We just ran two revealing flexible work case studies at telustalksbusiness from two very different companies.
Bill Vass, the former Chief Information Officer for Sun Microsystems Inc., practically pioneered flexible work programming in an enterprise-sized company. For 15 years, Sun designed and implemented “Open Work Practice,” a work policy that allowed 19,000 employees to work away from the office at least one day per week.
Tim Lorman, the Director of Strategic Space and Alternative Work for the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF),one of the largest financial services companies in the United States, told us how TIAA-CREF saves $19 million a year with flexible work.
While the results were similar, the two companies come from different places. Sun was a nimble, fluid organization with some of the best engineers in the world whereas TIAA-CREF is a 90 year old organization where employees were more reluctant to change.
Although both companies faced their own challenges in adopting a flexible work program, there are many commonalities between the two stories:
- Use data to drive decisions
- A formal, and step-wide approach using a delivered methodology
- Clear understanding of business drivers and end state vision – why was it important to them
- Soft stuff is really the hard stuff – Technology is nice, but you can’t overlook the effort required to manage the change
- Commitment. Not only in terms of executive engagement but in terms of making sure you have phased investment
- Teaming between Real Estate, IT and Human Resources in a way we never teamed before.
Return on investment, return on employees, and return on the environment are the goals of a flexible work program.
Related posts:
Q&A with Tim Lorman: How TIAA-CREF saves $19 million per year with flexible work
Q&A with Tim Lorman, part 2: How TIAA-CREF saves $19 million per year with flexible work
Q&A with Tim Lorman, part 3: How TIAA-CREF saves $19 million per year with flexible work
Q&A with Bill Vass, part 1: How Sun Microsystems’ flexible work strategy saved the company millions
Q&A with Bill Vass, part 2: How Sun Microsystems’ flexible work strategy saved the company millions
Q&A with Bill Vass, part 3: How Sun Microsystems’ flexible work strategy saved the company millions
