ways2work > How to do it > Re-thinking commuting > Reducing commuting through ICT > Issues to be overcome > Management mistrust
Management mistrust
A frequently-reported issue with teleworking is that managers do not trust people to work at home. "How can I see they are working?" and "How can I supervise people I cannot see?" are the apocryphal questions. For example, a survey reported in Computing in February 2010 was subtitled 'Bosses don't trust employees to work from home, says research.' The article compares the three-quarters of workers who thought they were more effective working at home, with the half who said their managers were sceptical, and the quarter who said that their managers "value being present over being productive".
Managers' mistrust, expressing itself as 'presenteeism', is frequently reported as blocking the take-up of teleworking. However, when analysed, the issue is not actually a problem with teleworkers' integrity, but with managers' performance management abilities. Personnel Today has the comment that managers are "trying to manage a 21st century workforce using old-fashioned skills." Managers are to replace managing by observation with managing by objectives. That is, performance is assessed on the basis of achieving agreed results, rather than the time or effort put into achieving those results.
Managing by objectives means that a manager sets clear-cut objectives to be achieved, defines the resources available, describes how progress will be reported, and then grants the teleworker autonomy to get on with achieving those objectives. Micro-management and frequent checking-up are forbidden. For managers to be able to do this, they need trust in the teleworkers they manage. Reciprocally, teleworkers need to trust their manager to fairly assess their performance.
Thus the remedy to managers' mistrust of teleworkers is for managers to take training in managing teleworkers which includes topics on performance management and building trust.