InformationWeek

Training-for both managers and employees-is an essential piece of the foundation for a successful telework program, says Gil Gordon of consulting firm Gil Gordon Associates. "The real issue for managers is learning to manage results as opposed to observing activity," Gordon says. "It's the product-not the process or the presence-that counts."

Employees need to learn how to use new technology tools, maintain them, and where to go for help when they need it. At AT&T, telecommuting simulations were created that let prospective telecommuters work on-site as though they were working remotely. By practicing using only E-mail, the telephone, and voice mail to communicate, they are better prepared to forgo face-to-face communications when the time comes.

At BellSouth-which, as a provider of outsourced telework services, also supports telecommuting internally-teleworkers must be able to disassemble and reassemble their computers, modems, printers, and fax machines before they can work remotely. Some companies test workers' competency with software before they are sent off on their own. Such training has many benefits, including reduction in long-term technical support.

The reasons workers begin to telecommute are as individual as the people involved. Sheryl Hefner, director of management operations, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, began telecommuting to help cope with an unexpected health crisis. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, which required her to spend a month in the hospital followed by six months of chemotherapy. Her department sent a computer-support specialist to Hefner's home to set up a computer, modem, and install an extra telephone line.

Online Telecommuting Resources

AT&T on Telework AT&T site on telework generated from the company's own experience. Includes information on telework benefits and provides tips on developing a program and launching a telework pilot project. Gil Gordon Associates (www.gilgordon.com) This site covers telework, the virtual office, and related topics. Gil Gordon is a consultant specializing in the implementation of telecommuting programs. International Telework Association & Council (www.telecommute.org) The home page of the International Telework Association & Council, a nonprofit organization. This site contains extensive information about telecommuting. The International Homeworkers Association A networking forum for individuals who work from home. The Independent Homeworkers Alliance is dedicated to the success of telecommuters in the home workplace. June Langhoff's Telecommuting Resource Center This site promotes telecommuting and other remote work styles. Langhoff has written books and articles about telecommuting and related topics. Work At Home Success This site offers extensive information on telecommuting, home businesses, avoiding scams, and more. About.com on Telecommuting A wide range of information is available on this site, including development of telecommuting policies, technologies, and job opportunities. DATA: INFORMATIONWEEK

Hefner credits her ability to work from home with facilitating her recovery. "Sometimes with chemo, you can't sleep. With this arrangement, I could go online and work at two or three o'clock in the morning," she says. "It beat walking the floor." After she recovered, Hefner-who describes herself as a people person-returned to the office full time. But she is an avid advocate of telecommuting and helps other employees make the transition to telework.

The growth of the Internet, and an array of tools incorporating it, is also proving a boon to telework. Tom McKenna, director of client relations for the commercial collection agency LiquiDebt Systems Inc., located in Fort Wayne, Ind., oversees a sprawling group of project managers who travel among offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Fort Wayne, St. Louis, and Tampa, Fla. To support this kind of high-speed telecommuting, McKenna and the project managers use Symantec's pcAnywhere.

PcAnywhere is both a file-transfer system and a tool to control remote PCs. (US West's Extended Workplace Solutions recommends using pcAnywhere as a support tool for IT personnel in the office to manage their teleworkers' remote PCs.) McKenna uses pcAnywhere when he works at home to download files from the Fort Wayne office. Similarly, project managers who frequently are on the road can also use pcAnywhere to download or upload information to and from the main-office computer system.

"For example, we can dial right into our collection system via the Internet to review client files in real time, and to download and upload information," McKenna says. "It's simple and I don't have to have a hard-wired connection to the office."

The LiquiDebt team also relies on a suite of Internet communication and collaboration tools introduced by HotOffice Technologies Inc. The tools, which include document and contact management, E-mail, group calendaring, and bulletin boards, let users create a secure Web page on the Internet where authorized individuals can "meet" to share files and calendars, and to exchange threaded E-mail messages."HotOffice provides an avenue for a group of us to leave files, chat, place information on a bulletin board and to share calendar information," McKenna says.

"By using an Internet-driven product, our project managers in the field can dial up from anywhere," McKenna adds. "We're trying to cut over to the use of the HotOffice product rather than independent E-mail or voice mail."

As companies grow more comfortable with telecommuting programs, some will recognize that employees should "work where they can work best on a particular day," predicts Gordon. This will create a fluid population of telecommuters who might work in the office every day during one week, and just a day or two the week after that, he says. "Smart employers will tell their people that given what they need to do, the technology available, their manager's support, and their own preferences, they should be where they can add the most value to the corporation."