Using Remote Staff

To explore the subject, we connected with three practice leaders who employ this tactic.  We spoke with Ken Patton, ASA, President at Mercer Capital, Jim Lahm, ABV, Partner at Babush, Neiman, Kornman & Johnson, LLP, and Greg Endicott, ASA, Managing Director at Strategic Value Group.  Each of them brings a different point of view to this concept.

BORROWMAN:

What got you started in using staff remotely?

LAHM:

For years, we’ve used people who work from home during tax season.  We also had a very valuable employee who moved out of our area whose talent we didn’t want to lose.  So, we deliberately developed the capacity to allow people to work remotely.  We also knew that part of the workforce was highly trained and motivated, but not highly available.  We set out to find and implement the technology so people could work without coming in to the office.

PATTON:

We began with a deliberate effort to expand in response to opportunity.  Over the years, we’ve developed a better idea of how remote offices can work and what makes them more difficult.  We now have a full-time employee who works in a satellite office in another city from our Memphis location.

ENDICOTT:

We started using staff remotely about three years ago.  In our case, it was a response to the need to find people.  We needed to find good people and they weren’t always willing to relocate.

BORROWMAN:

What have you learned, and what has changed in the way you use staff remotely?

ENDICOTT:

Mainly, we’ve increased our technology capabilities.  When it comes to remote staff, we’ve only used senior people, so we haven’t had too much of an issue having to baby-sit them.  However, it has forced us to clarify some of our HR policies a little more; for example, in defining whether someone has to be at their desk during certain periods of time.

PATTON:

We have been blessed in that we have found our core systems are pretty scalable and allow us to extend to a person at a remote site.  It’s always a challenge to be sure you’re communicating with someone pretty far away.  You also have the question of how much you want or expect this person to be part of your firm – how they “plug in”.  In our case, we expect our remote person to be part of our “family”.  So, we spend time on making that happen.  The psychology of it is very important.  You walk a fine line in terms of how much you integrate this person into your practice, especially when they’re not around every day.

ENDICOTT:

We make sure that staff that are designated as remote still come into the office about once a month.

LAHM:

We had to look at our scheduling, especially the big jobs.  You just can’t walk down the hall and ask someone to take a look at what you’re working on.  You also have to be more formalized in your processes.  You have to set up more formal mechanisms for answering questions and exchanging information.

BORROWMAN:

Does this require as much getting used to for younger staff as for the older staff?

LAHM:

Younger staff are more used to living in the cell phone world and are more comfortable with technology.  They’re accustomed to not having as much face-to-face communication.  It’s harder for the more experienced guy to come to the realization that staff may not always be available the way you were accustomed to them being available.  Once they see the work and see how much more productive the person can be, any concerns usually go away quickly.

BORROWMAN:

Are there circumstances where working remotely actually becomes an obstacle?

PATTON:

Yes.  It’s just a reality that no matter how good the technology is, you just can’t have the same tight, short lines of communication you’re going to have with someone who’s working down the hall.  It makes answering complicated questions more difficult.  For example, we had a recent engagement that was being handled by our remote person.  We got to the point that there were some issues and questions that needed to be addressed in a face-to-face environment, so it made more sense to have him come in for a few days.  At some level, until we get better at all of this process of addressing complex issues – or issues that become complex even though you didn’t anticipate that they would – you might need to come face-to-face in order to have the most productive situation.  By and large, it works very well on a day-to-day basis to use technology and do things over the phone.

LAHM:

Not that we have seen.  We’ve managed this process very carefully.  One of the advantages is that the technology can override the terrible traffic that people face in our city.  We have people who might not be working for us if they have to face that kind of traffic every day.  You do have to schedule more carefully to get phone calls taken care of and make sure that communications are handled well.  Sometimes your employees aren’t available in the 9 to 5 day that we’re used to.

ENDICOTT:

I have not.  But, I can see that happening.  I think the key with remote people is that it takes a certain type of people to be remote.  We had one person leave who was remote.  The reason they gave for leaving was that they just did not like working by themselves at home.  They preferred to be part of a larger office.

BORROWMAN:

What does your experience tell you about the characteristics of the employee for whom this arrangement works well?

PATTON:

I want someone with a lot of maturity.  Someone who can manage themselves; whose personality is given to working in reporting systems, giving you status reports, etc.  If you’re big enough, you might be able to work with someone who is remote and fairly specialized.  That approach keeps the knowledge base manageable for that individual.  On the other hand, if you want to throw a lot of different things at the person, that can be a challenge because they won’t be there for your training programs and the regular give-and-take that goes on in an office.  It’s a real trade-off of how does someone in a remote site stay current.  They can’t read everything.  There’s an overwhelming amount of information coming out all the time.   Not to mention that you’re tweaking something all the time.

LAHM:

There are two sets of characteristics.  They have to be experienced enough to work independently from a technical standpoint.  Your two or three year people are just not there yet.  And, it also has to be someone who you’re confident is self-disciplined and a self-starter.  Frankly, it’s the kind of person we’re going to have, anyway.  Whether they’re working remotely or working in the office, we look for the same characteristics.  Basically, the same characteristics that make someone a good staff person make them a good remote staff person.

ENDICOTT:

They have to be very pro-active.  They have to require minimal supervision.  They need to be very self-motivated.  They need to be comfortable working on their own.  And they need to have good technology and phone skills.

PATTON:

You have to have someone who’s reasonably technology savvy.  Sooner or later, the hardware or software is going to change or something new and different will be implemented, requiring some additional training.  Our person is not necessarily a techie, but he’s proven you can get along if you’re willing to jump on it.

BORROWMAN:

What cautions would you offer to someone who was considering using staff remotely?

PATTON:

You have to understand how you do things and be able to explain that to someone.  If you don’t follow the procedures you have in place, the problems are magnified when you have a remote site.  As difficult as it is to interview someone and really understand what they do and don’t know about valuation, it’s even more difficult for the remote site person.  I would interview a little differently and nail that down.  Weaknesses and shortcomings are magnified when the person is working remotely.  It can be more difficult to ‘back-and-fill’ around errors.  Also, there’s the ‘out-of-sight-out-of-mind’ phenomenon that sets in.   This can occur with someone sitting next to you, of course.  It’s more pronounced when you have someone in a remote situation.  I would interview more precisely.  Whatever time you feel you need to spend with someone, you probably need to spend more.

ENDICOTT:

You’ve got to get the right person at the right level.  I would not do it with new staff.  I would not do it with staff that cannot work well on their own, or just do not have enough experience to work on their own.  I think you need to be clear on expectations, because when you have an off-site staff person you can’t walk into their office and monitor them to see if they’re playing video games.  You have to do it in a position where you can actually monitor and review their work output.   You have to have the technology and protocols in place to be able to do that.

LAHM:

Number one is do not try to do this without adequate technology.  Not only adequate technology from your end, but adequate from your employee’s end; meaning a high-speed connection and an Internet service provider who has adequate protection.  You really have to have the technology in place and working and well-tested, because that will drive you crazy.  Number two, you need to make sure you have the kind of people that you’re comfortable with from a technical and management standpoint who can work on their own.  The third point is not so much a caution as it is that this is a reality for any major metropolitan area and you might as well bite the bullet as soon as you can because you’re not going to have any choice.  It’s the same as the issues we were facing about ten years ago when people were starting to embrace flex-time.

When it comes to flextime and paperless offices and people working remotely, our opinion is that they’re coming, whether you like it or not.  We would prefer to embrace them and control the process, rather than having to react to the process.  It is a leap of faith.

If you have any thoughts on using remote staff, email us.