10. Going Mobile
New England Work & Family Association
Karen Kelly, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Workforce Mobility Consultant
April 3, 2014
11. 11Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
In the News…
The Death Of The Office: What Happens When The
Workspace Is Mobile, On-Demand And All About
Networking
Jeanne Meister, Contributor, 11/06/2013
Top Stories
Seven keys to managing remote workers
Lighthouse Consulting Services 03/30/2014
12. 12Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Definition
The capability to work seamlessly from home electronically,
full-time (5 days,) when it meets both the needs of the
business and the needs of the associate.
At BCBSMA, e-Working means:
13. 13Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
e-Working at BCBSMA
§ 700+ associates from all areas of the company participate
§ $1.1M annual investment on equipment and support
§ $30M+ in admin expense savings and cost avoidance over the life of the program
• Real Estate Consolidation
• Building Utilities & Maintenance
• Associate Subsidies
§ $8.5M annual administrative savings/cost avoidance
§ Critical Disaster Readiness Component
• Remained open for business during inclement weather building closure
• One third of the DR workforce is already working remotely
§ Talent Management
• Hired first group of direct to e-Working associates in 2009
• Retain SME contemplating retirement
• Meet the needs of a new generation of workers
14. 14Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Cost Comparison
Location of Building Annual Cost per
Associate
Leased Space
Corporate Headquarters
(Downtown Boston)
$17,000
Suburban Office Buildings
owned by BCBSMA
$5,000
e-Worker
(working remotely)
$1,500
15. 15Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Why are all the seats still empty?
Low vacancy rates
of 8 – 12%
16. 16Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Opportunity Strikes!
101 Huntington Avenue
We’re moving!
17. 17Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Case for Change
BCBSMA currently supports two primary models for its workplace – office-based workers and
e-workers. Given the 101 Huntington move as well as the evolution of workplace best
practices, BCBSMA has a unique opportunity to enhance its workplace strategy over the next
two years.
e-WorkersOffice-Based Mobile Office
• Work is accomplished in a
variety of settings, with the
office place serving as the
“home base”
• Work space encourages
collaboration over office
hierarchy
• Technology enables virtual
meetings, e-documents,
and working remotely
• Majority of work is
accomplished at home
• Company supports e-
workers with VPN and
business class internet
• Meetings are always virtual
via conference call
• Only certain types of roles
are conducive to e-Working
• Majority of work is
accomplished at the office
• Office space is assigned
based on hierarchy
• Conference rooms are
reserved with admin support
• Meetings utilize paper and
conference call technology
• Working from home occurs
occasionally.
18. 18Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Case for Change(continued)
Associate Expectations
§ Associates, particularly younger associates,
often have higher job satisfaction when they’re
able to interact with their work environment in
more flexible ways
§ Examples: working from home, video
conferences, real-time collaboration tools
Competitive Advantage
§ Providing an innovative and forward-thinking work
environment helps BCBSMA attract and retain
talent and increases associate productivity
§ Examples: candidates are attracted to flexibility,
culture of innovation, and ability to work with
cutting edge technology
Technology
§ Technology Modernization efforts have resulted
in infrastructure and tools that enable
associates to work in new ways
§ Examples: wifi in all three buildings, Microsoft
Office Upgrades, VPN, MobileMail expansion
Admin Savings
§ Reducing the company’s real estate footprint
will lower admin costs and save associates on
commuting/travel time costs
§ Example: mobile office commitment by IT &
Ops helped reduce 101 Huntington lease by 1
floor ($17M savings over 15 years)
Unique Opportunity to Enhance BCBSMA’s
Work Environment over the next 2 – 3
years
19. 19Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Changing our Corporate Culture
20. 20Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Infrastructure Strategy Steering
Committee
Policy Workstream
Mobile Office Lead Team
Change Management/
Communications
Workstream
Real Estate
Workstream
Technology
Modernization
Workstream
IT & Ops Readiness
Workstream
Team Structure
21. 21Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Vision Statement & Project Objectives
1. Enable the move of IT & Ops Landmark associates into two floors of 101
Huntington Avenue
2. Create and champion a culture of mobility that meets BCBSMA, division,
and associate needs
Empower associates to meet business needs in flexible
work environments – efficiently, effectively, and simply.
Mobile Office Vision Statement
Project Objectives
22. 22Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Guiding Principles
1. Utilize business needs to determine the degree of mobility for each division, which must accommodate
associate job responsibilities as well as associate and business needs.
2. Strive for consistent policies across divisions and building locations. Avoid unnecessary customization of
policies where there is not a business need.
3. Give managers the resources they need to manage in a mobile environment (e.g., policies, training, tools).
4. Treat associates fairly.
5. Seek ways to increase collaboration.
6. Emphasize simple and sustainable solutions enabled by technology, policies, and processes.
7. Ensure partnership across workstreams to gain trust and understanding from the business and to
anticipate questions about and objections to working in a mobile office.
8. Prioritize and align each workstream’s activities around key project/programmatic decisions.
9. Always follow State and Federal laws and regulations, privacy and security policies and procedures.
To be successful, the Mobile Office initiative must find the right balance between driving dramatic change that shift the BCBSMA
culture while also being mindful of the company’s capacity for change. Mobile Office’s Guiding Principles are outlined below.
23. 23Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Consistency in Approach and Policy
The Mobile Office project team seeks to develop consistent policies across divisions and building locations and to avoid unnecessary
customization of policies unless required to support a specific business need. Consistency is being considered in two ways: approach
and outcomes.
Consistent Mobile Office Policy
Consistent Approach
The Mobile Office implementation is approached in the same
way which may result in different answers for different divisions
based on varying business needs.
Consistent Policies
Certain aspects of Mobile Office policy are set at a fixed decision
or value for all of BCBSMA. In each division these global Mobile
Office policies will be the same.
Examples include:
• The roles in a division that qualify as an in-house vs. mobile
vs. e-worker based on decision making by the manager in
combination with HR, CREAS, and their SVP
• The distribution of workstations vs. collaborative space vs.
office space for a division
Examples Include:
• Definition of in-house vs. e-Work vs. mobile
• Parking reimbursement
• Level of internet subsidy
• Equipment (e.g., monitor, printer, headset, webcam)
24. 24Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Next Phase… Work Options
(e.g., mobile, e-Working,
unassigned workstation)
Work Locations
Work Options
In-House
Associate works at an
assigned workstation in a
BCBSMA buildings.
Associate may work from
home or at other building
locations, as needed.
Mobile
Associate works a portion
of their time in BCBSMA’s
buildings in an unassigned
workstation and a portion
of their time at home.
e-Working
Associate works in
their home office and
comes to BCBSMA
buildings as required
by their role.
Home OfficeUnassigned WorkstationAssigned Workstation
25. 25Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Implementation
In order to maintain a consistent approach to Mobile Office, each department leader will be asked to answer a series of questions.
Division representatives then have the responsibility to draft a set of divisional policies to address Mobile Office needs based on the
answers to those questions for review and approval by the division SVP.
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Department leaders
answers mobility
questions
Division
representative
aggregates
answers for the
division
Division representative
drafts Mobile Office
policies for the division
for review and approval
by the division SVP
Determine Division-Specific Strategy and Implementation Plan
26. 26Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Implementation (continued)
The following questions are designed to help leaders navigate through key considerations related to the mobility of their associates in
partnership with HR and CREAS. This exercise should be done to the leader level that captures distinct groups of business functions.
Do the primary functions of this department
require a significant onsite presence (e.g.,
face-to-face collaboration)?
• Do the primary responsibilities of this
role require a significant onsite presence
(e.g., face-to-face collaboration)?
• If yes, are there comparable means of
accomplishing the requirements of the
job in a mobile environment?
• How comfortable are you managing a remote team?
• Are you able to set clear metrics and goals to ensure accountability
for an associate in this role?
• How would a full or partially mobile team affect team dynamics?
• How could you preserve and enhance team dynamics in a mobile
environment?
• Is the associate comfortable working in a virtual environment?
• Has the associate been at BCBSMA for more than three months,
been rated a 3, 4, or 5 in their most recent performance review, and
not on a performance plan?
Business Manager
Role
Associate
• Your team?
• If so, which of your associates?
Taking into consideration your answers to the above questions,
would a mobile environment be appropriate for:
1
2
3
4
27. 27Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Training
One of the most important pieces critical to ensure success of the mobile office is
training. We have to give our leaders the tools and technology to lead in this new
work environment.
From the National Workplace Flexibility Study:
Regardless of how well-designed a company’s approach to workplace flexibility is, if
managers aren’t on board and don’t have the skills and attitudes to manage effectively, it
will flounder. It’s as simple as that. This study is proof positive that it is possible to
properly equip managers, even those who might be resistant, to succeed in leading a
flexible team.”
DELTA EMERSON, CHIEF OF STAFF AT RYAN LLC
We offer our leaders and associates:
§ Leading Remote Teams
§ Working in Remote Teams
37. The Workshift Journey
37
Started Several Years Ago
Collaboration Among 4 Co-Authors, Across Two Countries
Boston
Calgary
Denver
Orlando
38. Why Workshift
Missing conversations around flexibility in the
workplace and mobile workplace
38
Human
Resources
Information
Technology
Corporate Real
Estate
Sustainability
39. Organizations Are Seeking
A Way Forward…
Why Workshift
Disruptive changes in the workplace, some led by
employees vs. employers
39
…What steps are necessary to build
leadership alignment around
Workshift or flexible work?
…How do we launch and
evaluate a pilot program?
…How do we effectively address
limitations of organization culture
and management behaviors?
40. What is Workshift?
40
• Not a single workplace approach or strategy
• It is the ability to work when and where
employees and managers determine
they are most effective, and needed
• Collection of methods that organizations use to align employee work styles and
manage goals with business needs
• In an environment where
they are supported
by leadership,
IT infrastructure or
corporate culture
41. Workshift
Roadmap to help organizations transition to a mobile
workplace/workforce
41
Instructive guide &
detailed blueprint for
organizations
transitioning into the
virtual workplace.
Collection of best practices from 13 multi-national
companies across the public and private sectors:
A blend of case studies, research, storytelling sharing the steps
organizations have taken from awareness to Workshift adoption
42. Establishing A Business Case
Organizations create a stronger business case to
justify Workshift by answering the questions:
42
Why should we do this and
why now?
How does it help us meet our
broader strategic goals?
43. Common Answers
43
?
HR team wanting to improve employee engagement,
the costs of attracting and retaining new talent and the
diverse needs of multigenerational teams
Real estate/facilities team looking to expand into new space to
accommodate a growing organization; and/or, looking for ways
to achieve cost avoidance by exploring how to create more
collaborative workspaces/hot-desking & reduction in space.
Leaders are looking for a new way to leverage the latest
technologies & support geographically distributed business
units/teams.
45. Assessing Where You Are
• Who wants the change?
– Is the push coming from
executive leadership or the
middle or front lines?
• Has the organization
attempted some form of
telework or flexible work
arrangements in the past?
– Is there an ad hoc approach
that is up to a managers’
discretion?
45
46. Workshift Spectrum
Organizations assess where they are on a Workshift
Spectrum before approaching what parts or all of the
roadmap to help evolve their corporate cultures.
46
TOP-DOWN
1
REVITALIZE
2
OFF-TRACK
3
GRASSROOTS
4
AU-NATUREL
5
Program
originates &
is driven by
senior
management
Resurrects
or builds off
of previous
policies or
attempts at
Workshifting
Program that
started and
momentum is
quickly lost
until the
program
stops
Push for
change from
mid-or lower
management
levels. Idea
“sold” to
senior leaders
Evolves as a
natural
extension of the
growth of the
organization
47. Workshift Roadmap
47
SEVEN STAGES of Development Follow: ID-DELML, a method of investigating,
discovering, designing, engaging, launching, measuring and leveraging Workshift
to achieve a lasting sustainable Workshift culture
INVESTIGATE
1
DISCOVER
2
DESIGN
3
ENGAGE
4
LAUNCH
5
MEASURE
6
LEVERAGE
7
48. Workshift Roadmap
48
Activities:
• Research
• Finding Case Studies Within Community
Industry
• Creating a pitch – why would you do this?
• Socializing the concept internally
Deliverables:
• High level business case
• Committed sponsor or champion willing to
take the idea forward
Key Risks:
• Not finding enough credible information fast
enough to build your case for change
• Not identifying a sponsor or champion within
executive ranks
• Not getting enough airplay to communicate
the concept
CASE STUDY
• VP of Information Services was approached by
a member of the senior management team. He
was a committed champion from the start
• Swift growth and demand for office space was
a driver for offering a four month pilot to IT
employees. Timing was a big factor; it took four
years from inception to execution to launch
more widespread initiative.
• Change champions were deployed to ensure
that managers understood the objectives
behind the program, how it worked and what
the success factors were
• The business case was developed iteratively
and continually
INVESTIGATE
1
49. Workshift Roadmap
49
Activities:
• Gathering Data
• Clearly defining the end state
• Identifying and validating
assumptions
• Performing gap analysis (IT and
organization)
Deliverables:
• Clearly defined business case
• Demonstration of how Workshift
links to broader strategic goals
• Completed gap analysis
Key Risks:
• Not collecting organizational data in
a timely manner
CASE STUDY
• Top executives distributed geographically and
work seamlessly across the globe
• Trend Micro appointed a Chief Culture Officer
with a strong focus on maintaining a culture
that values employees and how they work, not
where they work
• When job candidates interview for a position,
interviewers assess skill sets and experience
and evaluate how the candidate will fit into the
culture and ability to work with virtual teams
• New employees are introduced to the
technology used that will enable them to work
remotely, along with guidelines on how the
technology should be used
DISCOVER
2
50. Workshift Roadmap
50
Activities:
• Meeting with key decision-makers for input/
feedback
• Census building and leadership alignment: what are
the key outcomes the organization cares about?
• Develop program charter including outcomes,
deliverables, measurement criteria and scope.
• Developing communications plan
• Determining training requirements
Deliverables:
• Program charter
• Identified, committed program resources
• Success metrics
Key Risks:
• Program is stalling, fizzling out, or failing to expand
• Program is not linked to ongoing business strategy
or performance management systems
• Results are not reviewed, or are reviewed
inconsistently
CASE STUDY
• On a monthly basis, a cultural progress
report is developed for management
review. Senior leaders and managers are
held accountable for implementing
telework program goals and reporting
results.
• As of Feb 2013, 75% of all USDA
employees were eligible for telework, 48%
have telework agreements, and 31% of
eligible employee population is teleworking
regularly
• $2 million in savings from executing its
transit subsidy contract in FY12-was
directly attributed to the increased number
of employees participating in telework
DESIGN
3
51. Workshift Roadmap
51
Activities:
• Consensus building and communication
• Addressing limitations of organization culture
and management behaviors
• Storytelling – why Workshifting is great for the
company, employees and community
• Myth-busting
Deliverables:
• Communication plan
• Stakeholder analysis
• Change acceptance plan
• Success stories or case studies
Key Risks:
• No one signs up
• Certain managers block participation,
knowingly or unknowingly
• Senior leaders not giving enough attention to
the program
CASE STUDY
• Began looking at flexibility options to help
address the challenge for recruiting top financial
advisors in small rural communities
• Instituted Workplace 2.0 program and leveraged
technology to connect their clients to the best
financial advisor in the industry virtually
• Assessed that offices were vacant more an 50%
of the time and employees were using them as
hubs. Also surveyed employees and 50%
stated they already had some degree of flexible
work and all said they would prefer one if given
the opportunity
• Consolidated real estate and moved from
assigned cubicles to flexible hot-desking space
ENGAGE
4
52. Workshift Roadmap
52
Activities:
• Ongoing communication updates
• Including nonparticipants in feedback
• Aggregating data and presenting to key
decision-makers and stakeholders regularly
• Addressing concerns swiftly
• Connecting the program to compelling events
Deliverables:
• Pilot results
• Training results
• Initial results of success metrics
Key Risks:
• Change in leadership
• Data isn’t captured adequately
• Results, successes aren’t shared or
encouraged widely
• Team loses steam and pilot program
becomes final step
CASE STUDY
• Before establishing a consistent, enterprise-wide
policy, this organization assessed the effectiveness
of the pilot program
• Looked for three factors; whether telework was
effective for all employer/manager roles; whether
employees were satisfied with the organization’s
ability to to support them while they work remotely;
whether feedback was sufficiently gathered on all
other aspects of the program
• Created home office provisioning and rules based
on whether an employee released their assigned
workspace on-site or continued to work on-site in a
shared space.
• Established guidelines for managing teleworkers,
including reference materials and training
LAUNCH
5
Financial Services
53. Workshift Roadmap
53
Activities:
• Measuring success metrics
• Recurring reports to senior management and
the rest of the organization
• Highlighting and communicating success
stories and best practices
Deliverables:
• Documented success stories
• Documented success metrics
Key Risks:
• Lack of management involvement in reviewing
metrics
• Inability to capture data
• Success stories are not communicated
• The tools for enterprise-wide sharing are not
made available
CASE STUDY
• Executive team recognized that employees
would need to work across different time
zones and traditional work schedules
wouldn’t fit with the demands of a global
customer base
• Goals were to improve productivity, employee
engagement and retention.
• Upon completing a pilot, more than 80%
reported that they were better able to manage
demands of both work and personal
commitments. Employees recorded that they
save 1.67 hours of commute time per week
on average
MEASURE
6
54. Workshift Roadmap
54
Activities:
• Promoting the program
• Ongoing communication; sharing data telling
the story
• Tracking the results
• Identifying additional opportunities to capture
benefits (financial and nonfinancial)
Deliverables:
• Implementation plan for broader organization
• Revised communication, training and change
acceptance plans
• Documented benefits (beyond initial program
goals)
Key Risks:
• Program is stalling, fizzling out, or failing to
expand
• Program is not linked to ongoing business
strategy or performance management systems
• Results are not reviewed, or are reviewed
inconsistently
CASE STUDY
• Alpine Access had a strong champion in CEO
with a need to address extensive turnover
rates of call center employees
• Saw opportunities through the lens of
geographic distribution; wanted to tap skilled
workers who lived beyond existing service
center locations to find the best talent.
Realized a 30% increase in sales, attributed
to the geographically distributed team
• Emphasized a need for better management
and focused on it; to manage virtual
employees, managers had to become better
at setting expectations, communicating
clearly, and measuring results
LEVERAGE
7
55. Consistent Themes
55
• Companies at varying stages of
workplace strategy maturity
• Transformed culture as part of
overall business strategy
• Some organizations were evolving
vs. reinventing their organization
culture
• Some were consolidating/
formalizing informal flex work
arrangements, agreements and
processes already being used
• No program was as large or
sophisticated in the beginning –
they followed a crawl, walk, run
strategy
56. The Future of Workshift
The Workshift Enabled City: Calgary, Canada
• Cities facing congestion, aging roads, and public
transit infrastructure, strained budgets and
international and growing war for talent.
• Calgary Economic Development promotes mobile
work as a strategy to reduce congestion on roads
56
A Purely Distributed Company Model
• Emphasis on transparency, leveraging internal
blogs, open culture
• Requires self direction and a move away from
the top down hierarchical model.
• Executives ask what services can be placed
around employees to support them.
• Strong focus on management skills
Internet services company
behind Wordpress web
publishing platform: has
over 200 employees
working in 26 countries,
94 cities and 28 U.S.
states
57. Our Working Life Has Changed
57
We no longer work
in one office all the
time
In the connected
global economy,
we will work
increasingly
independently, in a
number of spaces,
only part of the time,
and for different
purposes*
In offices of the
future,
receptionists are
virtual, walls are
for writing on,
and flexibility
trumps all**
** Washington Post, 3/14/14* One-City
