Telecommuting

Telecommuting is gaining popularity among nonprofit organizations. It can broaden the candidate pool for a nonprofit with limited space and a small budget, increase productivity, and be viewed as an employee benefit. With a few simple tools and practices, you can manage the risk involved for your nonprofit and your employee.

Rewards

In a 2001 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management ( SHRM), 31 percent of the nonprofit respondents reported offering telecommuting as an option for certain positions, up from the 12 percent that reported doing so in the 1997 survey. Offering telecommuting as an aspect of a flexible workplace offers numerous benefits to a nonprofit employer, including:

• reducing the stress on expensive office space
• eliminating stressful office commute times
• improving supervisory skills by requiring supervisors to manage by objectives and results
• attracting part-time workers, people with disabilities, and retired workers and retaining valued employees who move to remote locations or who need to spend time as caregivers at home
• enticing prospective high-tech staff members who seek flexible work environments.

Risks

Some of the risks that arise when a nonprofit adds telecommuting as an option include:

• lack of consistency in permitting employees to telecommute and concern that the organization may not be affording equal opportunity to its workforce
• loss of employer trust of employees and of co-worker for co-worker
• inability of telecommuting workers to take full advantages of technological advances in the workplace
• concern that data and system security measures and procedures won't be adhered to strictly by the telecommuting employee
• employees' frustration or withdrawal due to lack of training opportunities
• potential for reduced commitment to the organization due to lack of face-to-face contact with peers
• lack of employee productivity due to reduced supervision
• inability of a nonprofit to ensure a safe working environment
• increased security risks from utilizing remote access and equipment not directly controlled by the nonprofit
• lack of physical control over sensitive or confidential client or organization information
• inability of the nonprofit to monitor employee uses of equipment and provide in-person system support.

Risk Management Strategies

There are quite a few things you can do to manage the risk and reap the benefits of telecommuting:

• Take the time to fully define your telecommuting program, including information on the goals and scope of the program as well as participant eligibility and selection process
• Examine each position in your nonprofit and determine which are suitable, and therefore eligible, for telecommuting.
• Carefully estimate the expense of implementing a telecommuting program, and determine who will bear the cost of equipping a telecommuter's home-based office-you or the telecommuter.
• Consider using an application process that includes a home safety checklist to select telecommuters.
• Offer the opportunity to telecommute on an equitable basis. Make sure your rationale is sound and upholds your commitment to fairness in the workplace.
• Identify a nonprofit staff member who will serve as the Telecommuting Program Coordinator.
• Develop a telework policy and agreement; require all employees who telecommute to sign the agreement before they begin telecommuting.
• Ask your legal and insurance advisors if your telecommuters are covered under your existing workers' compensation coverage and if equipment used by the employee is covered under your property coverage. If not, ask what changes are required to protect your nonprofit against loss of company-owned equipment.
• If your nonprofit is contemplating permitting telecommuting for the first time, consider beginning with a pilot project. The test will enable you to substantiate that it's a viable option for the organization and fine tune the policies and procedures you have established to support telecommuting.

Suggested Components of a Telework Policy

Consider including the following items in a telework policy for your nonprofit:

• An overview of the parameters of the program, and any special requirements that apply (e.g. that telework locations be within the state where the nonprofit operates, or that the nonprofit will be allowed to inspect the work site).
• Information on the nonprofit's systems security provisions and instructions.
• A restatement of the nonprofit's applicable code of conduct.
• Information about the required work schedule and means of communications between the employee and the "home office" as well as contact between the employee and the nonprofit's clients and outside vendors.
• A signed statement that the employee agrees to establish and maintain a safe and secure home workstation and that the employee has read and understands the policy and agreed to abide by its provisions.

Telecommuters Are Employees

With minor necessary exceptions, telecommuting employees should be subject to the same rules that apply to employees working in your main office. Make sure that any changes in employment policies and practices are promptly communicated to these off-site employees.

As with any change in employment policy, an organization should always request legal review from a competent attorney familiar with the laws of the state in which the nonprofit conducts business before implementing the new policy.

April 30, 2002