Business Inputs vs. Business Outputs

June 2nd, 2010

Tony Redmond, CEO and Founder, RWorks

Most workers are familiar with the concept of business input; by simply turning up for work, you’re contributing to the business! It’s about time and attendance, clocking in and timesheets. It’s not about what you did, what you worked on or what got done. There are many different applications out there that allow a user to input their timesheet. They act as a central repository where all timesheets can be stored and retrieved for any employee at any time. The reporting side of this gives managers and business owners an idea of what their payroll costs are going to be.

It does not in any shape or form give an idea of how productive people are. It does not provide a measure of business output. Some applications allow users to attribute their time to a cost centre, task or project code. So for example, if someone spends 2 hours working on a specific task, they can enter those 2 hours into a timesheet. This gives a good indication of productivity but there are a couple of problems with this approach. Firstly, it takes a lot of time to attribute time to a task. In any working day, a person may switch their attention across a number of tasks and tracking that time requires much effort and diligence that would be better directed elsewhere. The second problem is such data is still manually entered and is subject to all the usual nuances of human data entry.

In the current “somewhere near the bottom of the recession” environment, organisations are focussing on productivity, competitiveness and getting value for money. As one senior IT manager commented to me recently “The days of people getting paid to just turn in for work are fast coming to an end”. In addition, individuals themselves want to know how they’re spending their time. Only detailed information on activities can provide this. Contractors want to show that they have been diligently working on behalf of clients. Professionals are more and more being asked to show a time breakdown of work.

Providing this information by matching the tasks assigned to a person with their actual activity and then reporting on the results is the business of RWorks. We aim at the remote worker as remote working draws attention to more fundamental work management issues applicable to all.

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RWorks Focuses on Remote Working Advocates Part 2- Nigel Ballard, Intel’s Head of Federal Marketing

April 29th, 2010

by Valerie Redmond,

RWorks Co-Founder

“Work is something you do, not someplace you go!”

So says Nigel Ballard, Intel’s Director of Federal Marketing, who was awarded the Homeland Defence Journal’s top award in 2006 for his wireless technology and leadership skills during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and was named one of America’s top 100 technology leaders by Federal Computer Weekly.

This statement is  a call to action.  For us at RWorks, and many others globally, this statement encapsulates a major shift in how we view the way we work.

Nigel Ballard is a visionary, a remote working advocate, a tireless campaigner for free wireless broadband access for all, ‘be you poor, be you rich’ .  Click here

In his white paper on teleworking ‘Embracing Change with Telework’,  Ballard states that  “In the 21st century, fewer employees will be content driving 60 minutes from one computer screen to another”.

He writes that it is time to rethink the traditional office and take advantage of technologies such as wireless broadband and the latest mobile hardware such as faster, more powerful laptops. By harnessing the latest mobile computing technology, he says that ‘a secure, effective workplace can be created nearly anywhere’.

In listing the advantages of teleworking, Ballard includes an improved work-life balance for employees and also reduced environmental impact, through reduced traffic congestion, reduced emissions and pollution, and a decreased burden on transportation infrastructure. Interestingly, Nigel Ballard highlights a significant reward to the employer of becoming a more competitive employer, in that ‘teleworking helps.. to retain valuable employees.’

To read Nigel Ballard’s white paper on teleworking, click here

 

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Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by Teleworking

April 1st, 2010

by Valerie Redmond, RWorks Co-Founder

We, at RWorks, are very aware of the need for environmental protection. In our role of faciliating successful Remote working/Teleworking programmes, we are playing our part in helping individuals and organisations reduce their carbon footprint.

As a global community, in looking at our carbon footprint, we come to understand the impact of our personal behaviour on the environment. First, the science bit: Greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, ozone) are forming a layer in the atmosphere around the earth. The largest contributing source of greenhouse gas is the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, petrol and kerosene, which leads to the emission of carbon dioxide.( All of the greenhouse gases formed are taken into account, not just carbon dioxide) when calculating carbon footprint. Sunlight reaches the surface of the earth and warms it, much of it being radiated back out into space. However, greenhouse gases act like a mirror and reflect back some of this heat to Earth again, causing further heating of planet Earth, in what has become known as the ‘Greenhouse Effect’.

On 6th October, 2009, the International Energy Agency (IEA), released the 2007 figures for over 140 regions, showing carbon dioxide emissions per person from 1990-2006. All data was initially collected by the United Nations Statistics Division, and calculated by the US Department of Energy’s Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC).Carbon footprint is normally expressed in kg or tonnes of CO2 (1,000 kg = 1 tonne). It is widely advocated that the carbon footprint per person be 2,000 kg, or 2 tonne annually. The CDIAC figures reflect a very different reality to that recommended: USA average per person is 19.1 tonne; Australia 18.8; Canada 17.4; Ireland 10.1; UK 8.6; India 1.2.

So we have a long way to go! But there are simple measures worth re-iterating: reduce energy consumption by turning down the thermostat in our heating systems, turn the temperature down in our washing machines and dishwashers, switch our bulbs to energy efficient ones, make our homes much more heat efficient via insulation etc, and even simpler still, turn things off when not in use!!

Regarding work practices, we can recycle more, reduce junk mail, switch off our computers by night and at weekends ( 32 hours of computer activity generates 1 kg of CO2), and fly less ( air travel of 2.2 km or 1.375 miles creates 1kg of Co2), conference via telephone or video instead. Sometimes travelling by train can be faster than flight time plus transfer time at both ends of the journey. We can cut down our car use, and use public transport instead, walk or cycle. 1 litre of petrol creates 2.3 kg CO2; 1Gallon USA creates 8.7 kg CO2; 1 litre of diesel creates 2.7 kg CO2; 1 Gallon USA creates 9.95 kg CO2  emissions.

And of course, the cutting down on CO2 emissions, by reduction of all modes of travel, is just another of the many advantages of remote/teleworking. The technology is here- let’s harness it and get it working to our best advantage!

Interesting websites:

www.carbonfootprintofnations.com

www.iea.org

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The “Enabling” Remote Working Conundrum

March 22nd, 2010

by Tony Redmond,

CEO, RWorks.com

In order for office workers to be able to work remotely, what do you need? The first answer usually given is “broadband”. Broadband is the life blood of remote working, no question about that. Once you’ve got your high-speed Internet connection, the next thing you need is secure access to your organisation’s data and applications. This is where remote access tools, virtual desktops and virtual private networks come in.

Now the remote worker has all of the systems he/she has in the main office as their remote office. Thanks to technology, they now are now no longer commuting to sit in front of a PC – they can do it without the commuting. They can save on gas/petrol, have a better work-life-balance and their employers can save on office space, lighting and heating to boot.

The problem is that there is more to office work than just the technology – there are people. People have roles and people have jobs to complete. People interact with each other. In the office environment, there are a multitude of roles, for individuals, teams and managers. Managers can easily determine how a piece of work is progressing – sometimes even without asking. Employees know when they’re well thought of and their work is appreciated.

In the remote office, things are different. There’s little or no human interaction except phone calls, email and IM. As a manager, it’s easy to forget about the person working from home today. As a remote worker, it’s easy to forget about the work that has to be done today. Managers find it difficult to “feel” how something is progressing and workers get very little feedback on how they’re doing.

Thus to be “enabled” for remote working, doesn’t mean a person is actually working and doesn’t mean that their manager considers them as part of the team. Solving this isn’t trivial. Some solutions suggest that the remote worker should spend time and effort on being more responsive when out of the office. This entails fast replies to emails, more regular phone updates and IM chats.

This seems counter-productive to me. Just for starters, working remotely shouldn’t incur more effort. However, many remote workers opt for this to justify the fact that they are working remotely.

This is the problem that we at RWorks are addressing – how to make sure a (remote) worker remains key to the success of an organisation while at the same time making sure an organisation gets the very best from its employees. We’re not about “enabling” remote working, we’re about making it it a success.

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RWorks-Proud to be an Irish Company taking position in the Global Marketplace

March 17th, 2010

by Valerie Redmond
RWorks Co-Founder

Today is St. Patrick’s day, and like millions of people worldwide today, we at RWorks are celebrating our Irishness. Ireland has an official population of four and a half million people, (Central Statistics, 2006, Ireland’s most  recent census), but its diaspora is estimated to be in the region of  over 45 million worldwide. Add to this the 800,00 Irish-born people living overseas, and 3.1 million Irish citizens living outside of Ireland, and you begin to see the staggering extent of the Irish diaspora.

No wonder then, that in the depths of economic  recession, on 18-20 September 2009, the Irish Government held  the Global Irish Economic Forum in Farmleigh Estate, Phoenix Park, Dublin. This was to ‘explore how the Irish at home and abroad, and those with a strong interest in Ireland, could work together and contribute to our overall efforts at economic recovery, and to examine ways in which Ireland and its global community could develop a more strategic relationship with each other, particularly in the economic sector’.

We at RWorks found the Breakout Panel Discussion moderated By David McWilliams (Economist, author and broadcaster) very interesting. The panel discussed and made recommendations on proposals emanating from the July 2009 report on ‘Technology Actions to Support the Smart Economy’. The report states that:

‘Speakers noted that Ireland is in an excellent position to develop as a global hub for data/cloud computing given our high levels of expertise associated with existing and planned centres’.

We at RWorks agree, as RWorks is a cloud computing solution addressing the needs of organizations managing remote teams.

Our Taoiseach (pronounced Teeshock- the Irish name for Prime Minister), Brian Cowen, has made an optimistic and forward-looking statement to the nation this St. Patrick’s Day, emphasising the crucial importance of entrepreneurship and innovation in moving forwards out of recession, and back to growth and prosperity, stating:

“People say the best way to predict the future is to invent it. One of Ireland’s best attributes is our ability to be agile and to make quick decisions to get ahead of the game” .

Brian Cowen’s Innovation Taskforce launched their report last week, and it is very particularly concerned with positioning Ireland as a global innovation hub.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from RWorks!

Interesting Links:

Brian Cowen’s St. Patrick’s Day message

Tapping into the Irish Diaspora

Global Irish Economic Forum Report

Innovation Taskforce web-site

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RWorks Focuses on Remote Working Advocates Part 1 – John Berry and remembers ‘Snowmageddon’, Winter 09/10

March 8th, 2010

by Valerie Redmond
RWorks Co-Founder


In his nomination statement before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, in March 2009, before his appointment as Director of the Office of Personnel Management was confirmed, John Berry stated that ‘we need to provide competitive pay and benefits, healthy model workplace environments, and sensitivity to employees’ responsibilities to family and loved ones’.

The following month, Berry issued a news release announcing an ambitious and comprehensive plan to significantly increase the number of American federal workers who work from home. At that time, just over 5% of America’s 1.9 million Federal employees were teleworking (103,000 employees).

The news release states that ‘ Increased adoption of telework in Federal offices across the country…would have tremendous economic and social value. These programs would enable the uninterrupted delivery of government services if employees were instructed to work from home due to natural disaster or conditions that threaten human health, including concerns related to the spread of influenza. To facilitate agency business during emergencies, managers have authority to implement new telework agreements to the fullest extent possible’.

This obviously allows for improved Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) .

Less than a year later, Washington D.C. found itself under several feet of snow, nick-named ‘Snowmageddon’ by President Barack Obama, as the dreadful weather conditions all but shut down the city.
On Wednesday 10th February 2010, John Berry was interviewed on 1500 AM Federal News Radio. It was his birthday that day, and President Obama had called him that morning to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’. The conversation between President Obama and John Berry then turned to the hot topic of teleworking, because despite the fact that the Federal Government had been closed for several days, both men were delighted that approximately 30% of federal workers were managing to do their work remotely, from home.
Berry says during this interview that both himself and President Obama have realised that the snowstorms created a ‘watershed moment for the importance of teleworking….it will grow from here’, and also that  ‘Technology does work…it does advance, and the government have taken advantage of that and it can only get better. Technology allows us to be unchained from our desk, and unchained from the office setting, and still get the job done’.


To listen to the entire interview, go to:
http://ow.ly/165TK

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Remote Worker Performance Analysis RWorks- A Missing Link in the Productivity Paradox

March 1st, 2010

by Valerie Redmond
RWorks Co-Founder

The OECD defines productivity as ‘the ratio of a volume measure of output to a volume measure of input’.
By extension, workforce productivity is the amount of goods and services that a labourer produces in a given amount of time. However, as well as being simply quantative, many authors now agree that in order to be truly meaningful, the definition of productivity needs to encompass concepts such as quality changes, innovation, and efficiency.
So, what is your return on investment? How much ‘bang’ are you and your organization getting for your ‘buck’? Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent globally in investing in IT, and after growing strongly in the 1960’s, there was an alarming slow-down in productivity increases in the 1970’s and 1980’s, prompting the famous statement in 1987, by Robert Solow, a highly esteemed American economist and nobel laureate that ‘you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics”.

This concept is sometimes referred to as the Solow computer paradox, but is now more popularly known as the Productivity Paradox, following an article by Erik Brynjolfsson from MIT in 1992.

Simply put, the productivity paradox is that there has historically been a massive discrepancy between the amount of investment in IT and the productivity returned. This has implications at organizational, national and global levels. It poses the question: why has the enormous investments in IT not historically resulted in increased productivity in organizations beyond a certain level?

‘Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox’ (1994) is one of the very many books, research projects and articles that are available on this particular topic.

http://www.nap.edu/

In Chapter 5, William Ruch recognises the complexity of the relationships between the productivity of the individual worker and the total performance of the organisation.

He states that ‘ within the organization, individual workers performing specific jobs form the base level of all productive endeavour’. He illustrates this using the diagram below:

Figure 1- The Goal Alignment Model

This diagram has thought processes travelling laterally and vertically, but to choose one element for now:

Reading horizontally across the bottom of this diagram, the Goal Alignment model indicates that the individual and group productivity results would sum to the productivity of the next higher business unit, and ultimately to the productivity of the organization.

And so it can be seen that individual worker performance is essential to the overall performance of the organisation. When those individual workers are remote workers, does this create a whole lot of issues? Not really.. because whether the worker is right there in front of you in head office, or in their virtual office 100 miles away, the issue is the same – the need to measure individual-level productivity.

In RWorks, we have addressed this by allowing:

  • Workers to see their own productivity at all times
  • Managers to see the productivity of individuals and of the entire team

For example, when a worker is assigned a task, RWorks determines when they are working on that task, how much time they spend on that task, what tools they are using to complete the task, and also updates the progress information for the project. In turn, managers can see instantly the detailed productivity of an individual worker, or the progress of an entire team on all of their assigned tasks.

In Chapter 6 of the book mentioned above, D.Scott Sink and George L. Smith Jr. state that this measurement and analysis of individual-level productivity is of paramount importance.

They write that productivity measurement:

  • provides specific direction, and guides the worker towards productive activities,
  • that a measurement system provides a means to check progress towards the objective, which can be additionally a major part of the employees evaluation leading to rewards or disciplinary action,
  • that the examination of trends helps to identify problems before they become crises and permits early adjustment and corrective action,
  • that productivity measurement provides information on costs, time, output rate and resource usage to allow decision making,
  • and finally that productivity measurement supports innovation. This is because productivity analysis combined with cost data aids in the evaluation of proposed changes to existing products or processed and the introduction of new ones. This is one of the primary foundations for the continuous improvement efforts that are both popular and necessary for survival in business firms today.

I have written in my previous article that remote working has many benefits for employees and employers, that it  is on the increase, and I highlighted the challenge of geography in managing a remote team. A really effective communication system incorporating remote management software such as RWorks, is of paramount importance to doing this successfully. The measurement of individual and group productivity is a key part of that communication system, relaying information to the worker about how they are spending their time and what progress they are making on their assigned tasks, and also relaying very detailed information to the manager about how the various projects are progressing.

In using an effective system of measuring worker performance analysis such as RWorks, intuitive software is employed to remove another barrier to successfully employing workers remotely .

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Remote Leadership-Are you ready for the challenge of Geography?

February 22nd, 2010

by Valerie Redmond
RWorks Co-Founder

Remote working, flexible working (where an employee works remotely some of the time), virtual working, e-working, telecommuting…it is happening, its commonplace and it is on the increase.

The benefits of remote working are many and varied, for both the organisation and the employee. Not only has remote working demonstrated significant cost-saving benefits for companies in reduction of deskspace, equipment, running expenses and real estate costs, and also higher levels of productivity , but now increasingly remote working is used as an incentive to retain skilled staff and attract new talent.

For employees, remote working has the immediate advantage of the absence of long commutes, and remote workers report a better work-life balance, and greater job satisfaction.

However, with the benefits of implementing a remote working programme in your organisation, there are challenges, and these benefits can only be enjoyed by identifying and meeting these challenges head- on.
Telecommuting, virtual working, remote working- Whatever you choose to call it, the challenge is this- you as a project manager or team leader cannot walk out of your office and see your team at work. Your team has been separated and is situated in virtual offices in remote locations. They are working in their own homes in the same city as head office, in other cities, possibly even in other countries internationally.

In actual fact, where they are is absolutely and totally irrelevant. The distance between a manager and members of a remote team may be 1 mile or 10,000 miles, and the challenges are the same.
The problem requiring a solution is lack of face-to-face interaction in the office environment, both between managers and employees, and between the employees themselves. There are well documented issues around trust, communication, consistency, collaboration, focus, security and career advancement, among others.
With the ongoing upsurge in remote working, managers must adapt their skills accordingly.
‘Remote leadership is not rocket science-it is more difficult. A leader must possess the passion, wisdom and tenacity to prevail’, ( Kennedy Group, 2006). The article highlights the fostering of trust-based relationships as the best way to build performance across distance, and cites geography as a main enemy of leading a virtual team, as it ‘makes individuals see themselves as separate from one another’.
The author emphasises the vital role that the remote leader has in re-defining the team dynamic so that geography is removed as a barrier to effective team work. A really effective communication system is seen as key.
The article recommends periodic face-to-face meetings to develop team unity, that each team members role and accountabilities by very clearly defined at the outset and reviewed at intervals, and a total communication system with agreed mechanisms for the different types of information. For example, e-mail can be used for routine announcements,updates, accomplishments, ideas and learnings; audio-conferencing for regular, informal, non-agenda meetings for the whole team to problem solve and share ideas; and conflict or misunderstanding should never be addressed by e-mail or voice-mail, but always by direct contact.


And so it is clear that effective Remote Leadership lies in the marriage of human resources and technology- excellent people and project management skills, and keen utilisation of a really well designed communication strategy, where hardware and intuitive soft ware are employed to your best advantage.
In stepping up to the plate as a Remote Leader, for every challenge, there is a solution. In implementing appropriate solutions, your employees, your team leaders and project managers, and your whole organisation, will reap the many rewards that remote working delivers.

References
The Kennedy Group: ‘Remote Leadership’, 2006. Accessed 17th January 2010.

Posted in e-working, flexible working, remote leadership, remote working, staff retention, telecommuting, teleworking, virtual working, work-life balance | No Comments »