Information technology has made remote work and telecommuting possible and external environmental changes have made it necessary for many organizations. Remote work is doing work via virtual devices from any remote location, either work done on the road or work done from home. Telecommuting specifically is a remote work arrangement in which employees work at home and are linked to the workplace by virtual devices. Needless to say, not every job is a candidate for remote work or telecommuting. But many are.

Working from home used to be considered a “cushy perk” for a few lucky employees, and such an arrangement wasn’t allowed very often. Now, many businesses view telecommuting as a business necessity. For instance, at SCAN Health Plan, the company’s chief financial officer said that getting more employees to telecommute provided the company a way to grow without having to incur any additional fixed costs such as office buildings, equipment, or parking lots.53 In addition, some companies view the arrangement as a way to combat high gas prices and to attract talented employees who want more freedom and control over their work.

Despite its apparent appeal, many managers are reluctant to have their employees become “laptop hobos.”54 They argue that employees might waste time surfing the Internet or playing online games instead of working, ignore clients, and desperately miss the camaraderie and social exchanges of the workplace. In addition, managers worry about how they’ll “manage” these employees. How do you interact with an employee and gain his or her trust when they’re not physically present? And what if their work performance isn’t up to par? How do you make suggestions for improvement? Another significant challenge is making sure that company information is kept safe and secure when employees are working from home.

Employees often express the same concerns about working remotely, especially when it comes to the isolation of not being “at work.” At Accenture, where employees are scattered around the world, the chief human resources officer says that it isn’t easy to maintain that esprit de corps.55 However, the company put in place a number of programs and processes to create that sense of belonging for its workforce including web conferencing tools, assigning each employee to a career counselor, and holding quarterly community events at its offices. In addition, the telecommuter employee may find that the line between work and home becomes even more blurred, which can be stressful.56 These are important organizing issues and ones that managers and organizations must address when moving toward having employees telecommute.

Although retail organizations recognize that erratic work schedules can take a toll on the well-being of service employees, they continued to use them because having stable employee work hours was believed to be just too costly. (Some of you may know this firsthand, having worked or possibly still working in retail.) Gap decided to see what impact steady hours—that is, more consistent start and stop times—would have.58 In the recently completed study conducted at more than two dozen Gap retail stores, the researchers uncovered some surprising results. The study showed that more predictable and consistent hours for employees not only helped workers, but also had a positive effect on store profit. Here’s another example of how an organization adapted its organizational structure in a changing environment. During the most recent economic crisis in the United Kingdom, accounting firm KPMG needed to reduce costs and decided to use flexible work options as a way of doing so.59 The company’s program, called Flexible Futures, offered employees four options to choose from: a four-day workweek with a 20 percent salary reduction; a 2- to 12-week sabbatical at 30 percent of pay; both options; or continue with their regular schedule. Some 85 percent of the UK employees agreed to the reduced-work-week plan. “Since so many people agreed to the flexible work plans, KPMG was able to cap the salary cut at about 10 percent for the year in most cases.” The best thing, though, was that as a result of the plan, KPMG didn’t have to do large-scale employee layoffs.

As this example shows, organizations sometimes find they need to restructure work using other forms of flexible work arrangements. (1) One approach is a compressed workweek in which employees work longer hours per day but fewer days per week. The most common arrangement is four 10-hour days (a 4–40 program). (2) Another alternative is flextime (also known as flexible work hours), which is a scheduling system in which employees are required to work a specific number of hours a week but are free to vary those hours within certain limits. In a flextime schedule, most companies designate certain common core hours when all employees are required to be on the job, but starting, ending, and lunch-hour times are flexible. (3) Another type of job scheduling is called job sharing—the practice of having two or more people split a full-time job. Organizations might offer job sharing to professionals who want to work but don’t want the demands and hassles of a full-time position. For instance, at Ernst & Young, employees in many of the company’s locations can choose from a variety of flexible work arrangements including job sharing. Many companies use job sharing during economic downturns to avoid employee layoffs.60

“When Julia Lee first heard of Tongal, she thought it was a scam. Tongal pays people—anyone with a good idea, really—to create online videos for companies such as Mattel, Allstate, and Popchips.”61 Tongal divides projects into stages and pays cash for the top-five ideas. On Lee’s first submission—which only took three hours of work—she got $1,000. On another, she earned $4,000. In a year’s time, she’s earned some $6,000 for about 100 hours of work. Tongal isn’t the only business doing this. The idea of breaking up a job into small pieces and using the Internet to find workers to do those tasks was pioneered by LiveOps and followed by Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk and many others.

“Companies want a workforce they can switch on and off as needed.”62 Although this quote may shock you, the truth is that the labor force already has begun shifting away from traditional full-time jobs toward contingent workers—temporary, freelance, or contract workers whose employment is contingent upon demand for their services. In today’s economy, many organizations have responded by converting full-time permanent jobs into contingent jobs. It’s predicted that by the end of the next decade, the number of contingent employees will have grown to about 40 percent of the workforce. (It’s at 30 percent today.)63 In fact, one compensation and benefits expert says that “a growing number of workers will need to structure their careers around this model.”64 That’s likely to include you!

What are the implications for managers and organizations? Because contingent employees are not “employees” in the traditional sense of the word, managing them has its own set of challenges and expectations. Managers must recognize that because contingent workers lack the stability and security of permanent employees, they may not identify with the organization or be as committed or motivated. Managers may need to treat contingent workers differently in terms of practices and policies. However, with good communication and leadership, an organization’s contingent employees can be just as valuable a resource to an organization as permanent employees are. Today’s managers must recognize that it will be their responsibility to motivate their entire workforce, full-time and contingent, and to build their commitment to doing good work!65

No matter what structural design managers choose for their organizations, the design should help employees do their work in the best, most efficient and effective way they can. The structure needs to help, not hinder, organizational members as they carry out the organization’s work. After all, the structure is simply a means to an end.