The post CSII Suspending On-Site Service Calls first appeared on CSII.

The post CSII Suspending On-Site Service Calls appeared first on CSII.

Do you take business calls on your cell phone? Of course you do! Do your employees or sales force work remotely, from home or the road at least some of the time? Most likely. A recent study by web conferencing software company, PGi, indicates that globally, 79% of office employees work remotely at least one day each week.

The post Improved Communications Build Business first appeared on CSII.

The post Improved Communications Build Business appeared first on CSII.

The post The All Hands Meeting first appeared on CSII.

The post The All Hands Meeting appeared first on CSII.

She didn’t want to tell them why she was calling the meeting. Having a preconceived opinion before hearing her out was not the best way to introduce the situation.

Not everyone had employees like Annie.

Of course, many of the owners and managers would prefer to work from home if they could…which meant their employees would, as well.

The idea of dealing with those requests stressed everyone more than she had expected.

Alas, owner meetings typically only happen once per quarter – so a special meeting like this meant there was something important to discuss, and Jessica had to provide details if she was going to get everyone in the same room before their next quarterly meeting.

All the employees knew when there was an owner meeting, because they all went to lunch together and stayed there for a long time. Owner meetings were off-site to prevent eavesdropping, but little did the owners know how much gossip they caused within the office.

Well, Jessica knew. Annie told her. And she stood up for her when people complained.

Now it was time for Jessica to stand up for Annie.

As everyone ordered food and drink, Jessica tried to act relaxed and confident (usually, this came natural for her…but not this time).

“So, Jess, what have you got for us?” Joe asked as if he had completely forgotten.

“Did Jeff tell you he wanted you to work from home? Is that why we’re here?” asked Scott.

Everyone laughed. Even Jessica, sort of.

She launched right into it…

“Well, I think we all know that remote work is becoming more and more common for company morale and even talent. Scott, you mentioned the idea of sourcing virtual assistants for our company blog and social media marketing, right? And Jim, you decided to hire a bookkeeper from New York…

Well, I had already done some research after hearing so much about all the successful companies out there who were making the remote work thing work. So I knew about some case studies and I even read about how to set up a remote work policy.

I was recently approached by one of my employees who had very good reasons for requesting that she move her position to her home office. She showed me all the great cloud communication options out there, and gave me a couple service providers who could set up the voice communications for us. She confirmed that she could handle the IT (or would pay someone herself if her Mac was acting up), and she showed me the secure, easy ways to collaborate with her team on the cloud for projects and documents.”

“Wait, Jess, is this Annie you’re talking about?”

Jackpot.

“Yes.”

“Well, I don’t think we need much convincing about letting her work from home. She’s great and clearly works well on her own, in spite of all the others. But you know what it would mean if we allowed her to work remotely,” said Jim.

They all nodded. It meant they’d have to tell everyone and explain it at an All Hands Meeting, which always adds so much tension.

“Yes, Jim. I do understand. The remote work culture is different than our own, and remote workers who are good at their work are the kind of people who can drive their projects, communicate well and not waste time. They are the kind of people who can be trusted.”

“Right – and is that the kind of people we have? I mean, sure, we have plenty of good employees. But how many are actually going to be able to be productive at home? And how will we know that they’re actually doing the work and not slacking off?” Scott was always the instigator.

Here’s the part Jessica was waiting for.

This is the best part.

“Well, Scott, we’d know because they’d actually be doing the work. That’s the point, right? Are we paying them for their time or are we paying them for their work? If they’re here and they run out of time because they were gossiping all day, we’re screwed because we can’t make them work late to get their work done unless we pay them overtime. So we either wait longer while paying them salary, give them warnings about the lack of productivity and gossiping in hopes it improves, or we lay them off and pay unemployment.”

They were all still nodding. This was a good sign.

“But if they worked remotely, they’d already have certain work and projects assigned to them that typically have regular deadlines – depending on the position, of course – and it would be entirely up to them to get their work done. If they slack off during the day, they’d have to work at night. All we care about is that the work is done and done well, right? Do we really care that it’s done from 8-5 as long as it’s done on time?”

Everyone was silent but clearly in agreement.

The team went on to discuss what a remote work policy would look like, and Jessica brought out her info on how to successfully manage a remote work team.

She shared her research on other companies’ remote work policies.

They discussed keeping it brief and private when letting people know that Annie would be allowed to telecommute, but agreed that it needed to be made clear that anyone who is allowed to work remotely would need to submit the request in writing to HR, their supervisor, and IT to be sure all bases were covered and challenges were addressed before approval.

Everyone then agreed that each person allowed to telecommute, Annie included, would have a 90-day probationary period to assess whether they’d be allowed to move their position to the cloud permanently (with the exception of mandatory meetings that directly pertained to them).

This led to a hilarious discussion about meetings and management in general, and Jessica pulled out the last printout she would need to share that day from the folder she had stuffed with research: the article about meetings and managers (M&Ms) being the greatest causes of work not being done at the office.

Everyone laughed and let the server talk them into margaritas all around. It was almost 4pm, they had a long, productive meeting, and the last thing they wanted was to return to the office and slow down productivity.

The post The Owners (A Meeting about Remote Work Policy, Margaritas and M&Ms) first appeared on CSII.

The post The Owners (A Meeting about Remote Work Policy, Margaritas and M&Ms) appeared first on CSII.

Cloud communications. Employee morale. Company policy.

She was convinced, and even excited, for Annie. She always worked hard and was dependable, and she even came in on Saturdays on occasion because she could get so much more work done when there weren’t others around to distract her. Jessica knew Annie would thrive in a virtual office environment. And when she was honest with herself, she believed she would do almost anything to keep her on board.

As a supervisor, Jessica hated the fact that it often fell on her to be sure people were getting their work done, not wasting time on the clock, reporting their time accurately and fulfilling their purpose as part of her time.

And yes, of course, it was also her responsibility to be sure her people were happy so they would do all of the above. The last thing she wanted from her team was for her best people to start looking for a new job with better pay, more flexibility, and a more attractive position.

There wasn’t a ton she could do about pay – annual reviews often ended with the best raise she could offer and those who didn’t earn a pay increase weren’t really the ones she was as concerned with keeping.

However, there was something she could do about morale, flexibility and employee retention.

Annie just requested it.

This is going to cause controversy.

This is going to cause jealousy.

This is going to create so many more meetings for me.

Maybe I could work from home as well…

Jessica didn’t question the value of the remote work environment. She knew a lot about how the big companies were making part-time and full-time remote work a reality, and she’d read plenty of case studies about how valuable the efforts to improve morale were to the success of a company.

But still…convincing the other owners to be okay with letting Annie work remotely may be a challenge.

It’s not about Annie, though. It’s about all the others. We can’t just let everyone do it, but those who want to will be so upset if they can’t and she can.

Ugh…

Jessica thought about her conversation with Annie again. She did bring up this concern, and really it was her only major concern. The others.

The technology would be easy. Annie told her all about how easy and seamless cloud communications would be, as well as project management and online document collaboration. In fact, Jessica was getting really excited about learning more on this front.

But the others…

She remembered the conversation from their meeting.

“Annie, I think this is a great idea and it would clearly benefit both your career and your personal life. My only concern is how to present this to the other owners and the rest of the company, as there are surely a ton of people who would love to work from home. We don’t want it to seem like you are getting special treatment, and we can’t easily say that it’s because you have proven yourself to us and require less supervision than most of them.”

Annie had an answer. I should just trust my instinct that she was right. She’s usually right:

“Why not, Jessica? Isn’t that what you should say to show them what you expect from your employees? If they don’t fit that description, yet they would also love to be able to work remotely, maybe you would be setting a bar for those willing to reach it and be rewarded with the trust and privilege to go virtual.”

Jessica had always been on the fence about raising the bar on her employees’ trust and productivity, but some of the younger, more social ones definitely had some things to work on.

Maybe the “social” part is the problem.

Maybe we could treat the remote work option as a perk that must be earned.

Maybe we SHOULD raise the bar.

Jessica felt like she just had a breakthrough. She was ready to set up a meeting with the owners.

The post The Breakthrough to Cloud Communications first appeared on CSII.

The post The Breakthrough to Cloud Communications appeared first on CSII.

Again, unless it’s important. Or there’s a problem.

Jessica opens the email immediately.

Hi Jessica,

Would you be available for a 20- to 30-minute meeting this week? I have some great ideas and an actionable, well-researched strategy to improve productivity and morale around here.

I’d love to have a short discussion when it’s convenient for you. Please let me know what would be best for you once you have a chance to check your calendar.

Thanks!
Annie

What the…?!?

Jessica intuitively attempts to guess what Annie is thinking. As Annie’s manager, a focused leader (and an empathetic woman), she looks deeper into the email than many others would.

This isn’t like Annie. She likes to focus on her work and stay out of everyone else’s projects. She never brings up things like morale or productivity. She’s my most productive employee and has never needed to improve upon her output. What’s going on with her?

Hi Annie,

Of course we can. Let’s meet first thing tomorrow morning. How early can you get here? I have a ton of meetings but would like to make time for you beforehand.

Jessica

Annie sees Jessica’s response and lets out a big sigh.

Doesn’t she realize how long my commute is?

Case in point.

Jessica,

I’m usually here before 8am, which is really the earliest I can arrive. I have a long commute to the office. How’s 8am?

Thanks,
Annie

Jessica arrives very early the next morning to be sure she’s had enough coffee and is on alert in case Annie throws a curve ball at her. Annie walks in at 7:55 with a Venti cup of Starbucks and bags under her eyes. She was a bit of a nervous wreck overnight and barely slept. She considered canceling her meeting but instead took a 5am bath and hit up Starbucks at 6am so she could also be prepared and awake. She quickly reviews her research notes on her way into Jessica’s office and the two cordially bid one another good morning as they try to hide their nerves.

Annie has rehearsed this conversation more times than she can count.

She has gone back and forth between bringing up the request to work remotely right off the bat…or slowly introducing the question by describing how much more productive she would be if it weren’t for the many hurdles she had to clear to perform her work in the office.

“So, I was wondering if you’d consider letting me work remotely any time soon…”

Oh boy. Here it goes.

“You mean work from home? And not in the office?”

Jessica is so good at hiding emotion. Is she upset? Surprised? Relieved?

Annie goes on to explain how distracting and frustrating all the distractions and gossip from people in the kitchen and down the hall are to her (and how they hurt her focus and productivity) and how she feels limited by the office environment (and the disgusting fridge!).

Jessica nods in agreement with a smiley eye roll, showing Annie that she understands completely.

“And I don’t mean to complain. I love my job. Some people thrive in physical offices and around colleagues – some people are naturally very social, even at work – but I have a position that requires intense, uninterrupted focus.”

She then goes on to discuss her proven ability to thrive in silence and how she’s so much more productive when working independently. She reminds Jessica that she’s paid for her work and not her time, and that she’s never needed direct supervision or observation in any way unless it was by her own request.

Wow, this is much easier than I expected. She gets it.

“And I understand the value of working in the same place with others on your team, as well as your supervisor, of course, but I would be able to come in if there’s ever a need for hands-on collaboration or face time with colleagues or clients.”

They both know this has never happened and likely never will in Annie’s case. She’s in a behind-the-scenes kind of role.

“And I know this isn’t your problem at all, but the commute is a killer.”

Then Annie moves on to what she thought would be the hardest part to discuss with Jessica, who still keeps a paper planner by her side at all times and often turns her cell phone off when she’s deep in research or review.

Annie pulls out her research notes on all the options in today’s digital world for remote workers. She explains how amazing and seamless the communications and collaboration options are these days, and as she pulls out her list of the most profitable companies that employ almost entirely remote workforces, Jessica stops her.

“Annie, I think this is a great idea and would clearly benefit both your career and your personal life. My only concern is how to present this to the other owners and the rest of the company, as there are surely a ton of people who would love to work from home. We don’t want it to seem like you are getting special treatment, and we can’t easily say that it’s because you have proven yourself to us and require less supervision than most of them.”

Annie is overjoyed and motivated to make this work.

“Why not, Jessica? Isn’t that what you should say to show them what you expect from your employees? If they don’t fit that description, yet they would also love to be able to work remotely, maybe you would be setting a bar for those willing to reach it and be rewarded with the trust and privilege to go virtual.”

“Good point, Annie. Can you give me a day or two to work out the details before we announce this? As long as the other owners agree and IT is all set you could probably plan to start next week. Let’s just keep it quiet for another couple days before we move forward. Sound good?”

Wow. Does it ever. Woo hoo!!!

Annie tries to keep her calm, reserved demeanor as she shakes Jessica’s hand. But inside she’s smiling huge and jumping for joy and can’t wait to call Tom.

She did it.

The post The Meeting first appeared on CSII.

The post The Meeting appeared first on CSII.

She was up all night gathering facts, case studies, and proof that the remote work concept is a practical solution to her many struggles, and she’s ready to discuss it with her boss.

But then she second guesses herself during her (long) commute.

She apparently has too much time to think on the drive.

Annie concludes that approaching her boss with the request to make her position remote may be too forward, especially since she is filled with all that confidence she built up last night – the confidence in the concept, not the approaching her supervisor part – and she becomes hesitant.

Annie can’t just show up and insist that letting her work from home is the right decision. Clearly anyone and everyone, including her boss, would love to work from home.

Right?

Why is Annie special? Why does she deserve to eliminate the commute and daily showers and office wardrobe while everyone else sits pretty in the office?

Annie decides to send an email requesting a meeting.

Ten minutes go by as she stares at a blank screen.

How do you start a conversation like this?

She’s always been a great writer and is rarely at a loss for words. She takes a stab at it after several more minutes of thought:

“Hi Jessica,

I was hoping we could plan a meeting for tomorrow to discuss a few things. I’ve been struggling with some things at work and wanted to discuss them with you…”

Nope. She’ll think I’m quitting.

“I wanted to discuss the possibility of making some changes to my position…”

That sounds like I’m planning to ask for a promotion.

“I have some great ideas and an actionable, well-researched strategy to improve productivity and morale around here.

Bingo. She hits send.

Oh boy. What did I just do?!?

The post The Email (Annie Takes It to the Remote Work Cloud) first appeared on CSII.

The post The Email (Annie Takes It to the Remote Work Cloud) appeared first on CSII.

As Annie settles in with her chamomile tea and favorite hoodie, she dreams of waking up to the same tea and hoodie and magically transforming this comfortable, quiet place into her office hours for 8 hours each day – saving gas, countless hours of her life, the stress of the commute and meal preparations, and so much wasted time being forced to listen to office gossip.

She is determined to make it work.

She knows many others who have location-independent careers, and the only thing stopping her is convincing her boss to sign off on it.

She thinks back to the response she gave Tom when he asked if there was any reason she needed to actually work at the office: “I take phone calls at work. I print things every once in awhile. I have to sit in on conference calls every month. And I have meetings with my boss every other Friday.”

Well, she has a printer. And a cell phone – but she is not about to give any of her clients (or coworkers, for that matter) her cell number. And the conference calls she attends with her boss and colleagues? And the meetings with her boss? She decides these are the main problems she will need to solve before approaching her supervisor.

Fortunately, Annie is just the Research Coordinator to track down these solutions. After some thought, she identifies two major issues that will need to be addressed and decides to tackle one problem at a time and research each of them until she finds her solutions.

Problem #1: The Phones.

Being in the office means Annie is accessible to clients and colleagues. She is easily reached at her office number and extension, and on the rare occasion she leaves for lunch she always checks her voicemail when she returns. Annie doesn’t want any of her clients to have her cell number or to be able to reach her outside of office hours, but if she could work from home she’d happily use her cell phone for work if there was a way to block the number.

If only she could take her desk phone home.

If only she could bring her office number and extension with it.

Solution: She discovers that phone communications, even interoffice lines and countless extensions to one number, can easily be hosted on the cloud in our modern world. This means you can dial one number for a business, and that one number can be programmed to ring to several different people based on the time of day, your area code, and the available recipients. You can even set up groups of people for certain calls to ring to through a nice, easy dashboard. These recipients could be in one office or three different time zones and you might never know it.

“Wow.”

Annie learns that with cloud-based voice services, your desk phone can literally be in your back pocket. Your voicemails can be sent directly to your email. You can make and receive calls from your cell with no one ever seeing (or needing) your mobile number. There’s even a mobile app.

Problem #1? Solved.

Problem #2: Meetings.

First of all, 80% of time spent at meetings is a waste. There’s the waiting for the stragglers to arrive. There’s the inherent chit-chat and forced humor to make the social situation more comfortable and to get past the awkward silences (and tension over most people not wanting to be there in the first place). There are the talkers who must have the last word and get their point across, regardless of how relevant (or irrelevant) that point may be. There’s the fact that people meet for routine conversations about routine things simply because they’re all in the same building and working on the same projects. And they feel the need to assemble to talk about it.

Solution: Virtual meetings and conference calls. They are more efficient, and if you have to wait for someone who is running late you are already in your own office and can work while virtually attending the meeting through your headset. (You can also answer emails while someone is going off on a tangent about something that doesn’t involve you!) Plus, when people have to coordinate calls and pay for conference time and services – and they can’t just walk by and pull others into meetings – the meetings naturally become more efficient, more productive and less frequent.

“Thank goodness.”

Annie discovers a variety of tools to set up cloud-based conference calls, and she makes a list of video and slide sharing options should the need arise.

Problem #2? Solved.

By now it’s midnight, but Annie is excited, determined and very well-prepared to approach her boss tomorrow. And she’s not even bothered by the fact that she has to get up in five hours to get ready, eat breakfast, make her lunch and drive that long commute to the office.

She does not expect it to be an issue for much longer.

The post The Research first appeared on CSII.

The post The Research appeared first on CSII.

Annie is a very talented writer and editor, and both her career and her supervisor allow her to use those talents daily.

Her official title is “Reporting Coordinator” at a research organization that works closely with a local university, but her boss (and most of her colleagues) refer to her as “Grammar Queen.”

She is more than happy to accept that unofficial title.

Annie loves her job, loves the work, and loves her boss. However, there are a few things she would change if she could:

1.     There are quite a few people in her office who have a hard time sitting still. They get up often, mingle in the hallways, gossip in the kitchen (around the corner from her office), and make it very hard to concentrate for more than half an hour at a time. Annie’s boss understands this and made a point to get Annie an office with a door so she could close it and focus. Unfortunately, the noise still comes through and half the people who need to talk to her all day (albeit only 50% of that talk is work-related) think the “Please Knock” sign on her door means “Please Knock once or twice and then come on in. No need to wait for a response.”

2.     The office refrigerator is always full. There are not enough people sharing that particular appliance to justify the capacity she witnesses on a daily basis, however, and the annual fridge inspection always reveals that many leftovers have entered that space as their permanent resting place. Most of her work friends eat out for lunch (or order in) to avoid the infested black hole of expired condiments and rotting leftovers, but Annie is on a budget and is trying to eat healthy – neither of which are easy to do with takeout or any restaurant fare that is within a reasonable driving distance of her office over a lunch hour.

3.     Speaking of driving distance, Annie’s commute is an hour. Each way. That means to get to and from her office, Annie drives at least two hours every day. Ten hours every week. 500 hours each year. Just to get to the office where her dream job is located – behind a closed door that rarely stays closed for long.

She has considered looking for another job, one that is closer to her home. She and her husband are planning to start a family soon and she knows the long commute would be awful with a baby at home.

She has also considered staying at her job and looking for another house, one that is closer to her job. But she and her husband, Tom, worked with the family contractors to build their home and can’t imagine selling it and starting over.

Annie vents about her frustration over her job often, and while Tom understands and agrees that it’s rough, he’s getting tired of hearing about the same problems over and over…if nothing is ever going to change.

On a gorgeous spring evening in late April, Tom finally speaks up.

“Annie, I think you need to make a decision about your job or learn to deal with it. Complaining about it constantly will only cause more anger and stress and you’ll end up hating it eventually.”

“It’s not my job, Tom. I love my job. I love my boss. They pay me well and the benefits are awesome.”

“You’re right. But those things don’t seem to make up for the issues you deal with every day,” says Tom.

Annie nods in agreement.

“If you love your job and have no intentions of leaving, maybe you should talk to your boss since you love her so much. She clearly adores you and knows how good you are at your job – when your coworkers leave you alone – and I’m sure she’d do anything to keep you.”

“Well, I suppose I could mention it to her. After all, it’s not the job or the work that frustrates me – it’s the office and the drive. If I didn’t have to drive an hour each way and work in that office…”

They both immediately think of their friend, Sarah, who is an editor for a national magazine. “Then you’d be like Sarah, working from home and the library and Starbucks all the time,” says Tom

Annie has always envied Sarah’s career. She works wherever and whenever she wants, and she clearly loves every minute of it.

“Annie, is there any reason you need to actually work at the office?”

Annie thinks about that long and hard. The silence lasts an hour. Tom gives her time, because it feels like they are onto something.

“I take phone calls at work. I print things every once in awhile. I have to sit in on conference calls every month. And I have meetings with my boss every other Friday.”

That night, Annie opens her laptop and looks up “remote work.”

Stay tuned to see what she finds…

The post The Idea first appeared on CSII.

The post The Idea appeared first on CSII.

Ever wish you had more vacation time?

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to spend more time traveling with your family?

Or floating down a river?

Laying on the beach?

Hiking up a mountain?

Running around Disney World?

Okay, okay, we heard you. We knew the answer, but thought we’d remind you of the many more places you could go in one year if you only knew how to work it out with your work schedule.

We can help. Read on, and you’ll be exploring and relaxing in more beautiful places very soon. It’s time to work around your life instead of the other way around. Ready to learn the secret of more vacation without sacrificing income?

The key to more vacation time is knowing how to stay connected.

Here are five ways to take your work with you so that you’re able to get enough done while you’re gone to make it easy to get away.

1. Set aside a couple hours in the morning to take care of the essentials and you’ll have more days on the beach. Schedule it to be sure you start and stop on time.

2. Set a custom call routing configuration ahead of time (we can help!) to automatically route calls you don’t need to take on vacation to those back home who can assist.

3. Be reachable if needed and keep all voicemails in your email for the next morning when it can wait. We all know the difference between calls that really need to be taken and those that can wait until the next morning (or at least nap time, bathroom breaks, or rest stops).

4. Reserve your laptop and coffee ritual for the morning (unless you’re a night owl) and use your mobile application (yes, we can help with this as well) for the rest.

5. Relax with the knowledge that you can communicate with clients and colleagues from your mobile without giving out your cell to a single person thanks to the mobile extension that masks your number as your desk / office extension.

Take care of the essentials. Then enjoy having more vacation time by being smart and well-informed.

The technology is there, and as long as you’re willing to balance the work and vacation (with the understanding that it’s the work that allows you more vacation), your family and your sanity will be pleasantly rewarded (and relaxed). Enjoy!

The post Ever wish you had more vacation time? first appeared on CSII.

The post Ever wish you had more vacation time? appeared first on CSII.