Working at home: 4 ways to build policy that works for you

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There has been plenty of discussion about telecommuting— and strong opinions both in favor of and against it— since CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to bring all remote Yahoo! workers back into the office by June of 2013. Other big companies in the news, like Best Buy, Bank of America, and Google, have made their telework policies more restrictive or have strongly encouraged employees to show up on-site, promoting collaboration through direct communication.

Despite news flashes to the contrary, U.S. Census data and other research shows us that the number of telecommuters in the United States continues to grow. There are real dollars-and-cents benefits to be realized, and it’s not small change. Why does it work so well for some companies, while others flounder or find it necessary to rein in their programs?

What kind of policies need to be put in place to ensure a telecommuting program gets off the ground and stays successful? Here are some ideas I’ve gleaned from reading what researchers and telework gurus have to tell us. I hope it gets the discussion started for your policy crafters, so that your company can embrace the benefits of teleworking.

1. Ensure buy-in from the highest levels on down

It’s important that everyone, company-wide, is behind your telecommuting program and that they are aware of challenges involved; armed with tools to keep things running smoothly.

Training programs, for executives, managers, and employees, and ongoing opportunities for feedback, will help your telework program become a positive ingredient in the company culture.

Strong support in the areas of technology and communications is big, too. This is the lifeline between a remote worker and the office. Because teleworkers are not attached to a desk and a desktop, the devices they use need to function well and be able to interact with the larger network, which requires up-front security planning and continued maintenance.

2. Clearly identify which jobs can telework

According to the Boston College Center for Work and Family publication, Advantages and Challenges of Telecommuting, some occupations are better suited for telework. They are, “…information-based and portable; require a high level of concentration; offer a high degree of autonomy; can be planned in advance and performed at varying times; involve minimal instruction, examination, and physical access to fixed resources; consist of creating/manipulating/disseminating information; and result in measurable output such as written reports or financial figures.”

Kate Lister and Tom Harnish of the Telework Research Network define the typical telecommuter as between the ages of 40 and 65, college educated, salaried, a non-union employee, earning about $58K a year at a company with more than 100 employees. This employee has earned management trust, and is not concerned about the effect of telecommuting on career advancement. They say that more people in management, professional, sales, and office work telecommute than any others. If that’s your bulls-eye, you need to define what the rings closest to the target are for your company.

3. Select employees suited for telework

It’s important to understand that neither every job nor every person is suited to working from home. Individual characteristics and circumstances need scrutiny.

Employees who telecommute need to be self-driven, and able to independently set and follow goals, with very minimal prompting. That means that they need to know their job responsibilities, have skill mastery, and have a good idea of how to work through projects.

Many companies require that an employee work on-site for a length of time prior to entering a telework program. That way they are able to learn the way things work in their company and build solid relationships with co-workers.

Teleworkers should be comfortable working alone, organized, and have the ability to focus. While different, distractions at home still exist, and will need to be worked through or avoided.

The employee, their co-workers and manager need to keep lines of communication open and use them liberally. And, bottom line: the work needs to be done, whether the employee is in the office or working at home, so they must be dependable and accountable for the work they are assigned.

4. Set acceptable parameters for home offices: practices and spaces

The living situations of your employees are probably as varied and individual as they are. A single person who lives in a small apartment will need to have a different set-up than a parent of four in a large suburban house. But you can broadly define what your company needs from teleworking employees and what your company will provide to help them accomplish what they need to. Here are some questions to answer as you set policy:

  • Will the company have a say in where work is done? Many companies fully embrace the idea that work is not anchored to a location; others want or need employees tied to a specific place.
  • Will the company determine work hours, or will the employee be able to work as best suits their environment and home responsibilities? This includes policies about day care for children and in many cases, elders.
  • Understanding that many teleworkers tend to overwork at unhealthy levels, will the company offer resources to help the employee maintain separation of home and work?
  • Will the company offer resources to help employees minimize distractions and set healthy boundaries with family and friends?
  • What office furniture, equipment, and software will the worker need to do their job?
  • What office furniture, equipment, and software will the company purchase, discount, or lend, and what will be required that the employee contribute? Who will be responsible for installation and maintenance?
  • How will paper and digital filing be handled?
  • Will the company require that the employee divide their time between work at home and work at the company site?
  • What kind of individual or shared set-up will be provided for teleworkers when they are in the company office?

Armed with a sound, yet flexible, plan, policies outlining responsibility and accountability, plenty of communication, management who is on board and playing an active role, and company-wide support, your telework program can save money, attract excellent talent, and bring a better work-life balance to your employees.

The views expressed by contributors to the NBF Water Cooler are their own, and do not reflect the viewpoint of National Business Furniture and its affiliates.

The Evolution of Hon Office Furniture, from the Mad Men-era to Today

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I suppose that once you’ve been in any profession long enough, you end up viewing life through a lens shaped by the industry you’re in. A structural engineer can’t drive over a bridge without analyzing, critiquing or admiring the supporting span below. My dad, who was a GM tool-and-die worker for over 20 years, never really enjoyed the cars he owned because he knew every flaw that lay beneath the hood. Knowledge can be a burden.

For me, it’s office furniture. Being with National Business Furniture for over 13 years, I’ve developed a critical eye for the furnishings that outfit our lives at work and beyond. Occasionally, that attention results in cringe-worthy acts like flipping over chairs in public places to identify the chair’s manufacturer. But most of the time, I observe from a distance. Take TV shows as an example – when I’m watching Mad Men, I pay as much attention to the furniture shown in the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce as I do to the characters themselves.Mad Men Office Furniture

You don’t have to be a furniture aficionado to appreciate the style showcased on AMC’s breakthrough hit. Just search “Mad Men office furniture” on Google, and you’ll see countless articles and blog posts dedicated to ‘60s-era modern design that dominates the show (check out The Mid-Century Modernist blog for a particularly good post that identifies some of the show’s most iconic pieces of furniture and gives insights from the set designers).

But my curiosity in the office furniture of Mad Men extends beyond the high-design offices of Don Draper and Roger Sterling. That beige sea of metal workstations clustered in the agency’s interior spaces – utilitarian desks that were standard issue for the rank and file – seems at once dated yet still quite familiar. That’s because those humble steel desks continue to sell today, a stubborn holdout of simple design in an age of increasingly complex technology. But most corporate offices today have moved away from these free-standing metal desks. So who’s still buying them?

34000 Series HON Office FurnitureRyan Peterson, national account manager for HON (the Iowa-based office-furniture manufacturer that continues to make steel desks similar to those shown on Mad Men), said that while sales for their classic 34000 Series metal desks have seen a gradual decline over the years, many customer segments still rely on this tried-and-true design. “It’s not a rock star, but it’s a solid performer,” Peterson said.A solid performer indeed. Small businesses, industrial facilities and huge government entities like the Department of Defense and the U.S. Armed Forces have come to rely on the practicality of HON office furniture and their metal desks. Schools are especially big on them due to their long-lasting durability. These desks are heavy and built to last. And when something sells well for so long, you tend to leave it alone.

Metro Classic HON Office FurnitureHON does offer a slightly modernized version of their 34000 Series called the Metro Classic collection that features a slightly larger work surface and updated color combinations. Although, “There’s only so much you can do to make it cool,” Peterson said jokingly.

True, aside from any possible “retro-cool” cachet the 34000 Series and the Metro Classic collection may possess, these lines favor mass-market utility over style. But in its own way, the classic “post-leg” metal desk has become an American icon. And as businesses start to migrate away from cubicles and toward open and collaborative spaces, new generations of free-standing office desks are coming along – and they’re taking a lot of design cues from older styles.

HON Office Furniture VOI CollectionHON’s Voi collection is a modern spin on the classic steel desks that once dominated our offices. Voi takes old ideas (mixing metal with laminate wood) and updates them to reflect the new needs of the modern workplace. Featuring multi-level work surfaces and minimal storage, Voi exemplifies the modern American office – flexible, mobile and collaborative. However, unlike its predecessors, Voi was designed not just for open spaces but for the private office as well.

In other words, the rigid rules and roles of corporate America so artfully depicted on Mad Men are rapidly being re-written. I wonder if Don Draper would have seen that coming.

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By Dean Stier
Dean NBF Head shot
Dean is the Vice President of Multichannel Marketing at National Business Furniture

8 Ways to Save Your Office Money

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It’s Friday, and at the NBF Water Cooler, that means that it’s time to put a new water jug on the dispenser. Loosely translated, that means that it’s a good day to share a link and refresh our thinking with some new ideas.

Although the economy may be showing some preliminary signs of improvement, times are still pretty tight at most companies. If you are looking for some ways to save some green by going green check out this great article from treehugger.com : 7 Ways To Save Your Office Money By Going Green

If you need another easy way to save money (caution: shameless self promotion ahead) drop by our website this month for the NBF Spring Furniture Sale.  This additional savings is only offered twice a year so now is the perfect time to spring into action.  It’s not too early to consider outdoor furnishings as well as you can save an additional 15% discount on thousands of items. But hurry, this offer is only good during the month of March. Enter Code 15SAVE when ordering or call us today.

The views expressed by contributors to the NBF Water Cooler are their own, and do not reflect the viewpoint of National Business Furniture and its affiliates.

The Future Office

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It’s Friday, and at the NBF Water Cooler, that means that it’s time to put a new water jug on the dispenser. Loosely translated, that means that it’s a good day to share a link and refresh our thinking with some new ideas.

Ever wonder what your office space will look like 5, 10, 20 years from now? From the elimination of a physical office location to incorporating the comforts of home into the corporate space, this article from Entrepeneur.com gives us a peek into the future trends of office planning and design: The Workspace of the Future

The views expressed by contributors to the NBF Water Cooler are their own, and do not reflect the viewpoint of National Business Furniture and its affiliates.

5 Tips for Beating the Winter Blues at Work

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Reblogged from >newSOLUTIONS:

You get up.  It’s cold and dark.  You leave for work.  It’s cold and dark.  You get home from work.  It’s somehow colder and darker.  Repeat.

January can be a really tough month for employees.  Without the holiday season to look forward to, all of the gloomy weather can really affect your mood.  In fact, the lack of natural sunlight can actually cause people to develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression that can cause fatigue, lack of interest, and trouble concentrating. 

Read more… 597 more words

Model Furniture: NBF teams up with Kathy Ireland

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By Dean Stier

Dean NBF Head shot

Dean is the Vice President of Multichannel Marketing at National Business Furniture

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These are exciting times for us here at NBF. Kathy Ireland, the former Sports Illustrated swimsuit-model-extraordinaire, now graces the cover of a very different publication – the National Business Furniture catalog. So what exactly is a former supermodel doing on the cover of an office furniture catalog? Well, it turns out that Kathy Ireland has quietly transitioned into one of the most powerful brands in retail today, and office furniture is a big part of the marketing empire known as kathy ireland Worldwide.

Hailed as a “SuperModel SuperMogul” in a Forbes cover story last year, Kathy Ireland’s entry into retail started with her own clothing line, then quickly expanded into countless product categories including: flooring, rugs, organizational products, windows (yes, windows) and especially furniture.

It’s on the furniture side, specifically the kathy ireland Office by Martin brand, where Kathy and NBF came together to forge a great partnership. In the years since that collaboration first started, the kathy ireland Office by Martin brand has become NBF’s number-one selling line of office furniture. Popular groupings such as the Fulton Collection and the Southampton Onyx Collection consistently rank among our customers’ favorites; blending casual yet elegant design elements.

For NBF, a partnership with Kathy Ireland was a perfect fit. Kathy’s commitment to providing quality products that are beautiful and affordable meshes perfectly with NBF’s core purpose: to improve every workplace. As our relationship with Kathy continued to grow, we worked closely with her team to develop beautiful product videos and catalog presentations that really showcase the impressive style of the Kathy Ireland brand.

Be sure to check out our complete selection of kathy ireland Office by Martin including: office desks, bookcases, conference tables, credenzas and file cabinets. Each product is carefully designed by Kathy to meet the needs of today’s busy lifestyles, and all are backed by NBF’s exclusive lifetime guarantee.

We are so thrilled to partner with kathy ireland Worldwide; two great brands coming together to bring you beautiful office solutions. Let us know what you think of this great partnership!

The Future Office

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It’s Friday, and at the NBF Water Cooler, that means that it’s time to put a new water jug on the dispenser. Loosely translated, that means that it’s a good day to share a link and refresh our thinking with some new ideas.

What will your office space look like in 5, 10, 20 years? From the elimination of a physical office location to incorporating the comforts of home into the corporate space, this article from Entrepeneur.com gives us a peek into the future of office planning and design: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224977-4 

The views expressed by contributors to the NBF Water Cooler are their own, and do not reflect the viewpoint of National Business Furniture and its affiliates.