5. Disadvantages of teleworking: the company

We have discussed some issues for the individual teleworker. There are also some disadvantages from the company's point of view

Company disadvantages

Keeping an eye on progress

It is much harder for managers in the office to keep track of progress with teleworkers. For example the managing director might ask the local manager for an update within the hour. They will then have to put the calls to the teleworkers to find out what is going on. Even more stress if they can't get in touch with everyone in time.

Meeting deadlines

Many jobs involve critical deadlines. For example a newspaper has to go to print by a certain time. Any teleworking journalists must have the discipline to deliver their story on time, every time.

Keeping up standards

With a scattered workforce it is harder to keep everyone up to the same standard. One solution is regular training sessions for teleworkers to keep up to date with the latest developments. This is especially true for professions such as electronic engineering and software design where technology changes within months.

Keeping up a good team

One of the critical skills of a manager is to run and motivate a good team. This is done through face to face encouragement, mentoring, support and so on. Doing this from a distance is much harder.

Maintaining the company ethos

Many companies have a certain way of doing things. When everyone is working at the same place, this company culture is easy to share. People take note of the attitude of the rest of the team. But with perhaps freelance teleworkers, this is not easy to do.

Health and Safety, Insurance

Employers are liable for the welfare of their workers even if they work at home. Checking that everything is as it should be is not as easy compared to having everyone in the same place.

Data security and confidentiality

Companies want to keep their customer details safe and secure (Data Protection Act) along with keeping critical financial data such as contract terms away from the competition. Strict, professional-level encryption and physical security is needed. One solution is for teleworkers to store everything on company servers at HQ with nothing getting stored at home. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) is one way of doing this.

Maintaining equipment

Many companies have IT staff who apply the latest software patches to every workstation in the office, remotely. This is not so easy with teleworking. Also if a hardware fault develops, it is harder for a technician to fix it if the machine is at home.

Short summary

• Harder for manager to keep an eye on progress
• Meeting deadlines needs more discipline
• Keeping standards across a dispersed workforce may be harder
• Teamwork is more difficult
• Company culture is harder to maintain
• Harder to meet health and safety requirements
• Data security may be more difficult
• Maintaining remote equipment is more difficult