Joanne Mooney, customer journey and online experience manager, British Gas, based in Stockport, and her boss, Lucy Shadholt, head of channel development for British Gas New Energy, based in Staines.
In the two years she's been working remotely for British Gas, Mooney has enjoyed the flexibility and greater access to her young family, and feels she mostly gets the balance right. ‘You have to know when to switch off. At home, define your space, define your roles in the house, be disciplined in your working day, when it starts and stops. It’s not always fair to the family –
they know mummy’s working, so they have to talk in hushed tones and that seems restrictive to them in their own home.’ She had managed a call centre of 150 people and sometimes misses the banter. ‘When I started, I was 100% working from home. I prefer the mix of the new role, where I’m getting out and meeting people. It’s easier to build the relationship over the phone if you've met the person.’
Lucy Shadbolt, head of channel development for British Gas New Energy, is Mooney’s boss. Since taking on the role in October she has built a team of 10, all of whom work at least part of the time remotely, including herself. ‘It suits me; I get so much more done.
The whole team love it,’ she says. Shadbolt runs weekly meetings from the Staines office and is in regular contact with each team member. ‘Some things are not suitable for conference calls. If I have to have a difficult conversation it needs to be face to face.’ She's confident she's getting good performance from each of them: ‘You have to trust them. I make it clear with new team members that working from home is a privilege.
If you give clear objectives it's easy to monitor output. People don't work 9 to 5, they work longer. It’s not unusual to send an email at 10pm. Work is where your laptop is.’
Shadbolt acknowledges some aspects of her own career development are more difficult to achieve at arm's length – such as getting the ear of the boss.
‘When I go into the office, where we hotdesk, I have to make an effort to position myself near my boss.
You need to consciously build relationships when you don't have those watercooler moments naturally occurring.’
Source: ‘Take-home lessons: Tips from remote workers and their bosses’, Management Today, March 2011, 1.What particular problems do you envisage with remote team working?

2.Explain how would you attempt to establish mutual trust when you cannot see the other person?

3.Discuss fully the extent to which you would be happy as a remote team worker