"The issue of whether or not to allow employees to work at a distance is no longer a cost benefit issue - it is simply the reality of doing business," says Linda Barrington, Research Director and Labor Economist at The Conference Board. "And effective management of dispersed employees is a key to success in that new reality."
The Conference Board Research Working Group on Managing a Distant Workforce examined the issue of managing distant workers at recent meetings and through interviews, surveys and focus groups of relevant high-performing, dispersed work teams.
The goal of the research working group was to identify effective ways to address the organizational, managerial and individual challenges of managing distance employees. In addition to survey responses, this report includes case studies from MetLife, Qualcomm and Lincoln Financial.
EFFECTIVE MANAGER-EMPLOYEE WORK TEAMS ARE KEY
Major findings of this study include:
* More than 60 percent of the respondents surveyed agreed that managing same-site employees is easier than managing distance employees.
* Nearly 80 percent of the respondents believe that the extra costs of enabling employees to work at a distance do pay off.
* Managers' perceptions of the job they're doing differs from that of distance employees - 53 percent of managers surveyed reported spending more than an hour a week developing working relationships with distance employees, whereas only 18 percent of employees believed that their managers spent that much time with them.
Five practices were found to be shared among effective distance teams: in-person meetings; clear agreements on accessibility; good use of group software; adequate company support; and clearly defined roles for members.
Peter Linkow, author of the study, says: "Great distance managers must first and foremost be inclusive, empowering, supportive and trustworthy. Then, they must master the fundamentals of management, like setting goals, evaluating, giving feedback and coaching. Finally, they must be superb at three competencies - cultivating relationships, focusing on outcomes and developing employees."
Although managers and employees disagree about how much time is spent developing relationships, they both agree that it is vital. Of managers and employees surveyed, about 90 percent and 70 percent said "the phone" and "in person," respectively, were the two most effective communication tools for building distance relationships.
In addition to identifying the challenges presented, the group also identified key skills for managers and employees which maximize productivity and lead to effective manager-employee teams. At the heart of managing distance employees well is proper communication and employee engagement in order to create a productive work environment. Effective distance employees were identified as those who know how to execute, use technology and collaborate.
