Do you know where your employees are working

Technology has enabled telework programs to evolve beyond images of people dialing up in pajamas to remote workers tapping advanced collaboration tools that increase productivity and ensure business continuity. In some cases, disaster recovery plans have spawned well-structured and documented telework programs. But at the majority of companies, there are no formal telework policies in place, even as more and more workers go mobile.

How to deck out your home office

"Telework is not just working from home; it is working from a location that is not the corporate office. Almost everyone today teleworks in one way or another,” says Chuck Wilsker, president and CEO of The Telework Coalition. "Half of the workers know they do it, close to another half don’t realize they do it when they check e-mail from a hotel room or a BlackBerry, for instance, and a small percentage of certain types of employees might not do it at all. But easily 75% of companies don’t have official telework policies, despite employees working remotely often, which could be a problem.”

Here are 10 simple steps that can help organizations advance their telework programs from ad hoc to admirable.

1. Survey employeesThe best place to start when establishing policies for remote work is with employees. Companies should survey staff to understand who would want to work remotely and why. Also consider the environment to determine if the type of positions could be supported remotely.