Mobile technology and skiving off

Back it up

Surveys commissioned by BT Business and Nortel have found that only 8% of employers trust their employees enough to let them work remotely. The 92% who don’t mainly stick to what are seen as outdated working models.

More confidence please. This is in contrast to the 42% of workers surveyed in the same research who were confident that they could work equally, if not more effectively away from the workplace.

The “BlackBerry” age

Advances in mobile technology, such as BlackBerrys, iPhones and notebook computers, have made remote working easier than ever. But it probably won’t surprise you to hear that in another study, by Euroffice, 41% of employees questioned said that these devices enabled them to skive off work without anyone noticing they weren’t there.

No surprises. We can believethis research, as it reminded us of one employee who boasted to his colleagues that he had e-mailed his boss from the golf course when he was supposed be at home working on a new contract!

The culture of presenteeism

The reluctance to embrace remote working has much to do with the culture of “presenteeism”. This is the belief that if an employee isn’t actually visible, then they’re probably not working to maximum ability. But is there anything you could do to determine if such a system is actually working, or if it’s really being used to extend an employee’s weekend?

Effective management

Continued productivity lies in the effective management of those who are suitable candidates for remote working - and this won’t be every employee. Where you know an employee has a tendency to slack off when you’re not watching, you can guarantee they’ll put their feet up more when working at home. So the first thing to do is select your candidates very carefully.

From then on

But even for trustworthy employees you still need to implement some steps that will give you a good indication of their performance. For example:

• Targets. Depending on the work carried out, set identifiable weekly/monthly targets and make sure they stick to them. If productivity falls, or there’s a drop in quality, withdraw the system unless there’s another explanation.

• Progress reports. Set aside time for regular updates and progress reports. Your employee should still be able to account for what they get up to in their working hours.

• Discipline. Treat any evidence of skiving as a misconduct issue, i.e. via your disciplinary procedures. You can also threaten to revoke the system if its abused, or it appears to be. Going through with this will be a warning to others who may be tempted to bunk off.

Tip. Ensure you always have up-to-date contact details for any remote-working employee. A quick call to a landline when they least expect it will see what they’re up to and the sheer threat it could happen means they are far less likely to skive.