cern in organizational crisis management
and affects who can and should be eligible
to work at home. In 2000, the Department
of Labor issued Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) Instruction
CPL 02-00-125 to clarify health and safety
regulations applicable to home worksites.
OSHA does not inspect, require employers to inspect, or hold employers liable for
employees’ home offices.
As an alternative to a work-at-home
strategy, certain job roles may be more
productively assigned to another work
location available to the organization. Options suggested by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency include
remote or field offices, training facilities,
or other “virtual offices” such as telecommuting centers and mobile offices.
If it is not possible for an employee to
accomplish important tasks at home in
normal times, a crisis is unlikely to make
it feasible. Workers and employers that use
work-at-home strategies successfully on a
routine basis may be more likely to find it
a positive solution in times of crisis. Thus,
the Office of Personnel Management recommends as part of its disaster plans that
“employees designated to work from home
during an emergency event should telework
frequently enough to ensure all systems are
working smoothly.” This means a business
continuity plan that involves a work-at-home strategy must consider and overcome
the factors that limit working at home outside of emergencies. According to the U.S.
Government Accountability Office, which
has evaluated the adoption of the telework
in federal agencies, ingredients for success
include supervisor awareness and support,
technology that meets security and accessibility needs, appropriate equipment, and
technical support.
Compensation and Benefits
During a crisis, employers must continue
to manage compensation and benefits in
accordance with the Fair Labor Standards
Act, which prescribes standards for the minimum wage, overtime pay, and time recording, regardless of the location of work.
Leadership must assess the incentives
that the compensation and benefits policies are creating. Even if a work-at-home
option exists, individuals may report to
an unsafe worksite if they are concerned
about forgoing pay, depleting their leave
balances, or being subject to disciplinary
action. Compensation and benefits policies should be articulated for working at
home during a crisis. Throughout the
crisis period, leadership must be prepared
to state expected hours of work; whether
leave must be taken if employees do not
follow the normal schedule at home or at
the job site; and any performance measures in place for those working at home.
A crisis leadership team may need to designate a “work-at-home period” with specific start and end dates (subject to revision
as the crisis unfolds). This may involve
expanding telework agreements already in
place or extending formal agreements to
all affected employees.
To remain productive at home during
a crisis, employees must know they will
be paid. Remotely accessible leave tracking and time reporting systems will support continuity of financial reporting and
payroll processing, including the calculation of pay, benefits, and taxes. Adoption
of direct deposit will enable employees to
receive pay when they can’t get to work or
mail delivery is disrupted. If no real-time
tracking system exists, payroll systems
can continue to pay the employees as they
were in the pre-crisis period, with adjustments made in a future pay period based
on employees’ recorded hours. If this is
not possible, or if concerns about adjustments are overwhelming, a work-at-home
strategy is unlikely to succeed.
Communication
Employees who are affected by a crisis
will want to know what is expected of
them, how their actions will affect their
pay and benefits, and how they can contribute to resolving the crisis. They will
wonder, first, about whether they should
go to work and how to find out. Should
employees check a Web site, call a hotline,
or watch the local news? Second, they will
want status reports about the crisis so that
they can make informed decisions about
whether to attempt to go to work. They
may expect status reports on work in progress (e.g., a delivery). Finally, employees
may look for guidance about how to go
about their work, including what messages to convey to customers and suppliers, what networks and technical support
will be available, etc.
To maintain workforce continuity
during a crisis, a means and protocol for
the two-way flow of information (inbound
and outbound) with, between, and from all
employees is essential. Inbound communi-
cations may be defined as messages from
employees working at home to coworkers,
supervisors, leadership, and crisis manag-
ers who may be working at the regular job
site or an alternate site. Outbound commu-
nications are messages to employees work-
ing at home. A central message system that
both receives and sends messages allows
both and can support meaningful dialogue
throughout an organization. New and
emerging technologies and improved con-
nectivity can be employed to enhance and
maintain an effective two-way communi-
cation capability.
Summary
Electronic communications systems
are the bedrock of work-at-home strategies. Yet if work-at-home strategies are to
be sources of continuity rather than confusion, they must address non-IT issues
as well. Leadership should anticipate the
concerns of employees and supervisors
regarding fairness, safety, productivity,
work schedules, and pay. The strategy
should be specific about job titles and/
or individuals’ eligibility, pay and leave
policies, and how information will be
communicated and secured. Expectations
and policies for working at home during
a crisis should be stated in the employee
policy manual in addition to the continuity
of operations plan. A crisis communication
plan should reiterate these expectations
and also discuss modes of communication.
Most importantly, a work-at-home strategy must be regularly practiced, reviewed,
and refined if it is to be successful during a
disruptive event.
v
Carol Moore is an economist at The Lewin
Group, where she specializes in workforce
planning for national security and emergency preparedness. She is a student in the
masters certificate program at The George
Washington University Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and
Risk Management.
Gregory Shaw is the co-director of The
George Washington University Institute for
Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management and
an associate professor in the department
of engineering management and systems
engineering. He teaches graduate levels courses in business continuity and crisis management for GWU, Florida
Atlantic University, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
