Cumulus Media: From 20 Teleworkers to 4,000 Remote Employees
It has now been an entire year since the pandemic struck and businesses sent employees home, with many having little to no experience with telework at all. What’s come as the biggest surprise (to even us experts) is the increasing amount of businesses that are announcing their plans to turn this grand pilot into a permanent program. Cumulus Media, the national broadcasting company, is doing exactly this, with a leg-up by using their existing program to lay the groundwork for a successful flexible future.
“It was very advantageous to have done the work that we did,” says Cumulus’ chief human resources officer Todd McCarty. Just a couple years before the pandemic, Cumulus Media had the opportunity to build a telework program with the help of local resources. Using Livable Buckhead’s consulting services, Cumulus’ HR department implemented policies and procedures that would allow for specific employees to telework on a regular basis. These guidelines provided Cumulus with a formal structure that created consistency across their organization as well as trust in the program. After formal adoption, Cumulus reached about 20 employees who were fully remote workers and an additional 100 intermittent teleworkers out of their 4,000 total.
When Cumulus made the pro-active decision to direct all employees to work from home, this groundwork helped leadership provide managers and employees with the basic considerations that are necessary to work remotely, such as manager communications with employees, expectations and responsibilities. What came as a challenge for Cumulus was the implementation of the virtual tools that were needed for all employees to stay productive and connected when the pandemic required swift action, as they quickly pivoted to tools that even allowed their radio stations to broadcast from home! Because expectations were communicated and tools were set up, Cumulus Media was able to implement a fast and smooth transition to a fully remote workforce and have seen success ever since.
This pandemic pilot has “blown apart the stereotypes and the concepts of what could be remote and what couldn’t be remote” Todd explained. While they still have work to do to create stronger communication and collaboration for a hybrid workforce, Cumulus has found that more positions and roles can be effective than originally thought. Leadership is now embracing a new outlook on their workforce, addressing the fact that some employees will need to be back in the office in varying capacities, a few needing to be in the office full time, and some able to remain remote indefinitely. From 20 telework employees to 4,000 remote employees, Cumulus Media is working to continue receiving the benefits of telework while balancing with the needs of the business and their employees.
