Managing the At-Home Workforce

Homeward Bound: How Organizations Are Managing the At-Home Workforce

The benefits of a home-based business model are compelling. From lower operational costs to improved customer service, greater environmental consciousness and stronger business continuity, it’s no surprise that more businesses are transitioning to a work-at-home or other remote work models. While deploying and managing an at-home workforce offers flexibility for customers and employees, it also creates new management challenges. An automated workforce management solution with time and attendance, self service and scheduling optimization functionality can empower organizations to provide greater flexibility and align the workforce with business demands, increase employee satisfaction, and facilitate compliance with regulatory and organizational policies and procedures.

Executive Summary

Home may be where the heart is, but for a growing number of organizations, it’s also where their employees are working. Over the last several years there has been an increase in the number of work-at-home and remote workers, and industry sources expect this trend to continue. More companies are turning to homeshoring – the use of home-based agents – to gain access to a larger and more diverse labor pool, increase worker satisfaction and retention, offer greater business continuity and provide a more rewarding, customer-centric experience.

Driving this trend are technology innovations such as broadband communications that enable anywhere, anytime connectivity; Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery models that provide access to enterprise business applications via the Internet; the global economic effect on wages; increased gas prices for commuters; an emphasis on “green thinking”; and a housing trend that finds more people living a greater distance from major cities.

According to research firm IDC there are an estimated 151,000 home-based agents working in the United States and that number is expected to double by 2011. With the rise of the “untethered” workforce – employees that are mobile or work from remote locations – and an increasing number of employees that work from a home base full or part time, organizations are facing new challenges effectively managing a remote, dispersed and changing workforce. An automated workforce management solution with time and attendance, self service and scheduling optimization helps companies monitor and manage workforce movement and metrics to support existing business processes, ensure the right people with the right skills are available at the right time, increase productivity and reduce costs.

An enterprise workforce management application with remote and mobile capabilities should:

• Offer opportunities to provide greater workforce flexibility, providing greater employee satisfaction and increased retention rates of skilled labor

• Bring enterprise-class applications to untethered workers rather than requiring them to be at the company’s offices to access enterprise applications

• Capture time and clock data for timely submission, review and approval of time sheets, absence requests and management approvals to streamline workforce management processes

• Align staff with the business strategy and schedule the right blend of skills, number of workers and lowest possible labor costs

• Increase visibility into employee business expenses and labor costs to improve compliance with company policies and procedures

This paper examines the work-at-home trend, the opportunities and challenges it presents, the tools at-home workers need to be productive outside of the traditional office environment, and the enterprise application solutions available to manage and support an untethered workforce.

Work-at-Home Trends and Requirements
As organizations transition to or start their work-at-home programs, putting the technology in place that enables employees to get the job done is easy; the hard part is managing people and processes. Considering that human capital typically represents between 35 to 70 percent of organizational costs, how workers are deployed and how their time is managed directly affects an organization’s ability to achieve goals and maximize profits . Optimizing remote work has been shown to measurably reduce overtime, staffing, real estate and medical benefits costs, increase customer satisfaction and retention, and boost earnings and shareholder value.

Labor and business expenses are the top two controllable business costs for an organization and as people spend more time out of the traditional office setting, they require enterprise solutions that increase productivity, reduce costs and are easy to access and use. Expense reporting and workforce management related functions, such as time capture and absence requests, help to manage these controllable business costs.

Like their on-site colleagues, remote workers have the same pressures and responsibilities to adhere to project and work deadlines and deliverables, existing corporate policies, approvals and business processes. Managers also have the challenge of keeping track of untethered workers while keeping them in sync with corporate practices and policies. At the same time, managers are also challenged with keeping work-at-home and remote workers in tune with the corporate culture and being part of a larger team and making sure they are managed effectively.   

Companies embracing a work-at-home model need to  recognize the “blurring” of work and personal time and space and enable workers to stay connected by offering convenient tools to increase productivity. That’s why more organizations are turning to automated workforce management solutions - to optimize scheduling and arm work-at-home employees with the right tools needed for policy compliance and workflow requirements.

The Business Challenges of Managing a Home-Based Workforce
As businesses strive to advance customer relationships, including both new business initiatives and existing relationships, delivering a best-in-class customer experience becomes increasingly important. For many organizations, the motivation for deploying and managing the at-home workforce is based on a customer-centric principle that improved worker satisfaction leads to increased customer satisfaction, which results in stronger customer loyalty.

For workers, working from the comfort of home erases geographical limitations and enables them to have greater schedule flexibility and reduced commuting and work-related expenses such as business wardrobe and dry cleaning costs, lunches, child care, and low vehicle usage that can translate to lower automobile insurance costs. For employers, they are also able to conquer geographic limits and access a widespread talent pool. Furthermore, by keeping employees off the roads, they are supporting green initiatives.

One of the biggest drivers for adopting a home-based workforce is cost savings. By moving to a home agent model companies can eliminate capital expenses on real estate, parking facilities, computer equipment and other employee amenities. They also benefit from an at-home workforce by reducing turnover, retaining good staff and being able to plan for varying workloads.

Providing greater support to employees who work remotely or are outside of a traditional office setting is becoming increasingly necessary to help them be productive and with home workers on the rise, new challenges also arise. Most apparent is the loss in productivity by workers unable to access business-critical applications remotely. That’s because “on premise” applications do not natively support remote workforce initiatives nor necessarily have organizations invested in technology and hardware to provide a stable and secure platform to this user population.

Without an infrastructure of services to support the out-of-the-office worker, employees need to rely on manual processes or travel to the office to complete work. This can contribute to data errors and expensive delays. Managers require visibility into schedules and worker availability - both onsite and off - to get the right person with the right skills in the right place at the right time and at the lowest possible cost whenever possible.

According to FlexPaths, workplace flexibility specialists, these solutions work hand-in-hand with other essential resources that prepare managers, employees, and other organizational stakeholders to conduct work in this new way. Until recently, the cost of deploying remote solutions and the associated hardware have been prohibitive. However, new advances in technology make it possible to bring enterprise applications to these at-home workers, delivering the same functionality they would have in a traditional office setting. By empowering employees with the right tools, organizations are able to keep work-at-home employees productive beyond the traditional office environment while also reducing costs.

The Tools to Support an Untethered Workforce
New technologies, work/life preferences, as well as financial and environmental initiatives are redefining what it means to be “in the office.” Technological breakthroughs have made this trend possible. Nearly 63 percent of homes in the U.S. have broadband access and that’s expected to increase. As part of the $787 billion fiscal stimulus package, President Obama imbedded a broadband expansion program to bring broadband access to rural regions throughout the U.S. With more widespread Internet access, and appropriate planning, policies, procedures and technology, home workers can deliver significant business advantages.

For example, without geographic constraints, organizations can recruit employees from anywhere in the country, and have greater access to a wider variety of skills to meet the needs of their customers. The best at-home workers are those who enjoy working independently, are able to focus on tasks at hand and have excellent time management skills. One industry that has benefited from implementing an at-home worker program is the call center industry. In addition to gaining access to specialized skills, at-home agents are typically older and better educated than their on-premise counterparts. Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan reports the typical median age of an at-home worker is 38, while the average age of an on-premises agent is 23. Additionally, more than 80 percent of remote workers have some college-level education, compared to 35 percent of those in brick-and-mortar centers.

By enabling workers to work from home, companies are able to increase job satisfaction, resulting in more productive and committed employees (and can translate to better customer service). It also enables organizations to have greater business continuity and the ability to plan for peaks and valleys in staffing requirements.

Workforce management solutions available over the Internet and/or through handheld or other untethered devices, provides access to solutions typically found in traditional work environments and can also contribute to greater worker productivity and satisfaction. An automated workforce management solution with optimized scheduling helps organizations accurately forecast and schedule workers to meet both customer service and cost objectives. It enables managers to produce a labor schedule in minutes rather than hours or days and to develop staff schedules to meet peak period demands that can lead to increased customer satisfaction.

An enterprise workforce management solution improves staff deployment and productivity, increases effectiveness of decision-making, and ensures payroll accuracy (while reducing the need for error correction). By replacing manual processes with automated systems, organizations gain a complete and accurate view of workforce movements and metrics, realize higher levels of productivity and get the biggest return on their labor investment. Increased capabilities include:

Ability to align staff with the business strategy - A workforce management solution with scheduling optimization helps managers create employee schedules that take into account data about an organization’s demand, allowing for accommodating for peaks and valleys. When workers are at home, managers can schedule employees on a moment’s notice as business needs dictate. It also ensures managers schedule the right blend of skills, number of workers and at the lowest possible labor costs.

Gain insight into skill sets and certifications, work schedules, turnover and absenteeism - Once an organization has visibility into their workforce, they can rapidly identify and work to resolve issues such as increased absenteeism or turnover. Perhaps analysis reveals turnover correlated to a particular manager or shift. Having this insight enables businesses to take a proactive approach to scheduling to meet business goals, and providing tools and information to effectively manage remote workers can reduce this problem.

Facilitate compliance with local and federal regulations, as well as internal policies and union requirements - Proper time and attendance recordkeeping and management is another growing area of focus for workforce optimization. Under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) covered employers must grant time off to eligible employees; the definition of which is multi-faceted. Having an automated workforce management system in place can benefit employers that could grant such leaves with assurance they’ve accurately met all of the requirements.

Another key regulatory driver for automating workforce management is related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor standards, which affect full- and part-time workers. Organizations with a high number of hourly workers must adhere to the requirement that hours beyond a 40-hour work week be paid at 1.5 times the hourly rate and employers that fail to comply with this requirement face severe penalties. By gaining insight into workforce metrics, organizations can ensure compliance with the FLSA and schedule employees to minimize overtime charges.

Improve planning and business forecasting - Having a system in place provides organizations with real-time data and visibility into labor distribution, delivering insight that allows them to plan for spikes in call volume, excess capacity or meet anticipated demands. For example, by enabling employees to self-schedule they can take advantage of schedule split shifts. In a call center environment this can ensure organizations can meet business needs, protect agent voice quality and alleviate agent fatigue.

Increase employee satisfaction - A scheduling solution positively impacts employees’ workplace satisfaction by giving them the ability to better control their own schedules whether working in the office or remotely. While the solution helps drive best practices by fitting employees and contractors into expected workloads, employees can have some say in their schedule by arranging for substitutions when they need to be out of the office. Employees can easily manage their availability for time off, arrange the coverage they need when they’re unable to work and at the same time, ensure the business keeps moving forward. Managers can view key information on time sheets and have the ability to approve them remotely.

Bringing Enterprise Applications Home
Companies that deploy business applications for workforce management can create operating efficiencies, deliver better resource accessibility, and provide the support necessary to help remote workers make informed business decisions. An automated workforce management system with remote access capabilities offers convenience for workers who may never come to a traditional office setting and supports work/life balance preferences via scheduling options.

An enterprise application delivered via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) eliminates the infrastructure technology and investment challenges and provides anywhere, anytime access to the application. It can help organizations better manage time and attendance processes, eliminate human errors, increase staff productivity, mitigate payroll delays and errors, and control policy and government compliance challenges and dramatically impact the bottom line.

Whether an untethered workforce is inherent in a company’s culture or they are transitioning to or starting a work-at-home program, corporations are challenged with providing applications that allow their workers to support existing business processes, increase productivity and reduce costs.

As more people spend more time out of the traditional office environment, these solutions deliver the connectivity workers require, along with convenience and ease-of-use that helps them remain productive. By bringing the enterprise application to at-home workers, business can deliver the same functionality they would have in a traditional office setting, optimize business performance and control one of their top business expenses.