Doing homework

Telecommuting jobs benefit workers, help companies cut costs

Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, February 6, 2006

Utah resident Steven Singley used to work in an office across the street from his home. But it took him about 30 minutes to get to his job.

Singley, 41, is a quadriplegic. He gets around in an electric wheelchair. His arms and legs were paralyzed 19 years ago. A pickup he was driving veered off a two-lane road late at night and flipped six times.

To get to his J.C. Penney Co. call center job in suburban Salt Lake City, Singley had to steer his wheelchair out of his condo and across the street. He then would call someone to let him into the building and take him up an elevator so he could get situated at his desk.

Today, it takes Singley, with the help of his girlfriend, about five minutes to set up for his job. He works from a home office in his condo. His employer is Alpine Access Inc., a Golden company whose employees work from home as customer-service agents for other companies.

Singley is a customer-service rep for Office Depot, taking orders for desks, copy paper and chairs. He also helps customers fix orders after an item arrives broken or the wrong product was delivered.

Singley hooked up with Alpine Access last April after the Penney call center closed. He doesn't miss his old commute.

"My disability," he noted, "doesn't allow me to travel easily."

He also likes the flexible work schedule in his new job, particularly when he's had to miss days because of kidney infections linked to his disability.

Singley is among tens of millions of people who work from home, or telecommute. Telecommuting, or telework, has been growing, helped by the broader deployment of high-speed broadband communications and, more recently, the jump in gasoline prices, which has made workers reluctant to drive long distances.

In Singley's case, telework accommodates his disability. In fact, 10 percent of Alpine Access' 7,500 agents are disabled, including a quadriplegic man in Massachusetts who relies on a specially trained capuchin monkey for a helping hand. Almost 5,000 of Alpine Access' home-based agents are in Colorado.

Others telecommute to get time to take care of their young kids - or to spend more time with their family instead of sitting in traffic.

Companies have their own reasons for encouraging the practice. Executives and experts say it saves businesses money on real estate costs and allows a company to continue to operate in the event of a major storm or catastrophe that shutters a central office.

Aids recruitment and retention

Executives also say it helps them recruit and retain quality employees - such as educated, married 30-somethings who want a flexible job that allows them to stay home with their kids. The teleworker also might be a military wife or a retiree wanting extra cash.

"The caliber of the people we're getting is better than what you'd get in a regular contact center," said Alpine Access CEO Garth Howard.

Other local companies that promote and rely on telecommuters are Sun Microsystems Inc. in Broomfield and McKesson Health Solutions, a Broomfield health-services unit of McKesson Corp. Elsewhere, JetBlue Airways' 1,400 reservation agents all work from home.

An estimated 45.1 million employed Americans did some type of work at home during the past year, according to research conducted by Dieringer Research Group for ITAC, a telework advisory group linked to the Arizona-based nonprofit WorldatWork.

That was up less than 2 percent from 2004.

But the number of people who are full-time employees and allowed to work from home at least one day a month increased by 30 percent, to 9.9 million.

Dieringer says the jump could be the result of a strengthening economy and "an increasing acceptance by post-recession employers to permit telework."

For McKesson Health Solutions, a home-based work force allowed it to cut costs and land quality applicants.

McKesson serves commercial and government health care customers, including state Medicaid programs.

It relies on nurses who field incoming calls from patients about acute medical conditions such as possible heart attacks or injuries. The nurses also make outbound calls to Medicaid or commercial health-plan patients to educate them about specific chronic illnesses they might have. A diabetic, for example, might learn proper blood-sugar levels.

McKesson started moving toward a home-based work force about 1 1/2 years ago. The company was operating call centers. But they were pricey to build and operate.

The company reckoned it would cost $300,000 to $500,000 up front to build a new medium-sized center for about 50 agents. It would then cost $100,000 a year to run.

McKesson also was finding it tough to recruit nurses for its call centers. They were in short supply. And hospitals were dangling bonuses to lure nurses aboard.

"We were dealing with a nursing shortage where everybody was offering something to attract that nurse," said Mike Modiz, a McKesson vice president.

So company officials pondered what could they offer.

Bingo!

"The ability to work from home was something I could offer and a hospital could not," Modiz said.

The strategy worked. About a year ago, McKesson put an ad in a Sacramento paper for nursing jobs at a call center there.

"We had one contact from that ad," Modiz said.

But when McKesson again ran the ad and encouraged nurses to ask about McKesson's work-from-home program, the company got nearly 400 responses.

"We got flooded," Modiz said.

Today, McKesson has 400 home-based nurses nationwide. It still operates five call centers, including one in Broomfield (that's down from a peak of seven).

According to McKesson, annual attrition among its home-based nurses is 10 percent - vs. 30 percent among call-center nurses.

To be sure, the number of telecommuters hasn't followed a straight upward trajectory - particularly after the Internet bubble burst in 2000.

According to research firm IDC, which calculates telework using a different formula than Dieringer Research, the estimated number of telecommuting households totaled some 9 million in 2000.

That figure covers the number of households where someone worked at least three days a month from home.

By 2002, the number edged up to 9.1 million. It then fell to 8.7 million in 2003 before rising again to 9.1 million by 2005.

Explaining the drop-off, IDC analyst Merle Sandler said: "With the downturn in the economy, a lot of people wanted to be seen at the office."

At Sun Microsystems in Broomfield, however, it isn't necessary to be seen. The company employs about 4,700 in the area, following its purchase of Louisville-based Storage Technology Corp. Employees have the option to work from home, either part time or most of the time.

"The opportunity is available to just about anybody in the company to consider it," said David Raduziner, Sun's senior director of workplace resources. "We have been very active in providing flexibility for our work force for over 10 years."

Among the company's local work force, more than 530 work from home at least two to three days a week. When they need to work at Sun's campus, these people reserve a work space through an online reservation system.

"You can choose the building. You can choose the floor. You can choose a cubicle or an enclosed office," said Raduziner, who works mainly from a home office above his Boulder garage.

Companywide, Sun estimates its work-at-home program saved it $69 million last year in the way of real estate and information technology costs.

'It's not for everybody'

Telecommuting, however, doesn't work in all situations, according to experts. Take the employee.

"Can they really be trusted to get the job done with less supervision?" asked Chuck Wilsker, CEO of the Telework Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates telework.

Wilsker said poor candidates are people who are "time-oriented" - they look at their watches to see how soon it is until quitting time. Better candidates are those who are "task oriented" and want to get the job done.

"It's not for everybody," Wilsker said.

Also, prospective teleworkers shouldn't expect the company to foot the bill for a brand-new home office with all the high-tech trimmings.

In the case of Alpine Access, for example, the company says on its Web site that agents are required to have:

• A "reliable" personal computer with at least a Windows 98 Second Edition operating system.

• A subscription to a "reliable high-speed" Internet service.

• The ability to be on the Internet and the phone at the same time, without the use of a cell phone or an Internet-based phone.

• A corded headset with a noise-canceling microphone.

But those requirements weren't a deal killer for the wheelchair-bound Singley. The company's flexible work arrangement could allow him to some day finish his studies in computer-aided drafting and design. Earlier, he was forced to put those studies on hold.

"It gave me an opportunity to look at going to school and finishing my degree," Singley said.

Focus on telecommuting

• Local companies that emphasize telecommuting are Alpine Access Inc., a Golden company whose employees work from home as customer-service agents for other companies; Sun Microsystems Inc. in Broomfield; and McKesson Health Solutions, a Broomfield health-services unit of McKesson Corp.

ALPINE ACCESS

10% Segment of Alpine's 7,500 agents who are disabled, including a quadriplegic man in Massachusetts who relies on a specially trained capuchin monkey for help. Almost 5,000 of Alpine Access' home-based agents are in Colorado.

SUN MICROSYSTEMS

$69 million: How much Sun estimates its work-at-home program saved last year in the way of real estate and information-technology costs. Among the company's local work force of about 4,700, more than 530 work from home at least two to three days a week.

McKESSON HEALTH SOLUTIONS

400 Number of McKesson's home-based nurses nationwide. It still operates five call centers, including one in Broomfield. McKesson says annual attrition among its home-based nurses is 10 percent vs. 30 percent among call-center nurses.

fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2467