Work-at-home: what managers need to consider

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 2000 by Barbara Love

Employees want to work at home for many reasons: a new baby, elders who need care, a spouse who has been relocated. Communication by fax, e-mail and phone makes working at home possible for three full-time Miller Freeman circulation employees. All work from homes far away from the company's San Francisco headquarters (in Missouri, Washington State and Canada).

"Companies feel they have to accommodate good people who want to work at home," says Gina Oh, circulation director, Miller Freeman. "The difficulty of getting and keeping good people is well known." Oh offers several tips for managers thinking of allowing employees to work at home: (1) Consider what kind of work the person is doing. Two of the people working at home for MF circulation are fulfillment managers, who work mostly by phone. Another is a circulation production person working with printers across the Midwest. "In these instances, it doesn't matter where they call from," says Oh. (2) Reserve this privilege for people you know very well. (3) Be gin on a trial basis, maybe three to six months, depending on how long the employee has been with you. (4) Allow for extra costs in your budget for phone calls, computers, computer support, fax, printer and mailing. "The extra costs are significant enough to make you think about it," says Oh. "But in these times when it's difficult to retain good employees, allowing people to work at home is a smart thing to do. I've never seen a situation where it didn't work here."