This book comes in 2 parts, the why and the how. The Why? portion is dedicated to the business decision maker who is trying to determine if it really makes sense to convert any part of the workforce to Home Based Employees. The How portion of the book is for the employee, the tools and techniques for being a productive contributor working from home.
The first part of the book really drills down into the economic analysis of cost savings resulting from converting some or all of a company workforce to home based. The book provides background from the business media about the debate in management over the effectiveness of the home based employee workforce. There is a case study startup company that is the basis of the economic model analyzed in the book. However, there is an online component to the analysis where readers can enter in their own figures to determine the resulting savings.
The economic model details the inputs for business metrics that would impact the cost basis for operations like rental rates, wages, commute times and so on. From these inputs the economic model determines the benefits accrued to each of the parties, the resultant savings for company and for the employee. Furthermore, the model also calculates carbon footprint offsets resulting from reduced staff commutes.
From these calculations a business decision maker can make a determination if it really makes sense or not to send some part of the staff home to work. It provides a cost basis for an operational model that managers can use to substantiate their business case for making employees home based. And further, for the employee, this provides calculations that allow them to determine what is the total benefits they can get from moving from the office. All of these are meant to further the conversation for managers and employees on moving to home based.
The second part of the book outlines the operational tools and techniques for employees to make the most of being home based. If your management has decided to send people home to work, how can they be enabled? What tools will they use? What will I do to make sure they are working? Once the workforce has been make home based, a number of questions arise. This section of the book addresses many of these concerns about employee productivity and suggests specific technologies for implementation.
If you are the newly displaced office worker who is new to being a home based employee there may be fears and doubts about how you are going to be successful working from home. Some will rejoice at working from home while others may recoil in fear over how they will stay away from the refrigerator. People lean heavily on work as a basis for their social interaction could be scared of getting cutoff from coworkers. Highly ambitions workers may worry over lost face time with important management that could potentially cost them future promotions.
These are real fears, some are more grounded than others, but this book addresses many of the concerns the home based employee could have about their success. There is the technology infrastructure to support a home based employee, how to react if you have just become home based, how to set up your workspace, how to create face time and make yourself presentable, how to be easily contactable, and the very important issue of how to be productive.
Finally there requires some work life balance. For the working from home there may be little boundary between the office and home, there may be challenges creating personal space with a tidal wave of distractions from work having directly invaded your personal living space. This book addresses techniques for being professional, accountable, and productive but also covers how to create boundaries and carve out personal time.
