Many employers track employees’ time to make sure they are working enough hours. At Censeo Consulting Group, the focus is on making sure that employees aren’t burning themselves out by working too many hours.
Many Employees Work at Home
When Censeo (www.censeoconsulting .com) was founded nearly 7 years ago, one of management’s goals was to “challenge the assumption of the traditional consulting model, which is that you must travel 4 to 5 days per week to work with clients to deliver results,” says Raj Sharma, president and CEO.
Although Censeo consultants have heavy phone contact with clients, and they travel periodically to client sites, “we don’t travel just for the sake of face time,” he says. That philosophy has proven to be successful for the Washington, DC supply chain management and operations firm.
Censeo’s model helps employees maintain a better work-life balance and saves clients money because they don’t have to pay for frequent consultant travel. The model also has helped the firm achieve a low turnover rate, which is uncommon in the consulting industry, Sharma says. Low turnover at Censeo increases productivity and lowers recruiting, training, and operational costs, he says.
Flexibility is part of the firm’s people management strategy, according to Sharma. “Our goal is to provide people flexibility so that they can manage around their life and integrate work into it.”
About half of Censeo’s 50 employees are considered “remote” employees; they live and work outside of the DC area, but travel to the main office and client sites periodically. They also are encouraged to meet up with other Censeo employees who live nearby. On average, remote employees spend about 10 to 20 percent of their time at client sites or the DC office, according to Sharma.
There are two flexible work options available to employees who live in the DC area:
- Certain employees are assigned a permanent work location in the DC office but may work from home 2 days per week—up to 8 days per month.
- Consultants at the associate level and above, as well as certain nonconsulting employees, may work from home 3 or 4 days per week—up to 14 days per month—and are required to spend at least one day a week in the DC office.
To qualify for a flexible work option, employees must:
- Work for Censeo for at least 3 months;
- Be willing to visit the main office or client sites as needed;
- Sign a “Work from Home” agreement, agreeing to comply with the firm’s work- from-home policy;
- Maintain a performance rating of “meets expectations” or above; and
- Work in a position that does not require a daily physical presence in the main office.
Among other things, employees who work from home are expected to set up a work area that is “quiet and free of distractions” with adequate lighting, office furniture, and equipment. Censeo provides employees with a computer and pays for phone service, but most home office expenses (including Internet access) are the employee’s responsibility, Sharma says.
Censeo’s work-at-home policy requires employees to notify the firm if they need to be out of their home office and clearly states that employees who do not comply with the company’s requirements risk losing the “privilege” of working at home.
As part of its move to a management by objectives (MBO) system, the firm requires remote employees to complete a personal time accountability report—partly to hold employees accountable for their time, but also to look at whether they are working too many hours, according to Sharma. “That’s typically what happens in consulting.”
Censeo was recently recognized as a “2009 Best Small Firms to Work For” by Consulting magazine and as a “Top Small Workplace” by The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces.
Communicate Expectations
To be successful in having flexible arrangements, “you have to be very committed” to making them work, Sharma says. In addition, “you have to continuously communicate what the expectations are.” Employees need to know what the company expects of them, what their responsibilities are, and that they will be held accountable for meeting certain objectives.
Sharma recommends benchmarking against other companies to see what type of flexible arrangements they offer to employees, constantly evaluating your policy, and looking for ways to improve it.
In addition, “trust is an important part of it. You need to basically trust people,” he says. Although some people will take advantage of the flexibility they have, he advises against basing your policy on their actions. “For the most part, people are going to do the right thing.”