Work options work. In a jam or all the time.

Managing during an emergency
If your company is planning how it will cope with a natural disaster such as an earthquake or weather-related emergencies, road closures, or other events impairing business functions, consider incorporating work options into your plans - compressed schedules, flextime, and telework.

Each of these options can be key to keeping your business operational during an emergency situation. Planning and implementing compressed schedules, flextime and/or telework in your operation now is the best approach. Then, when and if an emergency occurs, it will be easier to schedule employees and responsibilities to keep your business running. You will already know how to manage work options programs, and your work force will be experienced with alternative schedules and arrangements.

Receiving important client orders, communicating with customers in other time zones, providing continuous process coverage, routing calls to employees without waiting for them to commute to the office, processing critical information, or just staying in business is proof positive that work options work. In a jam or all the time.

Consider the following options:
Compressed workweeks permit employees to work a full week in less than five days. This eliminates the commute trip one or two times a week. Both individuals and entire work units can use this work option. The key is to develop and distribute a plan which ensures adequate job coverage and seamless external and internal communications. Eliminating commute trips and avoiding peak traffic can make a difference in productivity when major thoroughfares are closed or impacted by natural disasters, weather or other events. Having access to employees for more total hours during the day can also provide more capacity to serve clients during an emergency.

Flextime provides for flexibility in the standard 8 to 5 work day. It can mean as little as 15-30 minutes, or as much as a two- to three-hour flexible window on either end of the day. It enables employees to travel during off-peak times and makes it easier to form carpools or use transit. It works best when employees choose start and stop times within limits set by the employer. Flextime is simply a way of doing business within many work groups and entire companies. Rather than disorganized chaos, flextime offers organized flexibility.

Telework allows employees to work at home or at an alternate work site. Critical business functions and staff can continue to work even if a natural disaster, weather-related conditions or a personal emergency prevent them from commuting to the office. This can be done during an emergency, on a regular schedule or as needed. Helping employees prepare a home work station can range from something as simple as an agreement with the employee about using their own computer and phone line to providing equipment and secure, high-speed electronic connections to corporate systems. Choose employees who have the appropriate job function and who can work well independently. While teleworkers are not on site, they are still working and are only a phone call or e-mail away. Conference calls are an excellent way to include them in meetings. Remember to measure job performance by results, outcomes, or deliverables, not by whether or not you actually observe the work being performed.

For more information, contact Commuter Challenge staff by phone (206.389.8656) or email us. Review employer case studies for additional ideas. Or reference other web sites and materials listed in our on-line Resource guide.