Curious to hear from those who supervise ppl who WFH f/t

groovygrl

On this whole Marissa Mayer thing...I'm curious what ppl who supervise people who WFM full time think about it, especially if you do NOT also WFH. 

To me, the best balance would be part of the week in the office interacting live, forming relationships, attending meetings, etc and part of the week having flexibility to WFH or whatnot. In companies where ppl are scattered all over with only 1-2 employees in a location I can totally see full time situations. But if it is a case where the large majority are hired at a particular office and reside there (and were not hired w/ the guarantee of WFH), I can understand what Marissa Mayer is trying to do. I truly believe that there is a lot of value in seeing people face to face & working physically together but also feel that flexibility is very important today.

But, when I think about managing other ppl & read comments that the problem is in managers who don't supervise well, I think of how difficult it can be to have ONE employee who is a problem worker under your roof, let alone at home all the time. One employee who you have to constantly document on, check up on, talk to HR about, write up, do extra work to check on whatever the mediation plan was, etc can suck up so much time it is truly unbelievable sometimes. I have been in a job where my staff were located in offices all over our urban area and that was hard enough, but at least I could stop by their location, easily set up meeting times, go & see what they were doing, hear from coworkers, etc. I had to fire 2 ppl for underperforming in that situation and it was such a time suck each time.

So, I'm curious to hear from those who supervise in this type of situation, how do you do it, and if it were possible (I know it is not always), would you like to be able to regularly see & meet with your staff?

RoxyLynn

groovygrl:

I think of how difficult it can be to have ONE employee who is a problem worker under your roof, let alone at home all the time. One employee who you have to constantly document on, check up on, talk to HR about, write up, do extra work to check on whatever the mediation plan was, etc can suck up so much time it is truly unbelievable sometimes.

So, I'm curious to hear from those who supervise in this type of situation, how do you do it, and if it were possible (I know it is not always), would you like to be able to regularly see & meet with your staff?

The first step is to hire carefully.  Not everyone is disciplined enough to work offsite.

We have two people in our organization who WAH fulltime because it makes perfect sense for their work responsibilities.  Both travel a lot and have meetings with other organizations in the same professional field, so it would be ridiculous (IMHO) for either or both of them to drive 30 miles into the office, be there for 2 hours, and drive 20 miles elsewhere for a conference/event/meeting. 

The impetus is not 100% on management to do the checking-up, IMHO.  If a manager discusses an issue with an employee - "I need a better idea of your daily schedule", for example - it's also on the employee to address it.  And that's true for WAH or in the office.

I'd love for more of our staff to be able to work from home on occasion, especially because of current gas prices.  But the receptionist MUST be in the office to handle the phones, and the folks who work with highly confidential papers need to be physically present because we don't allow those papers, or copies of them, to be taken offsite.

groovygrl

RoxyLynn:

The first step is to hire carefully.  Not everyone is disciplined enough to work offsite.

The impetus is not 100% on management to do the checking-up, IMHO.  If a manager discusses an issue with an employee - "I need a better idea of your daily schedule", for example - it's also on the employee to address it.  And that's true for WAH or in the office.

To the first point- I agree, if you are hiring to WFH, that is one thing but it is my understanding that at yahoo ,this is a culture change that has occurred over time for a lot of these people. In that situation, the managers' hands are tied over hiring & just have to deal w/ the repercussions.

To the second point- also very true! But IMO not reality. If the manager doesnt check up, follow up, continue to document, give warnings blah blah blah nothing happens to the employee who doesn't fulfill. Obviously the one who does fulfill the agreement & perform will follow up & prove him/herself, but the one who isn't going to do that is going to wait for a manager to act, thus shifting responsibility onto the manager. 

emilyec1

I supervise a team of 3, some of who worked in the office before we were sent home and some who didn't, so I have the benefit of having all local workers. We meet at least once a month in the office and we use Google chat to communicate most of the time. I am fortunate in that I along with my boss hired great people and we had the opportunity to evaluate their work in the office before they were sent home. For me the biggest way I am able to evaluate their progress is by seeing them meet deadlines ahead of schedule and continuing to do excellent work. I know that's kind of vague!  I personally like a combination approach. I believe that spending all time from home is very isolating; there is a lot of merit in collaborating. That said, sometimes spending all time in the office can be counterproductive with "water cooler conversations", more interruptions, even just traveling farther to visit the ladies' room! I know my team members enjoy their days in the office but also glad to be home the next day. Keeping it varied keeps it interesting for sure! 

jlaOK

I don't supervise, but I am supervised in a WFH situation.  We have a small company with a total of 4 employees, but only 3 of us work together on projects (the 4th is the admin).  My boss knows what I'm doing and how much I'm working based on my project output.  I don't have firm deadlines to meet, but we talk almost daily and he always knows where I stand on certain projects.  We all Skype regularly which also helps.  I will say that if there are communication issues it can be worse in a WFH situation.  This is where it's important for my boss to be aware of the dynamic between the 3 of us and work to make sure everyone is working cohesively together.

2chatter

I WFH and supervise a team - some WFH and some are in other offices across the country.

There are lots of little things that help, but being able to check on online status (to see who wanders off, because you know they are not down the hall in a meeting), scheduling regular sessions with staff, team meetings, making sure to pick up the phone for small things when needed... etc....I don't find it harder to manage people out remotely - we have a very detailed quality process, and that yields some pretty solid results that with documentation are leverageable.

I think part of it for me is I work for a super giant company - even if I were in an office, the teams I collaborate with would still be in different offices.  My company now has a lot of people WFH because we don't have enough in-office seats.

TinaBean007

I know you asked for a supervisor level but I thought I could provide some feedback. I have been WAH for 2.5 yrs and I can say, my manager is very lucky that I am an overachiever. (Maybe he knew that and doesn't bother me?) He's called me 3 times in 6 months. Rarely emails or instant messages me. Before I starting WAH, he would stop at my desk daily to chat.

Anyway, this is my perspective: I think the virtual environment that exists is key. My coworkers can connect with me via phone, text, email, IM at any time and we have screensharing capabilities. I'm have a fairly rigid work schedule. (7am to 3:30pm with a 30 mins lunch) I do not schedule personal appts during the day if possible. I treat my home work environment the same as the office environment. (In my mind, it is the same.) My husband and dog are both locked out. I have a dedicated room that is my workspace and office that is not used for anything else.

With that said, if anyone of those communication tools were removed, it would cause a big impact. Here a list of things I think a manager could do:

- Set exceptions regarding work schedule, time-off, "out of office" time and communicating. (Is it okay to slip out for a chiropractor appt without notifying anyone or putting up and "out of office" reply?) This can have a different impact to a virtual team vs an "office" team. (My team shares our calendar with each other so we know when to find each other. If it's a private appt, we just mark the time as private but still indicate it as "out of office") 

- During meetings, listen for background noise indicating the home work environment is not ideal. (dog, kids,  etc) I firmly believe working at the dining room or kitchen table is not conducive to a good work environment.

- Call or IM for things for minor things even if you could send an email. Especially if it's something you would have stopped at their desk to discuss.

- Don't have meetings for the sake of having meetings, however if you're team used to have impromptu brainstorming sessions, try to continue this in a virtual way if possible. ("Hey, Do have time for quick conf call to brainstorm on something?")

- Effective work performance measurements shouldn't matter if you physically see your employee or not. If you need to see them to measure their output, then change the metrics.

I visit my home office every 4 months. Mainly just to feel connected. However, it is required and they pay for it. (Not that there is ever and an agenda or anything planned.) I do the same thing there as I do at home, except I go to HH after work

 

Hope this helps.