Savvy small business owners are using telecommuting to help valued employees who just can’t – and don’t want to – make that grueling trip to work anymore. Good employees are difficult to retain so if you are thinking of implementing a telecommuting program in your small business, here are a few tips to get you started.

·         BUY THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT – Unit cohesion and productivity in a virtual workforce is just as important as it was during our time in the military.   Make sure your staff has the right gear and remote access to company servers and files.  Make sure your computer security is up to speed too!

·         KEEP BUILDING TEAMWORK – Use the new technology such as videoconferencing (SKYPE), webinars and other tools that can help preserve the “espirt de corps.”  Don’t just rely on e-mail communications – giving the telecommuters the opportunity to talk to coworkers and clients over the phone or webcam is essential to the success of the program.

·         FOCUS ON RESULTS  - You must trust your team to stay motivated without supervision. This is one reason to hire qualified military veterans as employees for your small business.  You must convey a results-based management style – this way your people are motivated to improve the quality of their work and not just “put in the time.”

You, as the business owner and CIC, need to set clear and defined expectations for virtual workers to make sure that everyone is on the same page.  Attention to details, like expected response times for e-mails, become important to your crew.

Smart telecommuting can save your staff money, could be an incentive to retain your best and brightest and should improve worker productivity if handled the right way.

Good luck!         

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