Telecommuting Policies- Roleplay Meeting

Telecommuting policies roleplay meeting

Try to agree on a future company policy on working from home, including topics like those in the lists below.

Possible working from home policies to discuss

• Allow staff to move far away and still keep working from home in exactly the same role?
• Alternate days in the office so that not too many people come in all at once?
• Close some offices due to many people working from home?
• Different dress codes for particular situations (in the office, meeting customers, etc)?
• Different policies depending on the level of coronavirus (or future pandemics and other natural emergencies)?
• Different policies for different departments/ divisions/ branches/ sections?
• Different policies for different roles (managers and subordinates, IT staff, sales staff, etc)?
• Different policies for parents/ carers?
• Have days when everyone comes into the office to help with team bonding/ communication?
• How many days in the office (on average)?
• How many days working from home (on average)?
• Introduce hot desking (to cut down on unused office space when people work from home)?
• Move to a smaller office (due to many people working from home)?
• Move to an office in a cheaper area (allowing people who live near the original office to telecommute)?
• Move to more but smaller offices nearer to where people live?
• Pay for equipment, supplies, etc to make working from home easier/ more pleasant/ more productive?
• Pay for use of shared office spaces nearer the employees’ homes?
• Stop paying travel costs for commuting?
• Upgrade the central IT infrastructure?

Other issues to discuss

• Potential (short-term) costs of the changes/ difficulties of the changes
• Probable (longer-term) benefits of the changes/ savings due to the changes
• Decision-making process before any changes (consulting with staff/ unions, etc)
• Timeline for the changes

Share one aspect that you agreed on and see if other groups agree. Then ask about any points above which you don’t understand, couldn’t agree on, etc, discussing them as a class each time.

Change partner. Choose three topics above and roleplay a whole internal meeting on telecommuting policies including those three topics, from small talk etc at the beginning of the meeting to saying goodbye at the end. It may help to decide who you all are before the meeting begins.

When you finish, see if any different groups shared final decisions.