Switching over to Techs working from Home-Opinions Wanted 1

[blelisa]

Hello everyone.
I work for an interconnect company in the Buffalo NY area. I have been here for 7 years. We have always had our techs come in every morning to the shop and pick up their orders for the day, then go out do their work and end their day at the shop.
Jan 1 2006 we are looking to change it all around. We want out technicians to take their vans home and basiclly work from their homes. Every morning I will email them their work orders for the day. They will print them out and complete them. At the end of the day they will fax them to me. I will then complete and invoice. We will have GPS installed in the vans as a security measure against fraud. We will also have them come in once a week to stock their vans.
My question is this, does anyone do this now? How do they like the way it works.
Also, for those who are doing it now, how do you handle emergency calls with needed equipment? I can't stock all my vans with phones, cabinets and such, so do just have them come in? Do you find it is a big problem? What are some issues we may run into that I am not aware of?
Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

 

[paterson]

First, I would recommend getting your techs something like a Blackberry or Palm Treo. That way you can send email to them throughout the day.

As you said, you cannot stock the vans with everything, so you will have to have techs return to the office from time to time to get parts.

Being a tech myself, I find that meeting with the other techs in the office keeps me informed of what is going on with orders, installs, problem customers, new software for systems and potenial bugs etc. I would recommend setting up a meeting for techs once a week or two at the most. You will probably find that your customers will get upset if they are dealing with one tech and then have a second one come out and not know what the first one did.

 

[johnpoole]

been there done that, the only problem we had is with the gps. if i don't do my job the customer will let you know. other then that a lot of telco's have done it and it works. i worked out of my house with sprint without a problem, i was on the jobsite by 8 and they gave me 30 minutes to drive home, plus call outs were much cleaner. that and the fact that with dialup i could do 50 percent of my work without burning windshield time or gas. if a company doesn't trust me, i can work somewhere else tomorrow. just my two

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[norteldude]

SBC has been doing this for many years. With GPS I might add. They address Emergencies by having a Designated Tech on call as well as a Warehouse person. The Tech's rotate the on call

 

[Braveheart1]

We have a similar system in Australia with the countries largest Carrier and below are some issues you will have to sort out.
I offer these points having been on both ends - field specialist and then manager.
1.Where are the vehicles to be garaged(under cover or in the street)and when are thay to be washed etc
2.From what time are the employees covered by your insurance.From the time they leave the property or from the time they enter the vehicle.Seems silly-but whose insurance covers the employee, if God forbid,they injure a person leaving their parked position prior to reaching the street.
In case of theft of vehicle ,or material, who is responsible.
2.Do you have a zero alcohol/drug tolerance policy whilst driving your vehicles.
3. Will employee's be permitted to drive their vehicle ,from their last job, to football training,the shops etc or must they deliver the vehicle directly home and use their own transport.
4. How will the techs order their supplies, where will the material be delivered and where are they to store their spares-Another insurance issue.
5.How will you be notified that all staff have arrived at their residence safely after work.
6.What trade-off will you offer the techs for garaging the vehicle at their premises, as they may perceive that you want them to take responsibility for your vehicle and material at their residence-and then use their own telephone(with fax) to send and receive daily jobs.
7.How do they presently obtain additional help or support-calling the tech directly or via your office.
8.YOU MUST have a team briefinf at least once a fornight when the techs can interact with each other and exchange idea's-AND hold a team BBQ or get together at least once a month.
A warning -if you don't your staff will begin to feel isolated and ignored and that is when your troubles will really start- performance will be badly affected.
9.Ensure that any employee union the drivers may be in is advised or suffer a possible wildcat.
10.What penalties will be imposed if a staff member if found in their vehicle out of hours e.g on a weekend-"Aw ,I just drove it to the supermarket to get som milk".IT WILL HAPPEN
11.You may be required to keep logbooks for each vehicle.

We had a computerised despatch centre and if assistance was required tech rang the despatch centre and requested assistance.Another tech might arrive to help OR may not.
Jobs were downloaded to each vehicle via mobile phone comms to an IBM tablet and as each job was written off the system simply reordered the gear that was used.



"YOU WANT IT WHEN???

 

[ZoominCo]

been there, done that too, back in the day B4 GPS, E-mail, cell phones, & etc. It worked fine. was allowed to use van to stop at convenience store and such. Marked vans aren't much fun to take on dates! we dispatched by phone & checked in at the completion of each call. this was with RCA Service Co & Western Union Data Service Co. both. With e-mail, fax, PDA's Cell phones and such you'll save $$ & tech morale should be great. your tech's will know what they need to keep in their trucks for stock & repair parts.
just be sure you have good inventory control in place.

 

[johnpoole]

on the same line, new the end was in site when i was handed a pager, found out the boss paged instead of looking for me at my dispatched site.. best way to keep good techs on the job is not a gps, it's good pay. i stop at lowes during break once a month, i skip breaks 10 times a month. i don't have a gps and have spent 40 plus hours doing my job for each 40 i get paid for.. in 37 years,not a single boss has found me off my job or on the job and not busy. of course, this site is work related so that doesn't count. besides i've only posted a few times

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[aarenot]

I do not know NY law, but in my state, as soon as the employee begins to boot their PC to get email, they are on the clock as that is now the home office. If they have to email at days end, they are on the clock until the pc is shut down at home. Unless they are a salaried employee, not hourly. Workers compensation would also apply in the home from the time they began to move toward the work area, or while on the phone, jumping out of the shower to answer the phone, etc.

The company should provide everything to the employee which they would have to supply at the office to complete needed actions, even if the employee already has access to these items personaly in their home. Also, expenses such as electricity, telephone, isp, and parking should be compensated as well. The employee assumes no liability which he does not have were the vehicle and its contents to be at the office. In fact, the company assumes liability for the vehicle being there. For instance if the vehicle were to start on fire, and burn the employees property, the company would be laible. This is a shifting of expenses from one geographical location to another, not an elimination of expenses. This makes the home a work site just like the office, or a customer site.

Consult an attorney to establish liability and examine your liability and insurance coverage position. Check the job descriptions and understand that the employee may choose not to accept the changes. Unemployment compensation may consider this eliminating their position if the description changes enough, and approve an unemployment claim based on a lay off. Firing them for non-compliance could be considered termination with out cause, enabling an unemployment claim.
You may have to sell this and provide and highlight the advantages to the employee, or create some, in order to get buy in.