• Telework
• Bank, appraisal department
• 40 district appraisal offices in 38 states

Telework cuts costs, streamlines work flow
Washington Mutual has the largest “in-house” property appraisal department in the country, processing 80% of its own appraisal needs. The strength of this effort comes from the fact that 40% of the appraisal staff telework full time from home offices. The telework program is a critical part of Washington Mutual's plan to become the nationally preferred, low-cost mortgage provider.

“Washington Mutual is an unusual bank,” says Chief Appraiser Sue Potteiger, who heads the 575-employee appraisal department. “We put a lot of stock in employees and their ability to manage themselves.”

With a string of successful mergers in the 1990s, Washington Mutual grew from a local bank with 6,500 employees to a national player with 30,000 employees. Always known as an employee-oriented organization, the bank has rewarded staff with shares and stock options after acquisitions. It continues to emphasize the slogan “We're different, we're Washington Mutual” to customers and employees, including promoting a business casual dress code and providing work options to address work/family issues.

Start up costs more than recouped
More than optimism, this policy has a direct effect on the bottom line. New, streamlined processes, including more than 225 production appraisers working at home, have reduced the department's cost per service 80% in one year. “Eliminated rental charges and cubicle occupancy costs for 225 teleworkers totals $166,000 savings per month,” Potteiger reports. The telework program, even with the first year's start up costs, will be one-fifth the cost of maintaining cubicles for each appraiser.

In addition, productivity is up. Due to a new incentive plan and the more efficient use of time that telework allows, the average production per appraiser increased 24% within a year. “We assign appraisers the work closest to their residence whenever possible and give them the ability to function without making unnecessary trips to the office,” Potteiger says.

Part of long-range vision
Already central to new ways of doing business that have made the appraisal department one of the most efficient in the bank, telework, along with new paperless technology, is a piece of a long-range vision to offer electronic loan applications 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Someday, a potential borrower could initiate a loan application over the internet and receive a rapid response as to when a property appraisal could be scheduled by the Washington Mutual appraiser living closest to them.

More than 200 in home offices
With no test phase, the department encouraged the first 28 teleworkers to trade their cubicles for full-time home offices in August 1998. Within one year, nearly 200 more Washington Mutual production appraisers were full-time teleworkers – 38% of appraisal staff. When new technology is in place, the bank plans on 50% of appraisal staff being in home offices. How did such a rapid implementation take place?

Telework a good fit for many reasons
The bank's appraisal services are processed by 40 district offices in the U.S. The district offices are staffed by 10-30 employees, depending on the volume of business. Approximately 40% of the staff at each office are production appraisers, who perform and write property appraisals full time. Many already worked at home part of the time. Real estate appraisers tend to be independent workers and may have a history of being self-employed. In fact, management noticed a side benefit it did not anticipate – the autonomy of telework, without the expense of owning a small business, makes it easier to hire appraisers, who might not be eager to work for an institution.

Beyond the nature of the work and the personalities of many of the staff being ideal for being based from home, a number of things happened to push the department toward formal telework: The bank and the volume of appraisals grew exponentially. Facilities for office expansion were limited. The department began to upgrade technology from paper and stand-alone computers to an interconnected, internet-driven, paperless work flow system. It made sense to reduce the distance of work-related trips and the number of office visits.

Setting up teleworkers
The bank provides appraisers with a $1,500 allowance to purchase furniture. In addition, Washington Mutual ensures appraisers have the tools they need to be effective, including a computer, multi-purpose fax/copy/print machine, an ergonomically correct chair, a business line and a fax line, and a cell phone to communicate from work sites. Managers make a site visit to approve the work space. District offices were asked to encourage appraisers to become teleworkers unless they do not have suitable home environments, do not have separate spaces available for home offices, are new staff, have performance issues, or for other reasons perform best in the office environment. Teleworkers are encouraged to set standard business hours but have a large degree of flexibility in when they accomplish their tasks.

Prior to moving home, appraisers prepare a business and communication plan, which also details the benefits of the arrangement both to the bank and the employee. Management currently addresses any issues related to telework within individual teleworkers' agreements and when assessing performance. Managers track turn-around times, production levels, timeliness and the quality of work for teleworkers the same way as in-office staff. If problems emerge, appraisers may be asked to work from the office for a time under closer supervision, or other actions are taken identical to addressing in-office performance.

Working at home
Production Appraiser Tom Brown typically starts his day by inspecting several residences and comparable properties within a 20-mile radius of his home in Seattle. In the afternoon he returns home to write the appraisals and check new work orders that were faxed to him from the district office in Bellevue. He ends his work day between 6 or 7 p.m., after pulling tax records and maps from the computer for the next day's appraisals and emailing finished reports to the office. He talks by telephone with coordinators and reviewers at the office nearly every day and meets with other district appraisers and staff every two or three months. Since beginning to telework full time, his car mileage has decreased 20%. On rare occasions when he needs to be at the office, Brown uses one of several shared work stations.

Brown has been with Washington Mutual for five years. He previously worked independently. “Washington Mutual hired me when my business was slow,” he says. “The bank has been good to me, and telework is one more reason to stay. Now, you'd have to blow me out of here with dynamite.”

Managing teleworkers
District Appraisal Manager Denny Wade oversees 19 staff that service the bank's appraisal needs within King County. Four of Wade's seven production appraisers now work full time in home offices. Despite initial misgivings, nine months later he is pleased and comfortable with telework. Two of his teleworkers have increased productivity and the other two have maintained the same productivity levels. “While there were challenges to address, overall the system works very well, and the money and space saved at our office will show up on our bottom line.”

Wade believes maintaining excellent communication and accessibility between teleworkers and office staff is the most critical component of making full-time telework successful. To be more proactive in communicating, Wade promoted a senior staff member to assistant manager to deal primarily with production appraisers.

Future goals
Rather than needing more district offices, managers, administrative staff or buildings, the appraisal department plans to grow by using telework and clustering appraisers on teams with team supervisors. Other departments are getting wind of the appraisal department's telework program and beginning to quiz Potteiger and the human resources department.

© 2000 Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program. This publication contains material written and produced for public distribution. You may reprint this written material, provided you do not use it to endorse a commercial product. Please reference by title and credit Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program and Commuter Challenge. Published February 2000.