Don't sweat the snow, work from home

By Jeffry Scott

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Snow, maybe as much as two inches of it, was headed for Atlanta Thursday, prompting the usual paroxysms of preparation: airlines canceled flights; crews prepared to salt and sand roads; and companies planned for fewer employees at work Friday if roads are slick and schools closed.

But at a few businesses around town, employees were chilling out, not the least worried about the storm because they were already working from home -- and planning to work from home Friday as well.

It’s a byproduct of the growth of telecommuting over the years, fueled both by technology that puts corporate software in the palm of a hand and efforts to reduce commuting. Companies that have embraced telecommuting have a built-in contingency plan for bad weather.

“At IBM, our strategy is that we’re able to help the world at any time, at any place, and weather should not be a factor,” said Ann Cramer, the company’s director of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs for the Americas. “Our people don’t have to come to the office to do their jobs.”

If roads are a skating rink Friday, IBM won’t even bother to count if more than the usual 40 percent of its 6,500 Atlanta employees work outside the office Friday, said Cramer: “We focus on the work, not where you are.”

Melanie Wiggins, a biologist and environmental scientist at the Atlanta engineering firm CH2M Hill, which employs about 700, said she expects more people will work from remote locations than usual Friday, just as during last fall’s flood that rendered many metro Atlanta streets impassable for days.

On average, about 20 percent of employees work from home, said Wiggins. During the floods, that number swelled to 50 percent. “We definitely don’t want people coming into the office just for the sake of coming into the office,” she said.

The Clean Air Campaign, which helps companies put together work-from-home schemes to reduce the number of commuters and smog in the city, advises having a plan in place for bad weather days.

“This is not something you can do in just a couple of days,” said Erin Clark, the campaign’s telework specialist. “You need to have a clear policy and guidelines and rules in place so that workers and managers are on the same page,” she said.

Those policies include, among other things, the hours employees are expected to work and the degree to which they are expected to stay in touch with supervisors and fellow workers.