With apologies to
Anne Tyler …
Today through Friday is National
Telework Week, supported by the Kitsap Regional Coordinating
Council and endorsed by a resolution of the Kitsap County Board of
Commissioners. Last Friday, I unintentionally joined the throng of
telecommuters, when big news — in the form of
Congressman Norm Dicks announcing he won’t seek another term —
landed in the Kitsap Sun’s inbox. Reporters who might have been
first pick to do the story were otherwise occupied
here and
there, and although I was just about to hop in my car and come
into the office, the editors instructed me to just start calling
our contacts from home.
I don’t mind working from home, except when the cat sits on my
computer.
The last time he did
this, he activated some robotic voice that gave me verbal notice of
everything I already knew I was doing … “Opening new window …
Checking email …” It was driving me crazy. I had to do a search to
find out how to turn it off (it’s the F5 key by the way), and I
found there were 13 other people who had the same problem.
The Telework Exchange — a “public-private partnership focused on
demonstrating the tangible value of telework and serving the
emerging educational and communication requirements of the Federal
teleworker community” — reports that during last year’s Telework
Week, nearly 40,000 people nationwide pledged to be involved,
saving $2,730,229 on commuting costs and 148,692 hours in commuting
time. Participants also saved the air from 1,818 tons of pollutants
that would otherwise have accrued during 3,764,001 miles of
driving.
So far this year, there are 65,816 pledges and the expected
results are incrementally impressive.
In Kitsap County, a formal push for telework dates to May 2008,
when the Washington State Legislature provided $150,000 in funding
for the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council to conduct a Telework
Kitsap Pilot Project. The project ran for 15 months, May 2008
through June 2009, with funding administered through the Washington
State Department of Transportation.
Employers, IT executives, and HR executives with prior
teleworking knowledge and experience were invited to serve on a
panel of experts. A total of 13 organizations participated,
including Microsoft, Kitsap Transit, Kitsap Regional Library,
Kitsap Credit Union, Olympic College, City of Poulsbo, Central
Kitsap Fire and Rescue, Municipal Research and Services Center,
Kitsap Peninsula Visitor Convention Bureau, Kitsap Homebuilders
Association, Wet Apple Media, McClure Consulting, Olympic Printer
Resources.
The KRCC has not tracked the number of telecommuters since the
end of the pilot, but Vicky Clarke, KRCC’s telework coordinator,
said anecdotal evidence suggests “telework is increasingly seen as
an accepted alternative to more traditional office cultures.”
“I’m sure that research could confirm that private sector
employers are farther ahead that then the public sector,” Clarke
said. “New technologies are making telework easier, rapidly.
Increased gas prices are an incentive for workers. Telework allows
us to work anywhere, work more and be more flexible, which is a
useful tool in this ‘do more with less’ moment we’re living
through.”
The Telework Kitsap pilot group presented a report about what
they learned to the state Legislature. Another upshot was a
Telework Toolkit,
with information for employers and employees on how to have a
successful telework program, because let’s face it, the biggest
fear may be that employees will sit around in their ‘jammies
playing video games or watching soap operas.
OK, that’s a bit of hyperbole, but at least in my experience,
the potential for reduced productivity — think cat on the
computer or kids believing you have the day off and are there to
serve their every need — is a fact of life with telecommuting.
Perhaps you weren’t aware that efforts to enhance teleworking
date back to a
law passed in 2000, requiring all executive agencies to
establish telework policies.
President Obama signed into law the Telework Enhancement Act in
December 2010. “The law requires each executive agency to establish
a policy under which employees may be authorized to telework to the
maximum extent possible without diminishing employee performance or
agency operations,” the Telework Exchange reports.
Besides reducing pollution, a habit of teleworking allows public
agencies to weather the odd freak snowstorm or other natural
disaster, supporters of the bill and local KRCC officials note.
Clarke is taking reports that 50,000 of Telework Weeks 65,000
pledging teleworkers are federal employees with a grain of salt.
“It’s important to acknowledge that a lot of the Telework
Exchange’s outreach and advocacy around telework is targeted
primarily to public agencies and federal agencies in particular,”
Clarke said. “The Federal Telework Enhancement Act was a big ramp
up for agencies that did not have any telework policies or
procedures in place, and those that handle a lot of secure
information/personal data.”
Clearly, there are advantages for the worker and the employer.
Pulling together a large complex project? A day away from the
hubbub of the office can be a blessing. And in our line of work, I
can’t imagine not being able to do one’s job not just from home but
from the county courthouse, a city council meeting or snowy road,
in short wherever the news is happening.
One main disadvantage often cited is that there is nothing that
can replace face-to-face collaboration, not even a teleconference
or Skype.
By now, the concept of telecommuting has become familiar. It
would seem that those who are inclined (or required) to embrace it
have already done so, but as Valentine’s Day is to relationships,
so Telework Day serves as a chance to recommit. KRCC and the
National Telework Exhange offer a host of
suggestions for organizations/ companies and their
employees.
For those thinking of taking the plunge, the Telework Exchange
has a telework value
calculator and an online eligibility gizmo among other handy
tools and resources.
Do you telecommute? If so, how’s it working for you? What are
the advantages and pitfalls?
If you’re a private business owner, have you encouraged
telecommuting among your employees? How’s that going? Have you done
a cost-benefit analysis? And does the existence of a federal
telecommuting law for public agencies have any impact on your
inclination toward incorporating telecommuting in your business
practices?
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