Page 133 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

112 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

“Telework,” Barbara said, “is very interesting because we have
a culture of flexibility. We really promote the idea that people can
have control over where, when, and how they get their work done.”
KPMG offers a wide range of work options so people can select what
best works for them, their job, and their lives. “For some,” says Bar-
bara, “that might be telework, and for others that might be flextime,
flex schedules, or compressed workweeks.” Telework is an important
choice, because the workforce is already dispersed because of client
assignments. Some employees never set foot inside a KPMG office.
Employees have the tools—laptops, remote access, and collaboration
Web sites for teams for discussions and sharing of documents and
calendars—and they can get the resources and information they need
from just about anywhere. “Our platform is this,” Barbara told us,
“and therefore sets up an environment where managers may not be
working in the same location as many of our associates.”
Part of the KPMG platform for mobile work involves extensive
training for managers, which includes workplace flexibility. Tools on
KPMG’s Web site specific to telework are available, including discus-
sion guidelines (between manager and employee), decision-making
guidelines, and things to consider when thinking about telecom-
muting. KPMG has an Alternative Work Arrangement Telecommuting
Guide and an Alternative Work Arrangement Conversation Guide, for
example, which support managers and employees who are planning
mobile work agreements together. Included in the guides are such
topics as tips for successful telecommuting; work scheduling; perfor-
mance measures, what the impacts are to the team, coworkers, and
clients; and the benefits and possible costs that might result as a con-
sequence of telework. “The key,” Barbara says, “is to encourage that
dialogue between the employee and the manager, to be sure to set ex-
pectations, to clarify roles, to clarify accessibility, and to communicate
with those other team members or other people who need to know
what the arrangement is.”