Working from Home: It’s in the Details
Traffic surrounding Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., has become so congested that Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire nearly missed a 9 a.m. speech at the company’s main campus one recent morning. Roads leading to the software maker simply weren’t designed to handle the 35,000 commuters who report for work there each day. The gridlock that greeted Gregoire was just the latest reminder that Microsoft needs to tackle its commuter crisis—and quick.
So Microsoft (MSFT) has embarked on a program aimed at getting more employees to work from home and other off-site locales, joining the growing ranks of companies to catch the virtual-workplace wave. About 14% of the U.S. workforce gets its job done at a home office more than two days per week, says Charlie Grantham, executive producer of consulting firm Work Design Collaborative. That’s up from 11% in 2004, and is set to grow to 17% by 2009.
Pros and Cons
Benefits of letting employees work from outside the office include keeping cars off the road, helping a company to bolster its green bona fides. But the practice can also foster employee retention, boost worker productivity, and slash real estate costs. At IBM (IBM), about 42% of the company’s 330,000 employees work on the road, from home, or at a client location, saving the computer company about $100 million in real estate-related expenses a year. VIPdesk, an employer of at-home customer-service reps, hangs onto 85% of its employees each year, compared with the 10% to 20% rate for traditional call centers, according to consulting firm IDC. And virtual workers are about 16% more productive than office workers, according to Grantham’s research.
For all the benefits of freeing workers from the office, drawbacks abound. First, not everyone wants to leave. Some fear they will step off the corporate ladder, while others need a busy environment to stay productive. Some managers are reluctant to scatter direct reports because keeping tabs on a virtual workforce can be harder than managing those close at hand. Some virtual workers can feel lonely, isolated, or deprived of vital training and mentoring. And communication breakdowns can impede innovation, trust, job satisfaction, and performance.
Obstacles like these have prompted IBM, Sun Microsystems (SUNW), and other companies to seek out a host of creative solutions to the problems that virtual work presents. Some turn to a combination of mobile devices, e-mail, instant messaging, and collaboration software to help colleagues stay in touch.
Some Are Reluctant
But experts say successful companies go a step further, adopting a whole virtual-worker ethos. “Management by objective is critical,” says Ann Bamesberger, vice-president of Open Work at Sun. “If you have to manage by monitoring, it’s not for you.” A number of companies including Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, IBM, and Sun have also revamped office space to better accommodate virtual workers, providing everything from cubicles to conference rooms for employees who only occasionally stop in.
While many relish the chance to strike a better work-life balance by working from home, some are surprisingly resistant to being stationed outside the office. Of the approximately 25% of workers who could feasibly telecommute, less than half would do so more than two days a week, and 14% wouldn’t telecommute at all, according to a survey conducted by research firm Rockbridge Associates and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
This reluctance may be fueled by fear that if they’re out of sight, they will be out of mind, too. About 61% of global executives say they think telecommuters are less likely to advance in their careers, compared with employees in a traditional office setting, according to a survey conducted by Futurestep, a subsidiary of Korn/Ferry International (KFY).
Communication Preferences
Even workers who are eager to telecommute encounter hurdles. Many managers simply don’t know how to manage a virtual workforce. “Projects fail, and companies assume that the workers can’t do the work,” says Colleen Garton, author of Managing without Walls. “But a high percentage of time, it’s the manager.” Over time, some employees begin to feel isolated, and virtual teams suffer from communication breakdown.
For virtual workers, there are plenty of ways to stay in touch, be it through e-mail, phone, or instant messaging. The trick, say experienced virtual workers, is helping managers know how employees like to communicate. When Kathleen Timiney worked at Groove Networks, a software maker acquired by Microsoft in 2005, she asked each team member how they preferred to communicate and posted those preferences where everyone could see them. “It’s not just superficial,” she says. “You have to support people in their style.”
IBM discovered that workers who spend three or more days without talking to a manager or colleagues start to feel disconnected. “Employees used to feel that IBM meant ‘I’m By Myself,’” says Dan Pelino, general manager for health care and life sciences at IBM. “We learned that it was important for managers to understand that people feel that way and to create new collaborative environments and to ask what they’re doing.” IBM teams use tools that provide customizable online team spaces, or portals that can be tailored to a specific project—complete with calendars, task lists, discussion forums, and document libraries.
Tools for the Virtual Craft
Other companies, including Microsoft, WebEx (WEBX), and Citrix (CTXS), also specialize in online conferencing and collaboration software that makes it easier for people in different locations to work together and conduct meetings. When Microsoft’s Timiney worked at Groove, the company set a policy that if even one person was operating virtually in a meeting, then everyone would sit in their offices and the entire meeting would be virtual. “Because there’s a big sensory difference in that experience, it made sure that everyone was on a level playing field,” she says.
Another way to bridge the physical distance is to provide a worker with the tools needed to stay connected to colleagues. For the virtual worker, a laptop, high-speed Internet access, and a personal digital assistant or mobile phone are de rigueur. But some companies go an extra mile to outfit virtual employees.
IBM provides a universal messaging service that lets executives give a single phone number to clients and colleagues. The service then forwards calls to wherever that executive might be located, be it at home, on cell phone, or in a so-called eMobility Center, one of the temporary offices set up by IBM in locations around the world. Patrick Boyle, director of health-care and life-sciences sales at IBM, spends about half his time traveling, working from taxis, airport lounges, planes, and coffee shops. He’s also a frequent user of eMobility centers and considers headsets an essential tool of the trade. Microsoft’s Timiney says a quality headset is her most important tool.
Temporary Office Space
Some virtual workers at Sun use the company’s line of workstations, called Sun Ray clients. Unlike conventional PCs, these devices contain no hard disk or operating system. Instead, all the software resides in the company’s servers. That means all information is automatically backed up and stored securely—and won’t be lost in the event the desktop is stolen or irreparably damaged. No software on the desktop also means fewer frustrating calls to tech support, says Larry Ciraulo, director of client computing services for Sun IT.
About five years ago, Sun realized that its offices were empty about half the time, as workers were out traveling or at meetings. So the company began encouraging workers to work from home and created a network of temporary offices, similar to IBM’s eMobility centers, that can be reserved ahead of time. Over the last five years, Sun has saved anywhere from $300 million to $500 million, mostly in real estate costs. Sun also offers consulting services to help other companies that want to create flexible workspaces.
IBM’s eMobility centers feature cubicles and conference rooms equipped with the usual easels and whiteboards. They boast cafes with wireless access, so workers can meet informally as well. IBM realized at one point, however, that it needed to redesign the conference rooms to include clear glass. “Virtual workers want people to see them when they come into the office,” says IBM’s Pelino.
New Hires: Presence Required
It’s one thing to ask a seasoned employee to work from home, but a virtual work environment can be tough on young workers who are trying to learn their jobs and often try to develop friendships at work. “I wouldn’t want a person to come into a virtual environment as a new employee—mentoring is absolutely critical with new hires,” says Sun’s Bamesberger.
Often, Bamesberger will require that a new employee work in the office for a period of time before going virtual. “I personally think that learning requires some exposure to other human beings,” she says. Similarly, Convergys (CVG) asks call-center workers to come into the office for training and the first month of work before they start working from home. The company now employs about 60,000 call-center workers, about 850 of whom work at home.
Sometimes virtual workers simply miss that informal advice that colleagues give in an office setting. At IBM, the company has tried to make sure virtual workers receive needed coaching and mentoring. That can range from a sales exec getting advice from a colleague before an important sales call to more formal events at the office, where senior executives run roundtables.
As Microsoft establishes a formal virtual-work program, the company will likely have no trouble with the technology part of the equation. “Nearly 100% of our people have at some time worked virtually,” says Lisa Brummel, senior vice-president of human resources at Microsoft. Indeed, the company makes many of the tools that virtual workers need. Yet, figuring out how to use that technology wisely in a virtual environment requires a bit more thought. Microsoft can just ask IBM’s Pelino, who cautions, “We learned from trial and error.” Until then, beware traffic jams in Redmond.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2007/tc20070212_457307.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5
As Private Banking Booms, ‘Relationship Manager’ Is Glamour Job
When Simon Ng, a Singaporean army officer, set his sights on the glamorous world of private banking last year, he didn’t know much about stocks and bonds. “I thought a bond is something they tie you up with,” he recalls.
Then he turned down an army promotion and forked over S$48,000, or roughly $31,000, in savings to enroll in a wealth-management program. These days, he is interning at a major private bank’s Singapore branch and expects to land a private-banking job by summer. “This industry is booming here,” says the 31-year-old Mr. Ng. “It is the right place to be.”
Such career changes are by no means rare in this island-state, which, with an estimated $250 billion in private-banking assets under management, aims to rival Switzerland as a global private-banking hub. As private banks operating in Singapore report assets increasing at rates of 15% to 30% annually, they can’t get enough warm bodies to cater to Asia’s multiplying class of super-rich.
“It has become very difficult to find good people,” says Rolf Gerber, Singapore chief executive of Liechtenstein’s LGT Bank.
Clients of private banks like LGT typically have at least $1 million in financial assets. Unlike retail banks, private banks offer personalized advice from a dedicated manager whose duties extend beyond merely taking care of money and can involve socializing with customers aboard yachts, in sophisticated restaurants and on golf courses. Some bankers say salaries in Singapore for some of these relationship managers, as they are known, recently surpassed pay levels in Switzerland.
A recent survey by Calamander Group, an advisory and investment firm, estimates there are roughly 2,000 trained relationship managers based in Singapore — with an immediate market demand for 2,500, a number expected to rise to 5,000 to 6,000 in five years. The other Asian private-banking hub, Hong Kong, also has a shortage.
“Everyone is interested in coming here to establish an operation, everyone tries very hard to hire — and if the demand is larger than supply, there is a bottleneck,” says Didier von Daeniken, head of private banking for Southeast Asia and Australasia at Credit Suisse Group who is based in Singapore.
The rush to find new recruits is sparking concern about a possible deterioration of service. “When you have to hire that many people,” a large number will be “unprepared, inexperienced and unqualified,” says Leslie Menkes, head of Morgan Stanley’s private-banking business in Singapore.
The boom has made poaching staff common. At Credit Suisse, Alex Widmer, formerly head of private banking and head of Asia Pacific, jumped ship in 2005 to join rival Julius Baer, where he now heads private banking; he subsequently hired away a number of senior Credit Suisse bankers.
In February 2006, Joachim H. Straehle, the Singapore-based head of international private banking at Credit Suisse, quit to become chief executive of smaller Swiss rival Bank Sarasin & Co. Ltd.; he in turn lured Fidelis Goetz, Credit Suisse Group’s head of private banking for North Asia, to Sarasin in September. Credit Suisse is hiring Marcel Kreis from rival UBS; he takes over as head of private banking in the Asian-Pacific region this month.
“It’s a very competitive market,” says Pierre Baer, chief executive for Singapore and Southeast Asia at SG Private Banking, a unit of Societe Generale SA and a former head of Southeast Asia private banking at Credit Suisse.
Singaporean authorities are urging banks to focus on training.
“It is vital that we build a strong pipeline of fresh blood and increase the inflow of new but competent people into the industry,” said Ong Chong Tee, deputy managing director of the Singapore Monetary Authority, in a speech last year.
Bankers and the Singaporean government have joined forces to train prospective recruits.
The recently created Singapore Wealth Management Institute, where Mr. Ng is completing his master’s degree, and separate programs run by Credit Suisse and UBS have converted scores of women and men from the most unlikely professions — curtain salesmen, pianists and sewage engineers — into private bankers.
At the Wealth Management Institute, which runs two-month courses in addition to the year-long master’s program, experienced professionals teach aspiring private bankers about financial markets, estate planning — and basic etiquette.
Lessons include how to choose correct attire (such as telling women not to wear golden shoes) and tips on the correct use of forks and knives, says Annie Wee, the institute’s chief executive and herself a former private banker with Credit Agricole Indosuez.
Other lessons impart the region’s cultural taboos, including, Ms. Wee says: don’t ever touch the head of a Thai, don’t wear black to a Chinese wedding, and eat before going to an Indian party so your hungry stomach doesn’t gurgle while waiting for a late meal.
Graduates of the master’s program, bankers say, can expect starting salaries of about S$70,000 to S$90,000; after three to five years’ practice, they can earn several times that amount as full-fledged relationship managers.
Last year, when UBS advertised its own private-banking course in Asian newspapers, about 3,000 applicants responded, competing for 33 spots.
One of the candidates was Pang Siu Yuin, a professional pianist and former senior manager of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra who now works at UBS’s Hong Kong branch.
Ms. Pang says her unusual artistic background makes her stand out and helps in interactions with wealthy clients.
“When they ask me what I did before UBS, they expect me to say it was bank XYZ,” she says.
UBS, which employs 1,000 people in its Singapore private-banking division alone, says it is enrolling 60 students this year.
Increasing the number of recruits is necessary because Asian clients can be different from typical private-bank customers in Europe.
“Most of our clients are entrepreneurs who have made the money themselves, and they are much more proactive” in managing their assets, says Mr. Baer of SG Private Banking. “In Europe, it’s much more inherited, and people tend to leave it to the banker.”
The result is that a relationship manager in Asia handles about 30 clients, compared with as many as 300 per banker at some institutions in Europe, according to an Asia-based private banker.
“The clients here are all over you every day,” says Roman Scott, managing director in Singapore at Calamander Group. “Here you have to work for your money. In Switzerland, you won’t see private bankers on their phones with clients at midnight.”
Yaroslav Trofimov in Singapore and Edward Taylor in Frankfurt. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Feb 12, 2007. pg. C.1
The Right Time to Talk About Salary
Q: During a second interview, the employer asked my earnings requirements. I gave a range, and he agreed to the top number. Later, I learned companies typically pay more for this job. Can I bring up salary again?
A: Before interviewing, candidates should know three numbers. The first is the market rate companies pay for the job. This is typically stated as a minimum, midpoint and maximum salary. At big companies, new hires are usually paid along this spectrum based on their skills and experience. Smaller companies may have less formalized salary structures. The second number is the amount you want to be paid annually. The third is the minimum you will accept.
Companies generally prefer not to reopen pay talks after an offer has been made and accepted, but because you haven’t received a concrete job offer, you can still negotiate without being viewed poorly. How you ask is critical, though, says Taren Gray, a recruiter in Boise, Idaho, for Wells Fargo & Co. “If you sound arrogant, it could put a bad taste in the hiring manager’s mouth.”
When you make your request is also important, says Peter Vergano, senior manager, HR-strategic staffing for Samsung Electronics America Inc. in Ridgefield Park, N.J. If you want the job regardless, wait until after you receive an offer, he says. At that point, it’s fine to say you have done more research and were hoping the starting salary could be increased.
However, he notes, if you don’t want the position unless you get this raise, clarify the issue now.
You should also consider a few other factors. One is the quality of your pay data. Generalized averages produced by online salary calculators aren’t always applicable to specific companies and jobs. Your experience and salary history will also be taken into account. It is possible you lack the experience to warrant a higher starting salary at this company.
If this company is reputable, the interviewer probably isn’t trying to take advantage of you. It’s bad business to pay candidates below the market rate for a job because they’ll likely become dissatisfied and leave when they find out. Also it’s generally not wise to turn down a good career opportunity over a few thousand dollars.
You can meet with your manager after starting work to ask when raises are given and what you can do to get the biggest increase, Ms. Gray says. With good performance, your pay may rise faster than you might expect.
Perri Capell. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Jan 23, 2007. pg. B.5
10 Reasons Why You May Not Be Getting a Job Offer
Dozens of job interviews, and no offers? Are you too old, too young, over-qualified or just out of luck? Are hiring managers so incompetent and biased that they can’t see that you’re qualified as a chemist, electrical engineer, CAD designer, construction manager or network administrator?
The truth is, if you’re getting rejected time after time for jobs that you are qualified for, the problem is most likely with you. Hiring managers and recruiters don’t get paid to reject people. Their job is to find qualified people to fill vacancies.
If you’re not getting invited back, ask yourself “why?” Most of the time, the problem is with the way you are presenting yourself. That’s not surprising because job interviewing is an infrequent activity for most of us. You need to critique your interviewing presentation the same as you would your on-the-job-performance. Here are ten reasons why you may not be getting a job offer:
1. You’re not qualified. It’s true, you have nothing to lose by applying for every job that looks even remotely like it might be a match. On the other hand, if you overstate your qualifications, it will come out during the interview. Sometimes the interviewer doesn’t properly screen job candidates, and it’s not until the interview is well under way that it becomes obvious that the candidate lacks the necessary skills or experience. There’s not much you can do about interviewers who don’t do their homework. However, think twice before you set yourself up for failure by applying for jobs that are clearly outside your level of expertise.
2. You may lack enthusiasm. You don’t have to emulate Zig Ziglar or Richard Simmons, but you must express enthusiasm for a job if you don’t want to be weeded out early in the interview process. Not everyone is effervescent in his or her personality, but if you can’t manufacture enthusiasm during a job interview, a hiring manager has to wonder how good your attitude will be after you’re hired.
3. Failure to establish your worth to the prospective employer. When you give the impression that you are only interested in “what’s in it for me” without regard to what you have to offer, a job opportunity is often lost. The hiring manager wants to know what you can do for him or her. Candidates who fail to establish their worth are quickly eliminated. For example, if you have eight years of progressively responsible experience as an application engineer, you will want to make sure that the interviewer sees the value in your experience. You establish your worth by the specific things that you say in answer to his or her questions.
4. Unclear job goals eliminate many candidates from further consideration. If you10. are an electrical supervisor and you don’t know what you specifically want to do, are not sure if you want to supervise again, or can’t communicate your interest during the interview, you’re in trouble. If you’re going through some soul-searching as we all do on occasion, keep it out of the interview or you run the risk of losing a job opportunity. Employers are not interested in hiring people who don’t know what they want to do.
5. Bad mouthing previous employers. There is no faster way to be cut from further consideration than by saying something negative about your current or most recent employer. It may be that your former supervisor really was a technically weak boss. Maybe he or she was frequently late in following through on assignments that in turn impacted your work. Regardless of the situation, think twice before you talk about it. It’s better to put a positive spin on your job search, saying you’re looking for better opportunities when asked why you are making a change. Employers want to hire people who are going places, not those who are refugees. What you say tells the listener more about you than about the person/company you are talking about. As tempting as it may be to tell the interviewer how badly your previous employer treated you, keep your negative thoughts to yourself.
6. Poor personal appearance. The key here is that you must fit in with the way others in the company dress. Hiring managers don’t want to hire anyone for their team who would be a distraction to others. And keep in mind that if a manager hires you with a nose ring, his or her judgment will be called into question, regardless of how well you do your job. A poor personal appearance can eliminate you before you open your mouth.
7. Unprepared for the interview. Preparing includes practice answering interview questions as well as researching the company. Interviewers are always impressed when you know something about their company. If due to a lack of practice you stumble with your answers, it will be clear that you are unprepared. Be ready to answer the question: “What can you tell me about yourself” in two minutes or less. It’s obvious to the interviewer when a candidate hesitates to answer a question that he or she is not prepared.
8. You may lack interpersonal skills. On paper you may look great. On the phone you are impressive. Your references look fine at a glance, but face to face you fail the test. If there is any hint that you may not get along with other members of the engineering team, it’s a deal killer. Suppress your desire to say anything that would suggest that you’re weak in the area of interpersonal skills including a comment that you are shy or would rather work with machinery than people.
9. Revealing your weaknesses will usually end your chances for getting a job offer. The hiring manager’s number one job is to determine the candidate’s weaknesses. He or she will do this by asking tough interview questions that you must be prepared to answer without revealing your weaknesses. Practice answering the question: “Can you tell me about one of your weaknesses and what you are doing to improve?” Take it one step further and decide what you will say when the interviewer asks you for three weaknesses that you are working on.
10. Failure to sell yourself. Your responsibility during the interview is to sell yourself and that includes carefully tooting your own horn. You may not have had to do much of this in the past, but times have changed. And don’t forget to follow up with a telephone call three or four days after an interview. It’s a great way to reinforce your interest in the job as well as ask a question or two that you may have forgotten to ask.
In conclusion, there are many reasons why you may not be getting a job offer. These ten reasons are among the most likely. Regardless of the reason, it’s your responsibility to make sure that you avoiding anything that would prevent you from moving forward in the interview process and ultimately landing the job.
Carol Hacker is a business consultant, seminar leader and author of over 250 published articles and 13 books including the bestseller, Hiring Top Performers-350 Great Interview Questions for People Who Need People. She can be reached in Atlanta at 770-410-0517
