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Memo 1

Date: 5/3/2011

To: VP of Human Resources

Cc: Directors and Account Managers

From: Fred Flintstone, HR Director

RE: Telecommuting: An Untapped Resource

Globalization is in full swing and luckily our company is growing, both financially and geographically. Historically, our pool of candidates has been limited to the narrow field available in the immediate vicinity of our main office. To keep up with changing times we need to explore options to that will allow us to enjoy a larger pool of qualified candidates, as well as attracting and keeping those candidates. Enhancing our technology and opening our standard policies to telecommuting could give us the edge we need to stay ahead of our competitors.

Relevant Issues

Telecommuting is not a new concept. The government explored telecommuting options to conserve gas as early as the 1970s and the private sector began taking advantage of it as soon as home computers and the internet made it possible. Today, telecommuting is common place in many industries.

The newest generation of candidates and soon to be graduates have already adapted to a constant bombardment of steaming media, multitasking and all the newest technology. The brightest minds work well independently and desire the nontraditional workplace. Telecommuting opportunities will give them more flexible schedules, the ability to work on the go and the ability to work in whatever kind of environment they find most comfortable and productive. The downside to permitting our employees to work from home, or wherever, is we will lose a certain amount of control. We will have to screen candidates very carefully and develop other ways to track their productivity to assure they aren’t taking advantage of the situation.

There are multiple ways we could achieve telecommuting capabilities and before we move forward, we’ll have to investigate which option or combination of options will give us the best results at the least cost. In the long run, converting more of our staff to telecommuters will likely save us money on top of everything else.

Changing Perspective

We know our business is already successful. With that in mind, it’s hard to picture making dramatic changes to our business model and breaking from tradition. Part of the reason we’ve been successful this long is because of our ability to find solutions in unconventional ways. We shouldn’t be shutting our door to some of the best candidates because they don’t happen to live here. Allowing employees to work from home will open the pool of candidates nationally, and potentially worldwide, without us having to pay relocation costs.

We must also look at the changing generations and encourage the best results from our new hires and current employees. We already know that people learn best under varying conditions. This is true of the best work environments as well. While working standard 8 to 5 hours in the controlled environment of a traditional office may work best for many, that isn’t true for all. Some people may be most productive working late at night, listening to their favorite music, in their home, or even outdoors. As long as our people can complete their tasks well and on time, it shouldn’t matter when or where they do that work. Additionally, with greater flexibility in their locations and schedules, our workforce is more likely to find a healthy work-life balance and we’re more likely to experience higher attendance rates since people won’t necessarily need to take off work because their kids are sick or the water main broke. We will need to be sensitive to our employees need for time off and avoid expecting them to be available 24 hours a day just because their home is their office.

A World of Options

There is a world of available technology and many degrees of telecommuting available to consider. On the low investment side, we can have telecommuters provide their own home computers, certain software and other components as necessary to their position. We may or may not offer capped reimbursements toward phone and internet services. Given the high instance of people owning their own computers with relevant software, this isn’t an unreasonable demand. Our main costs here will be improving our network security to allow the staff to login without compromising our data or opening ourselves up to outside threats.

A similar, larger investment would be to provide laptops to our telecommuters. This would allow us to keep stricter tabs on what they’re doing on their machines, better securing our data and assure they have exactly the computing capabilities we want them to have.

On a larger scale, we can invest in teleconferencing and/or videoconferencing equipment and services. This would beneficial for higher level employees that need to regularly attend meetings with various staff members and wouldn’t have to be available to everyone.

In considering the technology we would implement, we need to also consider to what degree we want our people to telecommute. Some staff can work offsite 100% of the time with very little need to travel to the main office on any regular basis based on the nature of their work. Others may need to travel to the office monthly or weekly. Still others may spend most of their time in the office and just have the ability to take their work home with them or on business trips.

The Real Bonus

There will be initial startup costs to implementing telecommuting options but overtime we can cut a lot of our current costs down. It’s possible we won’t move beyond basic telecommuting for specific employees for a long time. In that case, the additional costs would be negligible as would the bonus. If, however, we embrace telecommuting more and more, eventually, a lot of our staff could work from home most of the time. This would reduce our need for large offices, reducing rent, utilities, and several fringe benefits expenses.

Recommendations

I believe hiring, training and maintaining telecommuter employees is an important part of our company’s future. The first thing we should do is more extensive research. Each department that would be involved in this move would be most adept at researching their specific areas. Therefore, I recommend we assign a member from each relevant department (HR, IT, Finance, and Management) to research the feasibility, costs and recommendations of such and endeavor and come together with their results in one month. At that point, the executive management team should be able to make decisions about how and to what extent they’d like to proceed. I believe our goal should be to up and running with our desired telecommuting capabilities within six months.

1 N Nayab, “History of Telecommuting,” http://www.brighthub.com/office/home/articles/82023.aspx Accessed May 1, 2011.

2 Eve Tahmincioglu, “The Quiet Revolution: telecommuting” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20281475/ns/business-future_of_business/ Accessed May 1, 2011.

Memo 2

Date: 4 December 2008

To: VP Human Resources

From: HKD Human Resource Director

RE: Handling the potential unionization of Hong Kong Disneyland (HKD)

Introduction: Issue at Hand

Hong Kong Disneyland (HKD) cast members and several union leaders are currently trying to organize within HKD. The threat of unionization in a currently non-unionized, publicly-traded company like HKD could be wide and substantial. The mere possibility of the formation of a union could result in an increase in wages and benefits, along with an extensive reevaluation of paperwork, bargaining practices and approaches, and operating policies. Beyond structural elements handled by the HR department, HKD might also be impacted by a market share decrease resulting from unionization. Whether a union materializes or not, the HR department must respond to the increasingly negative attitudes and behaviors of cast to reestablish and maintain the Disney magic.

Top management and the HR department must first take into account the most wide-reaching affect of a union formation: possible decrease in HKD market share. In a study done by researchers from Princeton University and UC Berkeley, union elections between 1961 and 1999 were analyzed to determine their effects on market share value. All firms were a part of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Upon analysis of the equity value trends of the companies, it was revealed that “substantial losses in market value following a union election victory, equivalent to $40,500 per unionized worker” occurred. They also reported that the largest market share value was lost when there was a union victory by a large percentage of the workforce. A union victory or defeat whose employee backing was slight had nearly an indistinguishable effect on the resulting market value.1

While that study focused on domestic US business, the effects of unions in a foreign country, HKD’s current situation, are much more difficult to determine and gather. China itself is a barely unionized country; however, there are some unions present. China’s union laws and regulations parallel those in the US. Within China’s trade union law, it is states in Chapter IV, Article 33, “The trade union of a foreign-owned enterprise may put forth suggestions on issues like wages, welfare, production safety, labor protection and labor insurance that concern the workers, and consult management on their handling.” 2 Walt Disney World’s (WDW) union leaders are currently working with HKD cast members to utilize the trade union law and prepare for potential unionization.

Walt Disney World

WDW has multiple unions representing many of their 62,000 employees. One of the most prevalent is the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), with full information postings in break rooms, unlike any other union representing Disney cast members. Other unions are the Services Trades Council Union, Teamsters, and Unite Here Local 362. The various unions represent anywhere from several thousand to approximately 30,000 cast members. Most of the issues negotiated with WDW management have revolved around health care costs and wages.

Hong Kong Disneyland

HKD currently employs 5,000 cast members and in 2006 was named by the Hong Kong Tourism Board as one of the top five most popular destinations in Hong Kong.3 HKD is not currently unionized; however, steps are being taken by cast members in WDW and in HKD to establish one. Lead unionists for HKD cast members are Lee Cheuk-yan, who “represents the labor sector in the Legislative Council”4 and Elaine Hui of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. 5 Union leaders’ main argument is that all employment policies and practices should be the same for all Walt Disney theme park cast members, regardless of which international park location employees them; all employment practices should be interchangeable and unchanging between Paris, Orlando, Anaheim, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

Walt Disney Company Policies

The Walt Disney Company has policies regarding the training of all cast members to ensure consistent training practices. All employees, domestic and international alike, go through an online education and training program in addition to their on-the-job training through the Disney internet portal, My Disney TEAM “The HUB.” These tutorials focus mainly on WDW’s Standards of Business Conduct to “ensure that all of its employees have the knowledge and training to act ethically and legally, in compliance with the company’s Standards of Business Conduct.” 6 While these ethics and other training initiatives by the company are good with keeping Disney cast members consistent in their training and overall attitudes, the standards and trainings do not address each theme park’s consistency in business practices.

WDW has a written International Labor Standards program which highlights the monitoring of activities and outlines policies on labor practices; however, this program is centered on the Code of Conduct for Manufacturers, and is only directed to third party suppliers, vendors, and manufacturers of Disney products. Included in these standards are “working conditions…working hours…health and safety, association and collective bargaining…[and] monitoring of compliance and publication of the code itself.” 7 Once again, these standards do not create a foundation for how theme park cast members should be treated or the conditions in which they work.

Work Conditions and Triggers in HKD

Cast members working in HKD have been increasingly unhappy with working conditions. Don Robinson, the current managing director of HKD, has said he is not very enthusiastic about having his staff form a union, but if majority of cast members vote that they do indeed want one, he will accept it. On October 1st, 2008, a meeting took place between Lee Cheuk-yan, Robinson, and other labor representatives concerning 167 complaints to the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. These complaints from HKD cast members were regarding unorganized shifts, overtime pay, and long work hours. The length of shifts was the most recurring complaint; cast members cited they were working 11, 12, or 13 hour days with insufficient breaks. These complaints came from mainly front-line cast members in security, hotels, and sales. Robinson stated that he did not view the long shifts as posing a health threat to cast and he also rejected the union request to ensure 15-minute breaks every two hours (a standard practice in WDW). In rejecting the request, Robinson said each department had their own rules. Other complaints have been regarding last minute schedule writing, which often happens day-of and without notice. Cheuk-yan said this initial meeting has now “paved the way for future negotiations” and that a union for HKD employees could be up and running in the next three months.4

International Disney theme park cast members have complained about poor work conditions before HKD. When Disneyland Paris first opened in 1992 (then Euro Disney) they had a walkout where several hundred cast members left their positions to force management to ameliorate work conditions. The prior situation has now been alleviated and Disneyland Paris is doing quite well. It seems as though both Disney and the new location’s nationals simply need to assimilate and issues smooth over. 5

Affects on the HR Department in HKD

Union or no union, the HR Department will feel the effects of this cast member unrest. The most current issues at hand will be battling the lowered cast morale, decreased work satisfaction, lessened productivity and efficiency, and a growing negative public view. This in turn could generate more long-term issues like an increase in employee turnover, heavy reliance on effective marketing techniques and the marketing department, and increasing problems with keeping good public standing.

If the cast members decide to not unionize, HR will have to act quickly to work out a plan to help pacify the growing turmoil. These recommendations will be made in the next section. If cast members do move to form a union, HR will be affected in the following ways: contracts would need to be reevaluated and negotiated, all shift policies will need to be reviewed (i.e., breaks and scheduling), HR professionals must be trained to handle collective bargaining situations, and management development trainings/performance evaluations must occur to ensure management is doing their job correctly and effectively with the new standards.

Recommendations for the HKD HR Department

Even if a union is not formed in HKD, certain things must be changed to deal with the growing discord of the cast members. A new or altered break policy should be put into place and enforced, along with a new/enforced policy on schedule changes. Since as of now those are the main concerns of the cast members, these two issues must be resolved immediately. In addition to the changing of the policies and/or enforcement, HR must also create additional trainings to teach and inform management of the standards. While managing director Robinson may not see a need to change the current break policies and may become disgruntled with the changes HR may choose to implement, there is a clear restlessness in the front-line workers that must be addressed. HKD spokeswoman Irene Chan said “we have operated our resort successfully without union representation and we believe it is more effective for us and our cast alike to work and communicate directly with each other.” 5 If no union is formed, this is the prime opportunity for HR and management to fix the problems and gain the trust and respect from the cast that is needed to run a successful Disney theme park.

If a union is formed within HKD, it is imperative that HR be willing to resolve issues and work with the union from the time it is established. While the circumstances in which they are brought to the attention of HR or management may not be the most hospitable or desirable, issues brought by unions serve as feedback for HR and management. For instance, in HKD’s case, the two main issues are last minute schedule changes and too few breaks. If a union is created, these issues would be forced on the table for resolution.

While many organizations, HR departments, and managers dislike the idea of handling situations through unions, it does not have to be an antagonistic process. The vice president of the Commercial Workers Union Erica White stated that the most important aspect of an effective working relationship between a union and the managers/company is trust. If the HKD cast members decide a union is needed, HR must immediately show they are on board with the idea to start building that trust. Subsequent negotiations and grievances can then be worked out more effortlessly and more quickly.

While I do not necessarily see a union as a positive or negative for HKD, I do think the issues brought up are significant and must be changed, union or not. HR must lead the change within this park and work its hardest to put the policies into place to better the work environment for its cast and regain the trust of those affected by these issues (the public, park guests, Disney enthusiasts, the employees themselves, etc.). Management training must also be implemented to make sure that all managerial and administrative positions within HKD are on the same page and are a unified force on standards, policies, and enforcement. The most crippling blunder, at this point, would be for Robinson and management to make public statements that conflict with HR’s goal of alleviating the park’s cast conflicts. Without action and resolution from HR, Walt’s dream and the magic of Disney in Hong Kong and around the world are at stake.

Notes

1. Lee, David and Alexandre Mas. “Long-Run Impact of Unions on Firms: New Evidence from Financial Markets, 1961-1999.” July 2008. University of Toronto Department of Economics. http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~mcmillan/lee_mas.pdf .

2. “Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic of China.” ChinaLaborWatch.org. http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/tradeunionlawofprc.htm .

3. “Fact Sheet.” HongKongDisneyland.com. http://corporate.hongkongdisneyland.com/eng/discover/2004_fs.html .

4. “Working conditions irk Hong Kong Disney staff.” 6 Oct. 2005. Amusement Business. http://www.allbusiness.com/services/amusement-recreation-services/4568112-1.html .

5. Wiseman, Paul. “Miscues mar opening of Hong Kong Disney.” 9 Nov. 2005. USA TODAY. http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/2005-11-09-hong-kong-disney-usat_x.htm .

6. “Business Standards and Ethics.” Disney.com. http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/cr_business_standards.html .

7. “International Labor Standards.” Disney.com. http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/intl_labor_standards.html .

Memo 3

To: Carl Smith, VP Human Resources

From: Ashley Lashley, Human Resource Director

Date: 8/8/2012

RE: Alternative Work Option: Telecommuting

During the past two years, it has come to my attention that Grapple Inc. is not performing as well as we would like. Employee turnover has increased, productivity levels are suffering, employee morale has deteriorated, and the overall environment of this organization is lower than what we deem acceptable. With our current economy, it is even more important that these various issues be addressed immediately. As the competition continues to grow fierce, Grapple Inc. needs to be able to attract and retain the best employees to create and sustain a competitive advantage within our industry. Through this memo I want to point out the positives, along with the negatives, of utilizing the newer, popular flexible work option: telecommuting.

Causes of the Issue

As you know, we like to perform exit interviews with several of our employees before they leave our organization. Over the last two years, these exit interviews have revealed that a lack of flexibility in our organization has prompted these employees to leave. People who are satisfied with their job, feel comfortable in the organization, and feel as if their opinions and voices are heard tend to perform significantly better than those who are dissatisfied, uncomfortable, and not listened to. The way our organization schedules our personnel has a direct effect on their satisfaction level within our organization, and therefore the productivity levels we are turning out. As represented in our current organizational environment, the lack of flexibility within our organization has led to obvious increases in employee turnover, decreases in productivity levels, and low employee morale. Thus, our overall organization is suffering, not only because of our employees’ dissatisfaction, but also because the unhappiness amongst our employees is transferring to our customers, who will take their business elsewhere if we do not address this issue.

Grapple Inc. uses the standard work schedule of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a 40 hour work week. Due to the fact that the external environment continues to change, our company needs to be able to actively re-evaluate and re-establish current policies and procedures to appeal to our current and future employees. We need to get a better grasp on the desires of not only our organization as it continues to prosper into the future, but more importantly, the desires of our employees and even our customers. If we are able to better satisfy our current and future workforce, the customers will be influenced by the increased company and employee morale. Because our organization’s vision is to be the most profitable organization in our industry, it is only natural that we would need to pursue this goal in a way that maximizes our ability to seek greater customer relationships. Customers will not be willing to buy our products if they are not approached with satisfied, knowledgeable, and well-mannered. Our customers come first, and it is important to remember that the whole reason that we are in this business, and the overall industry, is to serve our customers. Without our customers, we would not even be an organization. Therefore, it only makes sense that as we move forward in discussing an alternative work option within our organization that we keep these points in mind to better attract and retain our employees as it will also have a direct appeal to our customers.

Our current work schedule has worked out fantastically from the start of the organization. It allows employees to work an eight hour work day, and then have the ability to go home and take care of personal needs before having to return to work the next morning. Because employees are only working 8 hours a day, they are less likely to feel severely overwhelmed and exhausted as opposed to working a 10 or 12 hour day. This system has been a good fit for our organization because we have been able to meet our employees’ and customers’ needs adequately.

However, due to the current business environment, the more traditional work schedule is becoming less adequate within our organization. One of the major problems that I am noticing is that working parents are beginning to become discouraged at the eight hours a day work schedule for five days a week. It is evident that being a parent is a full-time job itself, and these parents are also trying to balance work and personal life. Children may become ill, have school activities, sporting events, and need to be cared for before and after school. This does not even account for the children who are not of education age who need to be cared for at all times. Another demographic that is increasingly shying away from the traditional work schedule is the younger professional just graduating college. These people tend to put their personal lives before their work lives, so in order to attract and retain these types of employees, we need to have an alternative work option available.

Behaviors or Attitudes resulting from Telecommuting

Telecommuting is the ability for an employee to work at home by using a computer terminal electronically linked to one’s place of employment. In this sense, our employees will be able to work from the comfort of their own home, while simultaneously being able to attend to their children or personal lives. Studies have indicated that for most employees in the United States, one the most favored occupational arrangements is one where the employee can choose his or her work schedule and the environment in which he or she feels most comfortable. One of the best ways that our organization can make certain that we are retaining qualified and talented employees is to make accommodations and create a work environment that is appealing to them. There are two options that we can explore as an organization. The first is having certain employees work the full 40 hour work week away from the office, while the second is to have the employees work part-time away from the office by means of telecommunication and the rest of the time will be spent in the office. Telecommuting will give our organization the ability to offer our current and future workforce an option that meets their needs and desires more appropriately.

There are various advantages to telecommuting, both for us as an organization and our employees. The first advantage is that it is an obvious recruitment incentive for future employees. If potential employees are offered this option to employment, they may be more likely to accept the offer. Also, our applicant pool can be significantly enlarged because our applicants do not necessarily have to be located in the same city as we are. Another advantage is that the less commuter time translates into happier employees and higher energy levels, which will also help the employees’ work ethic increase. Our organization’s ability to retain higher valued employees will increase. It has been shown that organizations tend to lose their best people due to life changes, such as relocation because of a family member or beginning a family. Our ability to incorporate telecommuting will allow us to keep these valued workers, even though they may be “unavailable” in context. A major benefit our organization can reap from telecommuting is significant cost savings due to lower facility costs and less parking space requirements. As for our employees, it may lead to increased concentration. Within the own comfort of their home, they could potentially be able to work more at ease without a supervisor constantly on their back. Overall, the employees will be spending less of their personal income due to gas savings and lunch savings. Our employees will be granted the opportunity to spend more time with family and doing personal activities, which leads back to the fact that it is directly related to our organization having happier employees.3

Amongst the advantages that come with telecommuting, there could be potential disadvantages for our organization and our employees if not monitored. One disadvantage concerning our organization is that we need to be able to support telecommuting. Do our current technologies have the ability for our employees to do this efficiently and effectively? Are we going to have to invest in certain technologies in order to implement this? If we need to invest, this could be costly, and because our networks will be significantly more open to fraud and threats, additional costs could be incurred to address these security issues to help sustain intruders from entering or hacking our networks. Our organizational structure will need to be addressed because it is no longer viable for management to link productivity levels to physical presence of employees. Lack of supervision is another concern. Another disadvantage would include how we are going to determine the amount of time worked by our employees. Telecommuting may not necessarily allow us to track how much time is spent doing actual work activities. In addition, how are we going to determine which employees are qualified for telecommuting? We need to have a plan as to how we can evaluate our employees based on who we feel can work at home versus who we feel need to work in the physical office at all times. All of our positions may not be good candidates for telecommuting, therefore we need to have ways that we can determine which positions would qualify compared to the positions we need to be operated physically in our organization. Adding on to this last point, we need to be able to handle the issues that may arise amongst the people who hold positions that need to be operated in the organization or the people we feel are not suited for telecommuting. As for our employees, telecommuting may bring rise to a lack of social relationships between co-workers or to the company as a whole. Because the employees would be working from their home, they may not feel as if they truly belong within the organization. Also, although increased concentration may be valid for some individuals, it may not apply to all individuals. If an employee has a house full of young children, his or her concentration levels may suffer. Lastly, the employee may feel that because his or her work is virtually at his or her fingertips at all times, it may cause overwhelming stress and the feeling of being overworked.

Performance Implications

As discussed previously, employees who are given the option to work from a more comfortable environment are more satisfied, therefore leading to significant productivity increases. Although each individual’s productivity level is positively correlated with that individual’s self-discipline abilities, studies have proven that employees tend to be more productive in the walls of their own home. Unfortunately, there is always the possibility that productivity levels may decrease, and this is why I stress the importance of our organization’s ability to evaluate our employees’ eligibility for telecommuting before we implement it within our organization. Turnover will be significantly reduced because our employees will feel as if we truly care about their needs and concerns. We will be acknowledging the fact that our employees have busy lives outside of the office setting.

Management Considerations

In general, telecommuting is definitely not for every organization. Therefore, there are two areas of concern that should be addressed before the implementation. I discussed previously the necessity of evaluating who should be qualified as a telecommuter. First and foremost, our organization needs to determine who are considered to be self-disciplined and efficient workers. In order for telecommuting to be effective, we need people who can manage their time well and who are not opposed to working solo. Secondly, of our workforce, who has the best communication skills? We cannot only consider written and verbal skills, but also acquiring an adequate understanding of different technological mediums. Third, it is important that we consider employees who have had an excellent performance history. It is important that employees have demonstrated their commitment and skills to our organization. Fourth, the employees who should qualify for telecommuting cannot be required to have face-to-face interaction with others. Lastly, if the individual needs certain resources to complete his or her job that are only available at the physical location, he or she should not be able to telecommute full-time.

Therefore, we are responsible for several things when it comes to the implementation of telecommuting. First, we need to make certain that the previously stated criteria are within the employees we confirm as eligible. All of the benefits of telecommuting will not be apparent if we appoint an inefficient individual the opportunity to telecommute. Also, we need to ensure that our chosen employees are willing and wanting this course of action. The employee needs to see a clear distinction of how it will benefit him or her, along with our organization. We need to incorporate some type of contract with our employees. Within this contract, we need to state our expectations as to how many hours should be spent working, any expenses that are incurred, work responsibilities, and any consequences associated with lack of performance. Before we both sign this contract, we need to make sure that all questions of the employees are answered and everything is clearly understood. Lastly, it does not hurt to incorporate an orientation program to help ease our employees into new territory. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with telecommuting, so it would only be appropriate to train our employees on the proper ways to use it.

Impact on the Human Resources Department

Telecommuting is only as effective as the people who are carrying out the action. Therefore, this poses a challenge for our Human Resource Department to continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our employees. First of all, we will need to assure that our employees are well-educated and informed as to the availability of this option, what the implementation entails, and how it directly benefits them. We need to be able to stay connected with our employees and managers in order to stay ahead of any problems that are likely to occur or are currently occurring. Our Human Resource Department will also have a greater responsibility in having to deal with the different skill levels of employees concerning technology. Also, there is always the possibility of lawsuit issues that could arise that we may be confronted with. Therefore, we need to have a system that allows for proper documentation of everything that occurs.3

By adopting the work option of telecommuting, our Human Resources Department will greatly benefit. With increases in employee satisfaction, there will be reduced turnover, reduced stress on our department, and ultimately, reduced recruitment costs in the long-run due to the ability of our organization to retain our highly valued employees.

Recommendations

It is my recommendation that Grapple Inc. adopt telecommuting as an alternative work option within our organization. It will not only benefit our employees, but also our organization as a whole. Technology is constantly changing the world, and it will continue to change the way that we conduct business, so I feel as if embracing telecommunications as an alternative work option within our organization only makes sense as technology progresses as the years go on. After careful thought and consideration, I feel as if this would be the best fit for our organization’s current condition. Our Human Resources Department needs to be constantly aware of the various needs and desires of our current and future employees in order to facilitate a working environment that will allow them to grow. As stated before, our organization is not an organization without our customers, but it is our employees who make our organization function to serve those customers in the first place.

� “Telecommuting.” Dictionary.com. 2011. Dictionary.com, LLC. 8 March 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/telecommuting>.

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