Telecommute or Die

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In a recent post on the Red Tape Chronicles, MSNBC’s Bob Sullivan raises some important issues for telecommuters in 2008. Most interestingly, in a world that sees gas prices soaring, and employers and employees alike looking for solutions that help the bottom line, one would think that telecommuting should be a booming trend.

But it telecommuting isn’t booming now, is it?

Apparently tax incentives and promises of happier and more productive employees aren’t enough to push telework arrangements past roughly 10% of the workforce. So if the benefits of telework to both employers and employees won’t galvanize people to take advantage of their company’s telecommuting policies, then what would?

Hmm … if this were a political candidate rather than a work arrangement, what would the answer be?

Fear.

In political campaigns, we’re told all the positives characteristics of the various candidates. Candidates smile, they kiss babies, they shake hands with the multitude, they make promises, and they smile some more. But people aren’t spurred to action by these nice, positive tactics.

No, what really works is going negative, and adding a bit of fear to the mix. Maybe that’s how prospective teleworkers should make their case. Instead of simply touting all the positive aspects of telework, try pointing out the negatives of traditional employment.

OSHA statistics demonstrate that employees that are at highest risk of workplace violence are those that have extensive contact with the public - that is - non-telecommuting workers.

Telecommuters are also the least likely employees to create a hostile workplace, and to my knowledge, every recorded incident of employee sexual harassment have occurred in traditional workplaces and not telecommuting arrangements.

Traditional offices are also a breeding ground for every new virus and weird bacterial infection that comes along. With the high likelihood of close proximity to infected coworkers, traditional employees stand a much higher risk of suffering and spreading these infections themselves. Of course, the physical isolation of many telecommuters reduces this risk, and many telecommuters will work through minor infections that would otherwise result in a sick day if they worked in a traditional setting.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m sure that you could come up with more creative arguments to inspire fear of traditional work arrangements in your employer. The key is balance - you want them to see telecommuting as a solution to their problems rather than see you as a walking HR issue waiting to happen. Don’t play the fear card too heavily, but feel free to point out the downside of the status quo.