The option of mobility gives employees room to be more productive, without necessarily having to spend all their time at the office or traveling to and from the workplace, company formation and business solutions experts agree. However, this poses some risks that employers might want to consider watching out for.
While employers and staff generally agree upon output-based measures of performance while working away from the office, some form of fraud may still ensue from this kind of arrangement. Shirking can occur if company regulations on telecommuting are too lax. For instance, an employee might report that he is working, but is in reality just attending to personal matters, hence wasting precious company time. An employee might be using company resources such as the company-issued mobile phone and laptop on matters that are not strictly business–and charging calls or Internet connectivity to the office account. Telecommuting staff can probably come up with justifications for such actions, and it depends on the employer whether to impose sanctions.
In the end, managers and business owners can actually determine whether a telecommuting arrangement is effective with an assessment of the employee’s actual outputs. Is the employee able to accomplish his tasks on time? Is the company able to save on time and resources?
Employee mobility means freedom, but not necessarily freedom from responsibility.