Successful telecommuting requires discipline
By Mark Schnurman/The Star-Ledger
March 28, 2010, 2:00PM
More and more companies are letting employees telecommute, or work remotely. There are many benefits to this, such as lower costs, less time spent commuting and a more comfortable environment. About 2.5 million employees telecommute regularly and another 30 percent of employees do it on an ad hoc, or as-needed, basis.
The challenges of telecommuting are significant. When I work at home, I am distracted by the TV, my children and diversions of everyday life. In an effort to learn about this work style I consulted an expert.
Steve Smith of West Orange is an impressive individual. He has an engineering degree, an MBA, along with diverse corporate and higher education experience. Steve and his family recently moved to New Jersey from the Pittsburgh area, and he continues to work for Carnegie Mellon University. As a member of the university’s corporate relations organization, he is responsible for establishing and managing relationships with corporations, with a strong emphasis on connecting companies with the world-class research conducted by the faculty. I asked Steve to set the record straight on how to effectively work remotely. Here are some tips:
•Be self-motivated. Steve told me, "You cannot look at telecommuting as a part-time job or a way to slack off. You must make sure you are contributing to your organization and meeting your goals. For me, I also have the opportunity to provide additional value to the university by meeting with our many alumni in the area to explore new corporate relationships with companies in the NJ-NY area."
•Overcommunicate. When you work remotely, it is critical to stay connected to your boss and colleagues. "I copy my boss on more e-mails than I used to, to make sure that he knows what I am doing, how projects are progressing and informing him of any critical issues." Steve said. "I also use the phone a lot more than in the past. E-mail is impersonal, so I use the phone to connect on a personal, as well as professional, level." Prospective telecommuters also should be aware that important discussions can be conducted via video conferencing that allows you to have face time with people. Solutions like Skype have a nominal cost and can be used effectively with a simple web camera.
•Communicate carefully. At my company, employees who telecommute have their interactions and communications scrutinized. Specifically, we look to ensure they respond quickly to requests and that their productivity continues to meet expectations. If you are telecommuting, stay on top of your e-mails and phone messages.
•Create a virtual office environment. Steve said he missed the camaraderie of an office environment. "I no longer have a water cooler to connect with people, so it is important to use other informal modes of communication." Some organizations may benefit from using social networking tools, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
•Structure your day. Schedule and structure your day as if you work in an office. Steve, who is very organized, said, "Each day, I have a routine. I get up every morning, shower and go about my day like I would in an office. My home office is outfitted with a desk, two phone lines, my PC and fax machine; everything I need. Staying focused and having structure is critical to my success."
•Create parameters between work and life. Typically, we think of people slacking off and falling prey to the distractions of home, but just the opposite often occurs. When telecommuting, it is necessary to trumpet the end of the workday or you can risk getting tied up indefinitely.
If you want to telecommute, it is important that you emphasize the organizational benefits when speaking to your manager. Stress that you will be able to work longer, harder and with less distractions and that it will cost the company less money. It may help to suggest you start slowly — a day or two a week — and build from there. Then deliver the promised productivity. After all, the proof is in the pudding.
The bottom line is that organizations covet employees who add value. By following Steve’s advice, telecommuters can add even greater value to their organizations.
Mark Schnurman may be reached at holbertgroup@hotmail.com or on the web at markschnurman.com.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Who's Hurt—and Who's Not—by $3 Gas
Who's Hurt—and Who's Not—by $3 Gas
Published: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010 1:35 PM ET By: Christina Cheddar Berk News Editor
Even though the peak driving season is still months away, gasoline prices have been creeping to their highest level since October 2008, and it looks like consumers should brace themselves for higher prices at the gas pump this summer.
The Energy Department and many energy industry expert suspect gasoline prices will hit $3 a gallon this spring.
"Three dollars a gallon is a virtual done deal," said Stephen Schork, editor of the Schork Report, in an interview on CNBC.
The steep climb in crude oil prices, which are hovering at around $80 a barrel right now — double last year's price at this time — have not fully trickled down to the prices consumers are paying for gasoline or diesel, Schork said.
"That means one of two things: Either crude oil has to fall between now and the Fourth of July, or we need to see a significant rally in pump prices between now and July," Schork said.
The nationwide average has hit $2.799 per gallon, a penny higher than Wednesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That means prices have jumped 18.9 cents in the past month and are 87.9 cents higher than year-ago levels. Back on Oct. 23, 2008, prices averaged $2.8215 per gallon.
Schork isn't alone in thinking that pump prices will average more than $3 a gallon by the summer, the Energy Department and many other analysts are saying price could top $3 soon.
Round Earth Capital Chief Investment Officer John Kilduff recently told CNBC that he expects gasoline prices to average at least $3.10 a gallon this summer. What's more, he sees that level as an important tipping point in the mind of consumers, who are still reeling from the weak economy and high levels of unemployment.
"Psychologically, it's going to be horrendous," Kilduff said. He added that he thinks creeping gasoline prices, which have already pushed prices above $3 in some communities, are already eroding consumer confidence.
However, Jason Schenker, president and chief economist at Prestige Economics, disagrees. He expects that while $3 a gallon gas may change the behavior of lower-income consumers, it won't impact others unless prices climb above the $4-mark.
The good news is, Schenker doesn't expect that to happen. Rather, he suspects economic forces aren't there to support $4 a gallon gasoline.
Richard Hastings, a consumer strategist at Global Hunter Securities, also thinks consumers will not be hurt uniformly by higher gas prices.
According to Hastings, the situation now is much different than in past oil price spikes. For one thing, technology has created more home-based businesses and jobs that allow for telecommuting. This reduces the dependancy of consumers on driving to get to their jobs.
Still, lower-income consumers—and the businesses that rely on those consumers—will be vulnerable to the higher prices, he said.
This has already shown up in trends at Wal-Mart Stores, which is highly exposed to shoppers with lower incomes.
He also suspects certain regions of the country are more at risk than others because they have higher rates of unemployment and more exposure to the still-weak construction industry. Those regions would include the West Coast, Southeast and the Industrial Belt of the Midwest.
The National Resources Defense Council, a national environmental action organization, recently did an analysis of the states most vulnerable to high oil prices, ranking states by the percentage of income that the average driver spent on gasoline. (To see the top ten states, click through our slideshow.)
Their analysis also assessed how states would fare if gasoline prices spiked to their 2008 peak levels. This assessment showed that the average driver in Mississipi would spend about 11.07 percent of his or her income on gasoline. In Montana, the percentage was about 10.5 percent.
“We have already been seeing prices ticking upward and we are still in the spring, this augers poorly for what's coming," said Deron Lovaas, the transportation expert at the NRDC.
Demand for gasoline tends to be weaker this time of year, and ramps up as the summer weather increases the number of people travelling on vacations.
According to Kilduff, gasolines supplies are being limited by the refining industry, which is operating at only about 80 percent of its capacity. If this situation does not change, it will become more difficult for refiners to keep up with demand if more consumers hit the road.
Lovaas said he believes the problem rests in consumers having very limited alternatives to gasoline. In many areas, public transportation is scarce.
That's another reason why consumers in some states fare better than others—they have more options as well as more income.
According to NRDC, the ten states least vulnerable to high gas prices (from most to least) are: Florida, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Colorado, New Hampshire, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and the least vulnerable Connecticut.
© 2010 CNBC.com
Published: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010 1:35 PM ET By: Christina Cheddar Berk News Editor
Even though the peak driving season is still months away, gasoline prices have been creeping to their highest level since October 2008, and it looks like consumers should brace themselves for higher prices at the gas pump this summer.
The Energy Department and many energy industry expert suspect gasoline prices will hit $3 a gallon this spring.
"Three dollars a gallon is a virtual done deal," said Stephen Schork, editor of the Schork Report, in an interview on CNBC.
The steep climb in crude oil prices, which are hovering at around $80 a barrel right now — double last year's price at this time — have not fully trickled down to the prices consumers are paying for gasoline or diesel, Schork said.
"That means one of two things: Either crude oil has to fall between now and the Fourth of July, or we need to see a significant rally in pump prices between now and July," Schork said.
The nationwide average has hit $2.799 per gallon, a penny higher than Wednesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That means prices have jumped 18.9 cents in the past month and are 87.9 cents higher than year-ago levels. Back on Oct. 23, 2008, prices averaged $2.8215 per gallon.
Schork isn't alone in thinking that pump prices will average more than $3 a gallon by the summer, the Energy Department and many other analysts are saying price could top $3 soon.
Round Earth Capital Chief Investment Officer John Kilduff recently told CNBC that he expects gasoline prices to average at least $3.10 a gallon this summer. What's more, he sees that level as an important tipping point in the mind of consumers, who are still reeling from the weak economy and high levels of unemployment.
"Psychologically, it's going to be horrendous," Kilduff said. He added that he thinks creeping gasoline prices, which have already pushed prices above $3 in some communities, are already eroding consumer confidence.
However, Jason Schenker, president and chief economist at Prestige Economics, disagrees. He expects that while $3 a gallon gas may change the behavior of lower-income consumers, it won't impact others unless prices climb above the $4-mark.
The good news is, Schenker doesn't expect that to happen. Rather, he suspects economic forces aren't there to support $4 a gallon gasoline.
Richard Hastings, a consumer strategist at Global Hunter Securities, also thinks consumers will not be hurt uniformly by higher gas prices.
According to Hastings, the situation now is much different than in past oil price spikes. For one thing, technology has created more home-based businesses and jobs that allow for telecommuting. This reduces the dependancy of consumers on driving to get to their jobs.
Still, lower-income consumers—and the businesses that rely on those consumers—will be vulnerable to the higher prices, he said.
This has already shown up in trends at Wal-Mart Stores, which is highly exposed to shoppers with lower incomes.
He also suspects certain regions of the country are more at risk than others because they have higher rates of unemployment and more exposure to the still-weak construction industry. Those regions would include the West Coast, Southeast and the Industrial Belt of the Midwest.
The National Resources Defense Council, a national environmental action organization, recently did an analysis of the states most vulnerable to high oil prices, ranking states by the percentage of income that the average driver spent on gasoline. (To see the top ten states, click through our slideshow.)
Their analysis also assessed how states would fare if gasoline prices spiked to their 2008 peak levels. This assessment showed that the average driver in Mississipi would spend about 11.07 percent of his or her income on gasoline. In Montana, the percentage was about 10.5 percent.
“We have already been seeing prices ticking upward and we are still in the spring, this augers poorly for what's coming," said Deron Lovaas, the transportation expert at the NRDC.
Demand for gasoline tends to be weaker this time of year, and ramps up as the summer weather increases the number of people travelling on vacations.
According to Kilduff, gasolines supplies are being limited by the refining industry, which is operating at only about 80 percent of its capacity. If this situation does not change, it will become more difficult for refiners to keep up with demand if more consumers hit the road.
Lovaas said he believes the problem rests in consumers having very limited alternatives to gasoline. In many areas, public transportation is scarce.
That's another reason why consumers in some states fare better than others—they have more options as well as more income.
According to NRDC, the ten states least vulnerable to high gas prices (from most to least) are: Florida, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Colorado, New Hampshire, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and the least vulnerable Connecticut.
© 2010 CNBC.com
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Nothing to fear from teleworking
Nothing to fear from teleworking
Managers can maintain control while offering a flexible workplace
Danny Bradbury, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, 1.4 million employees in this country work at home at least part of the time.
How many people today work entirely in the office on a 9-5 basis? As mobile data services enable workers to plug into their office from anywhere, more of us are beginning to work on the road, or from home. The challenge for organizations lies in ensuring we can do it properly, deliver on our goals and avoid losing control of employees.
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, 1.4 million employees in this country work at home at least part of the time. Hopefully, as mobile data plans from Canadian carriers become more liberal that will increase, but it already represents a significant portion of the population.
"Mobile work is here to stay. It goes hand in hand with the revolution in information technology," says Robert Fortier, president of the Canadian Telework Association. "Until someone destroys all things digital, it will continue to grow".
Mr Fortier argues that the benefits to teleworking far outweigh the potential challenges. "By improving their capability to attract employees who look for flexible work, it helps organizations on the recruitment side, and it also helps avoid turnover," he says.
Then, there are the potential business continuity benefits involved in teleworking. If an epidemic such as SARS or H1N1 flu hits us again, and forces people to stay at home for health reasons, then they may be able to continue operating the business successfully from their homes. For companies that have effectively implemented teleworking as best practice, transit strikes will present no significant problems for corporate productivity.
However, a whole generation of middle management is used to a "line of sight" approach, where they can see a worker is at their desk. The idea of managing teleworkers remotely can be daunting. It can seem like they are relinquishing control. If a worker is out of the office, then how do you know they are working?
"A manager that has not been properly briefed or assessed can do a lot of harm to a pilot program," warns Linda Russell, managing partner of Telecommuting Consultants International, which helps clients implement telework and virtual office programs.
It is important to pick those managers and workers that are open to the idea at the start, she says. "Anywhere between five and seven managers in 10 can be reasonably comfortable with members of their staff teleworking at the start, and if it works out well, then a significant proportion can start to do it."
For companies already operating their business in a sophisticated way, the transition to teleworking shouldn't be too painful. Ideally, companies will not be measuring productivity by how many hours an employee spends at his desk. Rather, they will be applying more meaningful productivity metrics. How many customers did that employee help satisfactorily on the phone that day? How many Web forms did they process?
Measuring the basics that you would measure with any worker - quality, quantity and output - should be enough to show how productive teleworking staff are, Ms. Russell says. It is important not to let fear of losing control force managers and workers into untenable positions. "You can measure these things, but sometimes what happens is teleworkers end up getting measures to within an inch of their lives."
Generally, teleworking is not an all-or-nothing practice, Mr. Fortier says. In an ideal situation, teleworkers work from home or on the road a set number of hours a week, but come into the office to work and interact with managers for the rest of the time. This gives them a healthy balance, as well as the flexibility they crave while ensuring they don't feel too isolated. It can also lead to a situation where companies need less rented office space, because not all of their employees will be in the office all the time.
That gentler approach to teleworking, in which employees maintain regular physical contact with the office, could be a reassuring model for the more wary managers who are used to facetime with staff. And of course, managers would themselves be expected to practice what they preach. Somehow, managing a distributed workforce might seem all the more attractive when you do it at least a couple of days a week from home, checking in online over toast and coffee, rather than enduring the regular morning commute.
Financial Post
Managers can maintain control while offering a flexible workplace
Danny Bradbury, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, 1.4 million employees in this country work at home at least part of the time.
How many people today work entirely in the office on a 9-5 basis? As mobile data services enable workers to plug into their office from anywhere, more of us are beginning to work on the road, or from home. The challenge for organizations lies in ensuring we can do it properly, deliver on our goals and avoid losing control of employees.
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, 1.4 million employees in this country work at home at least part of the time. Hopefully, as mobile data plans from Canadian carriers become more liberal that will increase, but it already represents a significant portion of the population.
"Mobile work is here to stay. It goes hand in hand with the revolution in information technology," says Robert Fortier, president of the Canadian Telework Association. "Until someone destroys all things digital, it will continue to grow".
Mr Fortier argues that the benefits to teleworking far outweigh the potential challenges. "By improving their capability to attract employees who look for flexible work, it helps organizations on the recruitment side, and it also helps avoid turnover," he says.
Then, there are the potential business continuity benefits involved in teleworking. If an epidemic such as SARS or H1N1 flu hits us again, and forces people to stay at home for health reasons, then they may be able to continue operating the business successfully from their homes. For companies that have effectively implemented teleworking as best practice, transit strikes will present no significant problems for corporate productivity.
However, a whole generation of middle management is used to a "line of sight" approach, where they can see a worker is at their desk. The idea of managing teleworkers remotely can be daunting. It can seem like they are relinquishing control. If a worker is out of the office, then how do you know they are working?
"A manager that has not been properly briefed or assessed can do a lot of harm to a pilot program," warns Linda Russell, managing partner of Telecommuting Consultants International, which helps clients implement telework and virtual office programs.
It is important to pick those managers and workers that are open to the idea at the start, she says. "Anywhere between five and seven managers in 10 can be reasonably comfortable with members of their staff teleworking at the start, and if it works out well, then a significant proportion can start to do it."
For companies already operating their business in a sophisticated way, the transition to teleworking shouldn't be too painful. Ideally, companies will not be measuring productivity by how many hours an employee spends at his desk. Rather, they will be applying more meaningful productivity metrics. How many customers did that employee help satisfactorily on the phone that day? How many Web forms did they process?
Measuring the basics that you would measure with any worker - quality, quantity and output - should be enough to show how productive teleworking staff are, Ms. Russell says. It is important not to let fear of losing control force managers and workers into untenable positions. "You can measure these things, but sometimes what happens is teleworkers end up getting measures to within an inch of their lives."
Generally, teleworking is not an all-or-nothing practice, Mr. Fortier says. In an ideal situation, teleworkers work from home or on the road a set number of hours a week, but come into the office to work and interact with managers for the rest of the time. This gives them a healthy balance, as well as the flexibility they crave while ensuring they don't feel too isolated. It can also lead to a situation where companies need less rented office space, because not all of their employees will be in the office all the time.
That gentler approach to teleworking, in which employees maintain regular physical contact with the office, could be a reassuring model for the more wary managers who are used to facetime with staff. And of course, managers would themselves be expected to practice what they preach. Somehow, managing a distributed workforce might seem all the more attractive when you do it at least a couple of days a week from home, checking in online over toast and coffee, rather than enduring the regular morning commute.
Financial Post
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Minnesota state government bill establishing statewide telework requirements
H.F. No. 3535, as introduced - 86th Legislative Session (2009-2010) Posted on Mar 09, 2010
A bill for an act relating to state government; establishing statewide telework requirements; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 43A.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. [43A.188] TELEWORK.
Subdivision 1. Definition. For purposes of this section, "telework" means work activity in which an employee, whether regularly or occasionally, performs the duties and responsibilities of the employee's position from home or a worksite other than the employee's regular physical place of employment.
Subd. 2. Statewide telework authorization. (a) An appointing authority in the executive branch, legislative branch, or judicial branch shall allow employees to perform telework during at least 20 percent of the employee's normal expected hours of work in each pay period.
(b) The telework requirement under this section does not apply to a position:
(1) which by its nature requires the employee's physical presence at the employee's regular place of employment or at a particular location;
(2) for which telework would diminish employee performance or adversely impact the operations of the agency; and
(3) for which telework would manifestly not be practicable.
(c) For an employee whose position includes both (1) duties and responsibilities as 1identified under paragraph (b), and (2) duties and responsibilities not identified under paragraph (b), the normal expected hours of work under paragraph (a) must be calculated solely based on the total expected hours of work necessary to perform the duties and responsibilities not identified under paragraph (b).
(d) Nothing in this section establishes a requirement that an agency equip or otherwise provide infrastructure to enable an employee to perform telework, including but not limited to information technology procurement or reimbursement for Internet access.
Subd. 3. Telework policy. An appointing authority may establish a telework policy, which may include specification of positions, duties, and responsibilities to which
telework does not apply under subdivision 2, paragraph (b).
EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective July 1, 2010.
A bill for an act relating to state government; establishing statewide telework requirements; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 43A.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. [43A.188] TELEWORK.
Subdivision 1. Definition. For purposes of this section, "telework" means work activity in which an employee, whether regularly or occasionally, performs the duties and responsibilities of the employee's position from home or a worksite other than the employee's regular physical place of employment.
Subd. 2. Statewide telework authorization. (a) An appointing authority in the executive branch, legislative branch, or judicial branch shall allow employees to perform telework during at least 20 percent of the employee's normal expected hours of work in each pay period.
(b) The telework requirement under this section does not apply to a position:
(1) which by its nature requires the employee's physical presence at the employee's regular place of employment or at a particular location;
(2) for which telework would diminish employee performance or adversely impact the operations of the agency; and
(3) for which telework would manifestly not be practicable.
(c) For an employee whose position includes both (1) duties and responsibilities as 1identified under paragraph (b), and (2) duties and responsibilities not identified under paragraph (b), the normal expected hours of work under paragraph (a) must be calculated solely based on the total expected hours of work necessary to perform the duties and responsibilities not identified under paragraph (b).
(d) Nothing in this section establishes a requirement that an agency equip or otherwise provide infrastructure to enable an employee to perform telework, including but not limited to information technology procurement or reimbursement for Internet access.
Subd. 3. Telework policy. An appointing authority may establish a telework policy, which may include specification of positions, duties, and responsibilities to which
telework does not apply under subdivision 2, paragraph (b).
EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective July 1, 2010.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Argument for Rural Sourcing: Not Just 'Flag Waving'
The Argument for Rural Sourcing: Not Just 'Flag Waving'
by Don Tennant, none
Mar 3, 2010 4:26:56 PM
Don Tennant spoke with Monty Hamilton, CEO of Rural Sourcing Inc., about the growing popularity of outsourcing IT work to relatively low-cost, non-metro U.S. areas as an alternative to offshore locations. According to Hamilton, it’s not just about “waving the American flag,” but about serving a sweet spot that falls squarely in the midmarket.
Tennant: You presented at the 2010 Outsourcing World Summit in Orlando last month. How was the receptivity?
Hamilton: It was great. I was shocked, to be honest with you. I went in there thinking I was going to be the little minnow swimming amongst all the sharks. But even the larger competitors in India understand and get the model, and understand that they’re probably going to have to put up some similar kinds of centers to build up their onshore capabilities as well. There was no denying that this is a viable model, and a place that companies are going to want to take a look at.
My bandwagon is what I call Outsourcing 2.0, which is not just looking at India as my default choice. What are my other choices out there? Could it be Eastern Europe? Could it be China? Could it be my backyard in the U.S.? My goal is to put backyard U.S. as one of the check boxes people will look at. There was a group there from Ghana, pushing Ghana as an outsourcing location. I can give you all the competitive reasons why I think we’re better than Ghana.
Tennant: Give me a couple of them.
Hamilton: Ghana is a country of 4 million people, compared to 60 million people living in non-metro U.S. – I think we’ve got a much better opportunity to scale our model. Obviously, the infrastructure and other things aren’t up to speed in Ghana, not to mention some of the political issues. But I applaud the hell out of them for saying, “Hey, here’s something we’re going to go after and see if we can’t make this work.” The point is, there are a lot of locations out there saying, “We could be the next India.”
Tennant: What effect has the recession had on your business?
Hamilton: What we’re seeing is a reverse-migration trend. It happens every recession – as long as things are going well, we all flock to the big cities for big opportunities. Once the food begins to dry up and the weather doesn’t look so good anymore, we return home. I’m sure we’ll see in the next census that people are moving back to their roots and their family infrastructure.
Tennant: How many clients does RSI have?
Hamilton: About 15, from entrepreneurial ISVs to GlaxoSmithKline and R.J. Reynolds. I don’t think either of those extremes is where the sweet spot for us will eventually be. I believe our sweet spot will be mid-size companies, anywhere from $3 million to $3 billion [in annual revenue]. Those are the companies that are primarily going to have U.S.-based businesses. They’re not going to have the patience or wherewithal or investment dollars to go make an offshore operation in India work. But they’re going to have to figure out how to stretch their IT dollars and be more cost-efficient. For them, outsourcing is something they haven’t done a lot, or even looked at in the past.
Tennant: Is there any work that’s more suitably outsourced offshore rather than to rural locations in the U.S.?
Hamilton: Yeah. The rote, very little thinking about it, move stack A to stack B kind of stuff is going to be done cheaper offshore.
Tennant: I’ve written about the backlash from some areas being promoted as offshore alternatives, which stems from the perception that offshoring equates to low-quality call centers. Have you seen that?
Hamilton: I have not. I don’t think that fairly represents most of non-metro America. In fact, there’s a company called New Corp. in the warranty call-center business. They put their locations in places like Meridian, Mississippi; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; the Dakotas; and other places all around the country where there’s a low cost of living.
They’ve won all sorts of awards, and what they will credit it to is the kinds of people they’re able to get in these locations, who really like what they do. They’re great on the phone, they give great service, and they don’t turn themselves over every other day.
I have a friend who’s an entrepreneur, and he’s looking at putting one of these call centers in Fannin County, Georgia, a retirement location in the north Georgia mountains. He’s going to be one of those retirees – he’s been a senior-level executive at Cox [Communications] in Atlanta. The Fannin Chamber of Commerce said, “Frankly, there’s only so much golf you can play. And the retirement funds that some of these people had have been cut in half. If we had some jobs they could do for four or five hours a day, they would love that.” Nobody wants to wilt away. And in some cases, they’re forced to look at their retirement a little differently than they did a few years ago.
Tennant: Do you employ any workers from outside the U.S. who are here on non-immigrant work visas?
Hamilton: We currently do not.
Tennant: Does that mean you’re open to the possibility?
Hamilton: They would be perfectly welcome to apply, although we do have some sensitive data support work that would have to be kept separate.
Tennant: To be clear, you’re fully open to hiring someone here on an H-1B visa?
Hamilton: If they’re already here. I’m not going to be the one supporting that visa request.
Tennant: What’s your position on the H-1B visa program? Is it good or bad for the country?
Hamilton: My answer to that would be yes. It is both good and bad, and I don’t mean to be evasive. It certainly has been abused. I think it was put in with good intentions, and I think honestly, we needed it at certain times in this country. Does that mean we need it every year, and at the same exact number every year? I think not. I think we need to look at it like anything else we do, which is in terms of supply and demand. If the demand this year says we need 65,000, then great, let’s turn the spigot on. If the demand says 10,000 probably gets us to the right number this year, let’s adjust accordingly. Now, is the government quick enough to do that, and evaluate that? I’m not sure.
Tennant: Do you think there’s a shortage of needed IT skills in the U.S.?
Hamilton: Yes.
Tennant: What skills?
Hamilton: I couldn’t give you specifics. I think it’s probably across the board. I do think there’s been a lack of interest in going into what might be considered old-school typical computer software skills. If you’re asking whether that has been aided by the H-1B legislation, I can’t say – I haven’t looked at any empirical evidence of that one way or the other. I do think there’s a shortage, otherwise we wouldn’t have been importing so many of those talented people, right? I think we have to figure out a way to create that supply internally.
by Don Tennant, none
Mar 3, 2010 4:26:56 PM
Don Tennant spoke with Monty Hamilton, CEO of Rural Sourcing Inc., about the growing popularity of outsourcing IT work to relatively low-cost, non-metro U.S. areas as an alternative to offshore locations. According to Hamilton, it’s not just about “waving the American flag,” but about serving a sweet spot that falls squarely in the midmarket.
Tennant: You presented at the 2010 Outsourcing World Summit in Orlando last month. How was the receptivity?
Hamilton: It was great. I was shocked, to be honest with you. I went in there thinking I was going to be the little minnow swimming amongst all the sharks. But even the larger competitors in India understand and get the model, and understand that they’re probably going to have to put up some similar kinds of centers to build up their onshore capabilities as well. There was no denying that this is a viable model, and a place that companies are going to want to take a look at.
My bandwagon is what I call Outsourcing 2.0, which is not just looking at India as my default choice. What are my other choices out there? Could it be Eastern Europe? Could it be China? Could it be my backyard in the U.S.? My goal is to put backyard U.S. as one of the check boxes people will look at. There was a group there from Ghana, pushing Ghana as an outsourcing location. I can give you all the competitive reasons why I think we’re better than Ghana.
Tennant: Give me a couple of them.
Hamilton: Ghana is a country of 4 million people, compared to 60 million people living in non-metro U.S. – I think we’ve got a much better opportunity to scale our model. Obviously, the infrastructure and other things aren’t up to speed in Ghana, not to mention some of the political issues. But I applaud the hell out of them for saying, “Hey, here’s something we’re going to go after and see if we can’t make this work.” The point is, there are a lot of locations out there saying, “We could be the next India.”
Tennant: What effect has the recession had on your business?
Hamilton: What we’re seeing is a reverse-migration trend. It happens every recession – as long as things are going well, we all flock to the big cities for big opportunities. Once the food begins to dry up and the weather doesn’t look so good anymore, we return home. I’m sure we’ll see in the next census that people are moving back to their roots and their family infrastructure.
Tennant: How many clients does RSI have?
Hamilton: About 15, from entrepreneurial ISVs to GlaxoSmithKline and R.J. Reynolds. I don’t think either of those extremes is where the sweet spot for us will eventually be. I believe our sweet spot will be mid-size companies, anywhere from $3 million to $3 billion [in annual revenue]. Those are the companies that are primarily going to have U.S.-based businesses. They’re not going to have the patience or wherewithal or investment dollars to go make an offshore operation in India work. But they’re going to have to figure out how to stretch their IT dollars and be more cost-efficient. For them, outsourcing is something they haven’t done a lot, or even looked at in the past.
Tennant: Is there any work that’s more suitably outsourced offshore rather than to rural locations in the U.S.?
Hamilton: Yeah. The rote, very little thinking about it, move stack A to stack B kind of stuff is going to be done cheaper offshore.
Tennant: I’ve written about the backlash from some areas being promoted as offshore alternatives, which stems from the perception that offshoring equates to low-quality call centers. Have you seen that?
Hamilton: I have not. I don’t think that fairly represents most of non-metro America. In fact, there’s a company called New Corp. in the warranty call-center business. They put their locations in places like Meridian, Mississippi; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; the Dakotas; and other places all around the country where there’s a low cost of living.
They’ve won all sorts of awards, and what they will credit it to is the kinds of people they’re able to get in these locations, who really like what they do. They’re great on the phone, they give great service, and they don’t turn themselves over every other day.
I have a friend who’s an entrepreneur, and he’s looking at putting one of these call centers in Fannin County, Georgia, a retirement location in the north Georgia mountains. He’s going to be one of those retirees – he’s been a senior-level executive at Cox [Communications] in Atlanta. The Fannin Chamber of Commerce said, “Frankly, there’s only so much golf you can play. And the retirement funds that some of these people had have been cut in half. If we had some jobs they could do for four or five hours a day, they would love that.” Nobody wants to wilt away. And in some cases, they’re forced to look at their retirement a little differently than they did a few years ago.
Tennant: Do you employ any workers from outside the U.S. who are here on non-immigrant work visas?
Hamilton: We currently do not.
Tennant: Does that mean you’re open to the possibility?
Hamilton: They would be perfectly welcome to apply, although we do have some sensitive data support work that would have to be kept separate.
Tennant: To be clear, you’re fully open to hiring someone here on an H-1B visa?
Hamilton: If they’re already here. I’m not going to be the one supporting that visa request.
Tennant: What’s your position on the H-1B visa program? Is it good or bad for the country?
Hamilton: My answer to that would be yes. It is both good and bad, and I don’t mean to be evasive. It certainly has been abused. I think it was put in with good intentions, and I think honestly, we needed it at certain times in this country. Does that mean we need it every year, and at the same exact number every year? I think not. I think we need to look at it like anything else we do, which is in terms of supply and demand. If the demand this year says we need 65,000, then great, let’s turn the spigot on. If the demand says 10,000 probably gets us to the right number this year, let’s adjust accordingly. Now, is the government quick enough to do that, and evaluate that? I’m not sure.
Tennant: Do you think there’s a shortage of needed IT skills in the U.S.?
Hamilton: Yes.
Tennant: What skills?
Hamilton: I couldn’t give you specifics. I think it’s probably across the board. I do think there’s been a lack of interest in going into what might be considered old-school typical computer software skills. If you’re asking whether that has been aided by the H-1B legislation, I can’t say – I haven’t looked at any empirical evidence of that one way or the other. I do think there’s a shortage, otherwise we wouldn’t have been importing so many of those talented people, right? I think we have to figure out a way to create that supply internally.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Ups and Downs of Telecommuting
March 3, 2010 at 6:53 PM
Not many people enjoy commuting. They may love their jobs, but the daily roundtrip to and from the office can wear a person down after a while. If you’ve ever been in rush hour traffic on Lee Highway, Arlington Boulevard, the 66, or heaven forbid the beltway, then you understand all too well what I’m talking about. Luckily for me, my commute is only a few seconds long. Google maps may put the trip at 2,817 miles, but I’m traveling at the speed of electrons, so that distance is covered in the blink of an eye. I’m the grants and publications specialist for the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, and I live in San Francisco.
I’ve been with the Literacy Council since the summer of 2005, when I lived in Fairfax and attended graduate school at George Mason University. But since late 2007, I’ve been living in San Francisco and commuting via the internet every day of the work week. Though my job has remained the same, my experience of it (and my coworkers’ experience of me) has changed since I began e-commuting. There are benefits and drawbacks to an arrangement such as this. The key to making it work is accentuating the former and minimizing the latter.
So what are the benefits? One is the retention of institutional knowledge and accumulated expertise, which is fancy talk for this simple fact: the longer you stay in a job, the more you know how stuff gets done. And knowing how stuff gets done means you can do it more quickly and efficiently than someone who doesn’t. I speak from experience; when I first joined the Council, I scrambled for a while—not because the way things were done didn’t make sense but because they were new to me. We’ve all been through it. You start a new job, and it takes some time to get up to speed. Examples of the institutional knowledge I’ve gained (or contributed to) while working with the Council would include my familiarity with the language and statistics we use in the 100+ proposals we submit each year to secure funding for our educational programs. It would also include the relationships I’ve developed with parties outside our organization such as the salesman and pre-press workers at the various print shops we deal with and the points of contact at some of our key donors. And it would definitely include the relationships between me and my coworkers, which brings me to the potential drawbacks.
It can be a challenge maintaining the spirit of collaboration and solidarity that arises quite naturally when you work in the same physical space as your coworkers. If you’ve ever been to the Literacy Council’s office in Falls Church, you know how open the setting is, how conducive it is to sharing information and fostering a sense of common purpose. Most of our desks are out in the open. There are no walls or doors separating most of us, and as a result some very productive discussions arise, and a lot of valuable ideas get shared.
We’ve tried to simulate this through conference calls and IMing (real time text communication over the internet). While IMing does provide the same basic information sharing function as face-to-face speech, there’s just no substitute for actually being face-to-face. It’s a common occurrence at the LCNV office: two or three people are discussing something—a program development or a way to track statistics—and then someone else joins in the conversation with some new ideas, and before you know it a solution has materialized out of an unplanned meeting of the minds. It’s exciting stuff. Plus I just plain miss my coworkers. They’re some of the most intelligent, dedicated, and fun people I’ve ever worked with.
All in all, e-commuting is going well, and I think all parties involved have benefitted from the arrangement. Back in ’07, I when I decided to return to California, where I was born and raised and where my parents, whom I love dearly and who aren’t getting any younger, still live, I had assumed that I would have to resign a job that I’d come to enjoy and respect. So when our Executive Director suggested working remotely, I was flattered by the offer and glad to give it a shot. But I shouldn’t have been surprised by the idea. That’s one thing I’ve come to expect from the Literacy Council—people facing new challenges with creativity and resolve.
~Matt Kollmeyer, Grants and Publications Specialist
Not many people enjoy commuting. They may love their jobs, but the daily roundtrip to and from the office can wear a person down after a while. If you’ve ever been in rush hour traffic on Lee Highway, Arlington Boulevard, the 66, or heaven forbid the beltway, then you understand all too well what I’m talking about. Luckily for me, my commute is only a few seconds long. Google maps may put the trip at 2,817 miles, but I’m traveling at the speed of electrons, so that distance is covered in the blink of an eye. I’m the grants and publications specialist for the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, and I live in San Francisco.
I’ve been with the Literacy Council since the summer of 2005, when I lived in Fairfax and attended graduate school at George Mason University. But since late 2007, I’ve been living in San Francisco and commuting via the internet every day of the work week. Though my job has remained the same, my experience of it (and my coworkers’ experience of me) has changed since I began e-commuting. There are benefits and drawbacks to an arrangement such as this. The key to making it work is accentuating the former and minimizing the latter.
So what are the benefits? One is the retention of institutional knowledge and accumulated expertise, which is fancy talk for this simple fact: the longer you stay in a job, the more you know how stuff gets done. And knowing how stuff gets done means you can do it more quickly and efficiently than someone who doesn’t. I speak from experience; when I first joined the Council, I scrambled for a while—not because the way things were done didn’t make sense but because they were new to me. We’ve all been through it. You start a new job, and it takes some time to get up to speed. Examples of the institutional knowledge I’ve gained (or contributed to) while working with the Council would include my familiarity with the language and statistics we use in the 100+ proposals we submit each year to secure funding for our educational programs. It would also include the relationships I’ve developed with parties outside our organization such as the salesman and pre-press workers at the various print shops we deal with and the points of contact at some of our key donors. And it would definitely include the relationships between me and my coworkers, which brings me to the potential drawbacks.
It can be a challenge maintaining the spirit of collaboration and solidarity that arises quite naturally when you work in the same physical space as your coworkers. If you’ve ever been to the Literacy Council’s office in Falls Church, you know how open the setting is, how conducive it is to sharing information and fostering a sense of common purpose. Most of our desks are out in the open. There are no walls or doors separating most of us, and as a result some very productive discussions arise, and a lot of valuable ideas get shared.
We’ve tried to simulate this through conference calls and IMing (real time text communication over the internet). While IMing does provide the same basic information sharing function as face-to-face speech, there’s just no substitute for actually being face-to-face. It’s a common occurrence at the LCNV office: two or three people are discussing something—a program development or a way to track statistics—and then someone else joins in the conversation with some new ideas, and before you know it a solution has materialized out of an unplanned meeting of the minds. It’s exciting stuff. Plus I just plain miss my coworkers. They’re some of the most intelligent, dedicated, and fun people I’ve ever worked with.
All in all, e-commuting is going well, and I think all parties involved have benefitted from the arrangement. Back in ’07, I when I decided to return to California, where I was born and raised and where my parents, whom I love dearly and who aren’t getting any younger, still live, I had assumed that I would have to resign a job that I’d come to enjoy and respect. So when our Executive Director suggested working remotely, I was flattered by the offer and glad to give it a shot. But I shouldn’t have been surprised by the idea. That’s one thing I’ve come to expect from the Literacy Council—people facing new challenges with creativity and resolve.
~Matt Kollmeyer, Grants and Publications Specialist
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