put the additional staff? Or of equal concern, how can a small business afford office space to house a growing number of staff?
Again, the answer could be hiring employees who telework. Adding telework employees does not require a small business to expand its space beyond the initial home garage or basement location until it is fully ready.
The Small Business Office?
A related concern for small businesses is financial limitations. It’s often a chicken-and- egg dilemma: hire to grow, or grow and then hire? Take the risk of investing in new staff, or try to grow with an insufficient labor force? Here again, teleworking may prove to be a win-win solution.
A small business may determine that it needs to add 3 ½ full time equivalent (FTE) employees to cover its current staffing needs. And 3 ½ FTEs may be all it can afford to hire. But how to scale employee staffing – and related office facilities - that precisely?
Part-time workers, perhaps contractual, performing their work remotely can provide a more efficient and precise response to staffing needs than an on-site worker can provide. No additional expenses for office space or desks and chairs. Additionally, the teleworking solution avoids the possibility of a part-time or consulting on-site worker being distracting to other employees while working on a task for a second employer.
Teleworking as an accepted mainstream work practice is a relatively new phenomenon brought about by the rapid expansion of telecommunications and data storage technologies. It has sometimes been slowly accepted by workers and management that have spent most of their professional careers working in offices on a day-to-day basis. But for new workers – especially those just graduating from school – teleworking is often regarded as the new norm.
Today, and even more so in future years, a committed teleworking program – one that limits commuting and allows work schedule flexibility - may help a small business compete with larger perk-laden Fortune 500 companies in attracting the most qualified and talented employees.
Back to my dinner with Mark. After recognizing teleworking as a potential solution to his staffing needs, Mark’s first question was, “How can I make this happen?” Well, there are two general components to successful implementation: technology and management. The following summarizes my advice to Mark.
Successful teleworking requires having the right technology tools to easily and effectively: 1) communicate with co-workers and clients, 2) share content and collaborate on tasks, 3) schedule tasks and track progress, and 4) engage with and reward remote workers as if they were just down the hall.
My office has experimented with a number of apps to make teleworking work. We have found that several apps are great at what they do. In addition to selecting the right apps, there are also essential hardware components that should be employed. Together, these technology tools truly replicate and even improve the “down the hall” experience.
I went on to advise Mark that despite having the best technology tools, the key to success lies in the management program. First and foremost is an understanding and a commitment by management that teleworking is a viable option for ensuring productivity. You must be “all-in” or it is likely to fail.
Secondly, you must be realistic about who you hire. In addition to being competent to perform the assigned task, teleworking employees must be self-motivated. Management must be able to trust the employee to perform the work without the need for constant supervision. Management trust combined with employee responsibility are the key ingredients that make a small business teleworking program successful.
Through experience, my office has developed insight into many of the employee and management issues revolving around successful telecommuting and the modern mobile worker. We have learned that the importance of the human element in making telecommuting work should not be underestimated.
So far, Mark has found success in following up with my dinner-time advice. Do you have a small business that might benefit from the use of teleworking? If so, I’d love to hear about it. And I won’t even require dinner.