Management Practices for Flexible and Remote Working

SUMMARY

• To competitively attract & retain talent organizations need to provide staff with work location and schedule flexibility options.
• To incentify workers into the office, offer 35-hour work week benefit
• To address remote working timesheet fraud and abuse management concerns, implement computer activity and video supervisory spot-checking capability
• To address socialization and networking needs, ensure new online and in-person programs for geographically distributed teams.

PROBLEM

• Post-Covid Office Workers 
• Want improved personal-life/work balance through 
• Flexible working hours
• (e.g. childcare after-school activities, 4x10hr weeks, multiple employment, etc.)
• Remote working from home
• Eliminating personal commuting time, costs, and environmental impacts
• Some are 
• abusing remote working
• multiple simultaneous employment, side gigs, 
• quite quitting, unapproved paid absence)
• fraudulent employment (unauthorized subcontractor work) 
• Employers unsure how to 
• Adapt labor management supervision practices for new marketplace high-speed Internet telepresence
• Presence: Can't walk around office to confirm staff contracted attendance and working hours
• Purpose: Can't look over staff shoulders to verify paid time not being spent on non-work related activities
• Ensure Objectives to 
• Retain and Attract competitive talent 
• From any part of the country, instead of being limited to facility local job markets
• Provide opportunities for DEI diverse candidates who are 
• Mobility challenged
• In economically underserved areas
• Retain valued contributors as personal or business conditions change (e.g. reducing hours option)
• Reduce facility operating costs in expensive locations
• Ensure remote and multi-location teams productive efficiency
• Detection of fraudulent/unethical employees
• Security/Compliance Risks: DoD clearances, hacking malicious actors

SOLUTIONS

• Update Employment Classifications
• Locations
• In Office
• Required for roles that can't be performed remotely
• (e.g. Materials handling: fabrication, assembly, packing/shipping)
• Option for any staff where office space available
• Hybrid: Remote
• Activity Logging Requirement: 
• Minimum 40 hr/week (any combination of online and in-office)
• Types
• Flexibility: All variation in working hour schedules must be specified and approved by supervisor via email
• Full-Time minimum attendance hours: 40-hrs/week (+ breaks)
• INCENTIVE / COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATION OPPORTUNITY: 37-hr work-week (ala EU)
• Note: 12% reduction in annual pay at constant hourly rate.
  Or if annual pay to remain constant, could be in lieu of pay raise.
• Provides accommodation for community required
• Part-Time (pay only for actual hours worked)
• Maximum pay: 40-hr/wk
• BENEFITS: NEW INCENTIVE: Prorated Benefits
• Bonus eligibility
• Medical insurance employer contributions per hours worked
• SOW Contractors (Independent/Agency)
• Agreed: Objective deliverables, milestone payments
• No time keeping or activity monitoring requirements
• New Hiring: Jobs Postings 
• Supervisor able to list remote, full-time, part-time, SOW options for a job opening
• Single employment offer and onboarding process to minimize process complexity and costs
• Staff Annual Open Enrollment staff change opportunities
• Employees may request location and full-time/part-time changes
• Allows employees to change classifications based on personal life changes
• Require supervisor approval
• Departments able to establish their own requirements and approvals
• Easy change without complex HR processes
• Management Tools for Supervisors

• Leverage modern technologies to adapt management Employee Productivity Monitoring practices.
• Fairness: Applies to all staff/management levels, from Executive down)
• Office Facilities
• Entrance badge scanners 
• For automated office attendance logging
• And emergency evacuation roll-call checklists
• Office zone cameras to replace need for supervisor in-person visual verification
• Enables job opportunities for workers not co-located with supervisors
• Differing offices
• Remote + In-Office team mixes
• Computer Workstations
   (all laptops/desktops, not just remote workers)
• NOT FOR Surveillance
• Not capturing keystrokes and app use activities, emails 
• Not audio (microphones) - personal privacy eavesdropping protection
• Confidentiality
• Supervisors only access own dept staff
• Activity Logging
• Activation: Users active logged in sessions
• Work Breaks: When user locks screen for 5 minutes or more than 5 minutes inactivity screen-lock
• Network connectivity/power outages auto-detection and accommodation (events beyond employee's control)
• Cameras
• NOTE: 
• Staff have no right to privacy with company provided equipment, during work
• For people concerned about remote working environment views, they should use virtual backgrounds, backdrops, move against a wall, or work from an office.
• Only activated when user is logged in for working
• When personal privacy is needed, user can logout
• Employee covering or disabling not permitted
• Fraud detection (unauthorized someone else doing work)
• Personal Calendar Integrated (e.g. MS Outlook) for times when
• Meetings way from computer
• Travel
• Able to retroactively adjust times for unanticipated delays/extensions 
• Alerts supervisor for potential abuse attempts
• Realtime dashboard for people managers
• Engagement Hours per day, and week
• Integrated with HR Management System (e.g. Workday) for Approved Time-Off compensation
• Video monitoring
• Office cam video (only locations where staff could be located)
• Subordinate PC cams and workstation display monitors
• NOTE: All activities and communications are organizational properly and have the right to be examined.
• Productivity Management (all teams, all levels Executive down)
• Departmental Kanban boards for team and personal goal objectives 
• Purposeful Engagement can't be determined alone by presence/activity
• Ensures meaningful engagement focus on Value Delivery
• For teams not required to adher to PMO Kanban practices
• Just use simple/easy-to-use Lean Kanban (e.g. shared "To Do Lists")

FURTHER 

Socialization and Networking are corollary important organization cultural considerations
that need to be separately addressed to define and guide compelling online and in-person programs for distributed organizations.

• Example: "Birds of a Feather" virtual conference channels for remote ADHD staff who want contact with others to help focus.