Use the tips in this week’s SlideShare to manage your client relationships and ensure open, honest commutation. This SlideShare covers three main points of client relationship management when working from home: • Expectations • Communication • Reports Click through the presentations below to learn more!

1. The Challenges In
Billing For Hours
When Working From
Home

2. When you travel to a client location each week and spend
40 hours on-site, the client sees you there; they have no
doubt that you put in your hours for the week.

3. Therefore, they have no problem signing off and approving
the hours you put on a weekly timesheet. They may have
an issue with the quality of your work or whether you
accomplished enough during that time, but that’s a different
issue.

4. With some clients, if they can’t see you working, they’re
going to be a little more skeptical about how many hours
you’re actually working.
When I say skeptical, I mean they’re going to scrutinize a
little more, because they don’t know when you start and stop
working each day or if you take unacceptably long breaks.

5. As a result, if you do a significant amount of work
remotely for any client, you’re going to want to do a
few extra things to avoid issues down the road:

6. 1.Get an understanding of their expectations before beginning the engagement.
Be clear on the hours/daily schedule they expect you to keep.
Do they expect you to work and/or be available Monday through Friday from 8
to 5, or is there flexibility to put in your hours over the weekend? Etc.

7. 2.Clearly communicate if you have any potential conflicts with an 8-5 schedule.
A specific instance comes to mind in which a remote consultant needed to be
available to pick up their child from school each day.
Doing so took only 15 minutes, which seems like a reasonable enough “break” in
the middle of the day.
However, the time of pickup conflicted with a regularly scheduled conference call
in which the manager required several consultants to participate.
In this case, it created a problem with a “flexible” remote schedule.

8. 3.Write a weekly status report. As mentioned above, oftentimes a client will
be a bit more skeptical regarding hours worked when they’re worked off-
site rather than at the hospital.
One helpful solution for this issue is to accompany your weekly timesheet
with a log accounting for daily work completed and tasks accomplished.
This way, the client feels that they have a visual of what you’ve occupied
your hours with throughout the week.

9. With all of the above, the common denominator is . . .
communication!
• Communicate expectations upfront.
• Discuss any issues regarding expectations.
• Give them a status report to clearly communicate work
accomplished.
• All of this should minimize any potential issues surrounding
billing hours for work completed remotely.

10. Learn More At HealthcareIS.com
• Ways to negotiate
• How to get the right contract
• Who to work with
• Tips for traveling consultants
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