Two weeks ago, the ice storm that hit metro Atlanta left thousands of employees stuck not at their desks but at their steering wheels.
Now that there is a ton of forewarning about an impending storm, scores of companies are embracing teleworking to keep workers productive while also letting them stay home and out of the weather.
Elham Shirazi, a teleworking expert and consultant with Georgia’s Clean Air Campaign, said teleworking is more popular in the metro area than carpooling or using MARTA to get to work. She has worked with major local companies, including Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, Georgia Power and GE Energy, to help them improve their teleworking strategies.
While driving alone is the most popular way to get to work, embraced by 82 percent of metro Atlantans surveyed by the Center for Transportation and the Environment, teleworking comes in second at 7 percent, followed by carpooling (5 percent), train (3 percent) and bus (2 percent) and biking or walking (less than 1 percent).The survey was funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Shirazi said one Atlanta foundation on Monday told workers to take three days’ worth of work home so they can continue making calls, conducting research and seeking grants.
“Even the receptionist is going to work from home,” Shirazi said. “It’s really a far cry from what happened the last time.”
Justin Grimsley, a spokesman for AirWatch, a Sandy Springs-based mobile technology and security company, said most of the company’s employees are equipped with the devices needed to work remotely.
“Employees teleworked after the last snow storm and would likely do the same if the winter storm makes travel unsafe,” Grimsley said Monday.
About 280 companies have embraced teleworking through formal policies and procedures in metro Atlanta, according to the Clean Air Campaign, which promotes such programs to cut down on pollution. Many more have less formal procedures, with some allowing remote work daily and others one or two days a week.
Even spur-of-the-moment teleworking, such as for the weather event expected this week, requires planning. Here are a few tips:
1. Make sure you have all of the equipment you need from work (laptop, power cord, battery pack etc.) to work from home or another remote area. Also make sure your computer has any needed applications, such as your office’s email.
2. Make sure you have adequate high-speed Internet access at home to connect to your company’s system.
3. Work in a quiet area of your home, one without background noises in case you have to be on the phone. Also make sure the area is not cluttered with a lot of other other electronics that could affect your connection.
4. Make sure access to your computer is secure to protect company information.
5. Stick to a schedule to make sure you’re making the most of the time you have to work.
6. Stay in touch with your supervisor or manager.
7. Keep non-work-related interruptions at a minimum.
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