Teleworking HR - telecommuting for human resource professionals

HR Magazine, August, 2001 by Charlotte Garvey

With excellent communication skills, a good plan and credibility, HR can telecommute.

Human resource professionals have promoted telecommuting and its benefits for many years. But many haven't had the opportunity to experience telecommuting firsthand--until recently.

Thanks to technological advances, a growing acceptance of telecommuting and the changing nature of HR to an increasingly strategic, project-oriented profession, HR practitioners are getting a chance to reap the rewards of their own advocacy.

But, within individual organizations, barriers to the idea of HR telecommuting still exist. Employees may not accept the fact that they can't walk into their HR manager's office to answer questions or solve problems. And CEOs may not understand that HR can perform well from home without sacrificing their job's employee relations aspects.

With good communication skills, a solid plan and a track record for being available, some HR professionals are overcoming those barriers and establishing successful, productive telecommuting arrangements.

"I really can get so much more done if I'm doing a project in the eight or 10 hours at home than I can in eight or 10 hours at work," explains Terri Hoehne, SPHR, director of HR at Aurora University in Illinois.

Like many HR telecommuters, Hoehne works at home only part time. She schedules workdays at home on an as-needed basis "for things I need to sit down and think through." This includes budget development, wage and salary analysis and development of policies to put on the university web site. "Anything where a quiet stretch of time helps," she explains.

Telework is not always a viable option for all types of HR jobs. "I don't know that a full-time telecommute would be workable," Hoehne acknowledges. "I think you still need that face-to-face contact on a regular basis."

Is It Right for You?

To be sure, not all HR positions lend themselves to telecommuting, and those that do may not work on a full-time basis. But, surprisingly, telecommuting experts say even solo HR practitioners and those with heavy administrative duties still can work out a productive arrangement.

"If a manager knows how to manage people and projects, then there's no reason why portions of HR cannot be in a telecommuting environment," says Carole Stein, currently president of JUMPSTART Enterprises Inc., of Plantation, Fla., who also built a company called HRLibrary.com, a subscription-based, online HR reference source, where everyone telecommuted. A benefits specialist, recruiter or payroll person does not necessarily have to work on-site full time, adds Stein.

"It's not so much a question of, 'Is this job or functional area suited to telecommuting or not?'" says Gil Gordon, a Monmouth Junction, N.J.-based consultant who advises corporations on telecommuting policies. "The question is, 'Are there one to three days' worth of work in this job that can be done as well or better from home?'" For example, compensation and benefits jobs are "very information-oriented" and could be done at home using a computer, says Gordon, who worked for 10 years in FIR at Johnson & Johnson. And because many applicants are comfortable sending resumes via e-mail, some recruiting-related tasks lend themselves to telecommuting, Gordon notes.

Despite HR's telecommuting potential, it is clear that a distanced approach will not work for all HR jobs. "There are HR issues where people have problems and they need to come discuss them with you," Stein admits. If the HR person is a telecommuter, "You can't run to somebody's office" to talk it over.

This is especially true for FIR professionals in employee relations and employee assistance programs. "You can't predict when that person is going to be sought out by an employee with a problem. And when they are, that contact needs to be face to face," says Gordon. Contact through a video screen or via e-mail will not do the trick, he adds.

In addition to looking at the type of job in terms of telecommuting suitability, HR should look at the nature of the job to consider more flexible options, Gordon advises. The nature of some HR jobs or projects is cyclical, which could suggest a telecommuting schedule based nor on days per week, but on a per-month or even per-quarter basis to better match the workflow.

Gordon cites development of training courses as an example. In the initial and final phases, the course developer must interact with internal clients and experts to define objectives, tasks and outcomes. "But there's a huge piece in the middle that is heads-down, grind-it-out development of the content," Gordon says. It makes sense to allow that middle portion of the project to be completed through telecommuting.

"The work must be portable," Gordon agrees. "Whatever you need to do the work for however many days must be packed up and taken home or must be accessible over the telephone line."

Like every telecommuting candidate, you also must consider whether you like the idea of working alone. For HR professionals, who tend to be "people people," this point is particularly salient.