Managing The Distributed Workforce

Every organization must plan for a variety of risks. As I mentioned in my post on 4/26/2006, it is often the act of planning that matters much more so than the plans themselves. Continuing from yesterday, I am particularly interested in AIG's distributed workforce and thought you might be as well.

A distributed workforce is like the internet versus a mainframe. In fact, the development of the Internet began as part of wartime communications. The defense department was looking into the ability to re-route digital traffic around failed nodes – an Achilles heel for the then current phone network. With such a network, if a portion failed, another node would pick up the slack.
In the event of a disaster, a distributed network is an ideal way to handle the situation. The human brain acts in a similar way. In many cases, as one sense fails (e.g., sight), another compensates (e.g., hearing), becoming more acute. While certainly not perfect, it provides the strongest chance for survival.

With the progression of telecommuting and its enabling technologies, a distributed workforce is more practical than ever. While certainly not every organization can support such an organization, those that can may want to seriously consider it as part of disaster planning. So how do you sustain such an environment?

I asked Mr. Popolano, AIG’s CIO this question. He suggested that monitoring is key. A remote employee’s progress and efficiency should be transparent – both you and they should be able to monitor it in real-time. Goals should be established and actual results compared. If an employee is consistently falling short of defined goals, action must be taken. An employee who is just incapable of success as a remote contributor must be dealt with. He/she must be prevented from becoming a “virus,” negatively influencing fellow remote co-workers. Done well, a distributed work environment can improve employee satisfaction and productivity, while being an important component to handling all types of disasters.