DANVILLE —
Morning coffee — check.
Kids off to school — check.
Driving into work at 8 a.m. — not quite.
As technology has strengthened and become more widely available, creative options for getting traditional jobs accomplished are opening for companies and the workers they employ.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois recently announced the closing of an office in Champaign. The shuttering will displace 90 workers, but none will be out of a job.
Workers there are being given options to work from the Danville office or to work from home.
Mary Ann Schultz, company spokeswoman, said the company began a work from home program there two years ago as a way to better compete in the marketplace.
Schultz said it’s “to attract and retain top-level talent and promote the work-life balance of our employees, as well as address the economics of commuting costs, such as rising gas prices.”
Currently, 350 of the 8,500 BCBS-IL employees telecommute company-wide, which is around four percent of its work force.
“The majority of our telecommuting employees are customer advocates and claims processors,” Schultz said. “Prior to being able to be part of this program, an employee must be a high performer and have a proven history of exceptional work ethic. This program is not for everyone …”
She said the company is conservative in determining which positions are eligible for the work from home program.
Since the program started, the company has noted 10 percent more productivity from the high performers in the work from home program.
Schultz said telecommuting employees have highly secure virtual desktop infrastructures in their home offices.
“Of top priority, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois provides technology for telecommuting employees that allows for the same high-level of security that protects our members’ health records and claims in the office or in a home office environment,” Schultz said.
While they don’t have a workstation at a BCBS-IL local office, the at-home workers may come in to speak with a supervisor, attend meetings or other company-sponsored office events.
“We expect to offer this telecommuting opportunity to approximately 20 to 40 additional Danville employees next year,” Schultz said.
In Danville, 11 of the 350 employees who work there telecommute, but another 29 more are slated to begin working from home by the end of the year.
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