Comments on: Pros and cons of telecommuting programs

By: Carl Mays II

Carl Mays II — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:18:55 +0000

If you work for a medical billing company one of the most significant elements of infrastructure required to support remote workers is a paperless work environment. Without this the logistics of managing remote workers (in terms of getting them the work they need) and the risk of a HIPAA violation are too significant to justify remote workers.

By: Rick Rossignol

Rick Rossignol — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:56:14 +0000

The biggest problem to overcome is your organization’s mindset that if they do not see the employee in his desk the work is not happening. It changes the way your management team has to manage employees. They now need to focus on the results of the position, not attendance, not cooperation. It is a great tool for companies, and worklife balance. It is a way to keep employees engaged and retain your talent.

By: Melody

Melody — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:18:28 +0000

Layla, I work for a medical billing company as well and am interested in learning more about your telecommuting policies and measurements for assessing productivity.

By: Kay

Kay — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:44:59 +0000

I have worked for companies that allow telcommuting and my husband has telecommuted for years. I am HUGE support of the practice for the pros listed above. From an employee standpoint it can be a negative because although it sounds great to work from home you are never away from work. I can tell you from experience that when you are working from home it is real easy to work until 7pm or later because you do not have that commute to get home to the family. it does require discipline on the individuals part though. As for measuring productivity, that is easy. They either produce or you let them go – it will be evident by the goals being met.

By: PAM MINTURN

PAM MINTURN — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:37:52 +0000

I TOO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TELECOMMUTING WORKS SUCESSFULLY. ALSO, HOW DO YOU KNOW THE EMPLOYEE IS DOING THE WORK YOU ARE PAYING THEM FOR? IS THERE A COMPUTER PROGRAM THAT THEY LOG ONTO AND YOU CAN SEE THEM WORKING?

By: Layla

Layla — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:09:57 +0000

Hi Jim, we have allowed telecommuting for certain positions within our facility for three years now and have found that the pros outway the cons. We are a mid-sized multi-speciality medical facility. In order to be considered for a telecommuting position you have to meet certain performance markers and have deomonstated that you are able to keep on task and on track without immedicate supervison. Currently, I have two medical billers and one insurance verification representative that are on a telecommuting program. These employee’s work from home two days a week and are in the facility three days a week. Recently, in order to maximize office space I moved to the same telecommuting schedule. The benefits to everyone have been outstanding. In order to not have people miss meetings we have changed meeting dates to assure that all employee’s that are needed are present. Not all employee’s can work from home, however if you have positions that will allow for secure remote access and the staff that are able to be disciplined enough to stay on task you will see excellent results.

By: Laura Collins

Laura Collins — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:08:41 +0000

Hi. I’m an HR consultant who works on the Telecommute CT project team, here in Connecticut. I’ve developed policies, procedures, self-nomination forms, agreements, and all sorts of tools to help managers and teleworkers manage this work arrangement as a win/win. Happy to help if you’re interested.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:42:57 +0000

I would be interested in communicating with someone who has been invloved with telecommuting…I think it would be a great idea to try and incorporate this.