Believe it or not there are over three million Americans working from home.  As gas prices continue to rise, so do the number of tele-commuters.  Creating convenience and flexibility for the at-home worker is becoming a critical benefit for employees at many healthcare staffing agencies.  Even large Fortune 500 companies are recognizing the financial advantages with their employees working from home.  Reports show that companies save an average of $6,500 annually for each employee who works from home one day a week.

How do you Successfully Execute Tele-Commuting as a Healthcare Staffing Agency?

• The use of web-based staffing software is growing for many financial benefits.  One of the most overlooked benefits is the ability to have healthcare staffing employees work from home.  This is a critical piece any at-home worker must have access to centralized web-based staffing software that can be accessed from any Internet connection.  In my opinion, without this connection it is impossible to even THINK about having an at-home worker.
• Use your web-based staffing software to measure activity and results. Many web-based staffing software companies have built in reporting tools that track the number phone calls made daily or weekly.  This software should also see when a person is logged into which can keep your employees honest as to what they are doing if they know it is tracked.  
• Gotta love employee collaboration!  Many companies are afraid they will lose this when they move to an at-home environment.  Ensure that you have additional web-based software that has a collaborative document tool.  There are some great products on the market that are either free or cheap, like Google Docs or Office 365 that allow multiple users to be viewing and editing the same document. Again, this is also taking your office one step closer to being paperless.  
• Who needs a board room with an expensive table and chairs when you can use a web-based meeting software to hold company meetings?  Using Cisco WebEx or Skype is a great way to get everyone on the same page even with people across the country.  Plan consistent relevant meetings to encourage communication and set deliverables.
• Instant message is awesome but has its pitfalls.  Teaching employees to use instant messaging properly and to set instant message guidelines is key – it can be very disruptive and can be a huge time drain so clear boundaries need to be set at the start.  

• If something needs to be done, don’t put it in an IM where it can get lost – make sure you use email.
• If there is an issue with a customer or fellow employee – pick up the phone.  Some things just don’t come across in IM form very well.
• If you are busy, use your away messages because they are there for a reason!

Are you a medical staffing agency with employees working from home?  What are some of your experiences, good or bad?