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"The Telework Option"
Who, What, When and Why

Presented by

Mallie Burruss
Office of Work/Life Programs

"The Telework Option"

Today's Agenda...

  • Telework As a Viable Work Option
    • Telework as a business advantage
    • Benefits to the Federal agency
    • Benefits to the employee
    • Requirements of P.L. 106-346
    • What are Federal agencies doing
  • Success Factors and Barriers
  • Six Steps for Organizing and Planning
  • Implementing a Successful Program
  • Resources

Telework is...

  • An alternative work
  • arrangement for employees to
  • conduct all or some of their work.
  • Appropriate for
  • employees who have experienced
  • traumatic workplace events.
  • An effective recruitment and retention tool.
  • A way to improve organizational performance and the worklife quality of individual jobs.
  • A way to improve the environment.

Telework Is Not ...

  • Sending people home and never seeing or hearing from them.
  • A substitute for child or elder care.
  • An untested program.

Benefits to the Agency ...

  • Improved Productivity
  • Remain Competitive
  • Respong to Changing Demographics
  • Environmental Conservation
  • Enhance Morale & Quality of Life
  • Reduced Turn-Over
  • Reduced Absenteeism
  • Recruitment & Retention

Key Critical Success Factors Include ...

  • Telework policy
  • Consensus on expectations/purpose
  • Top level support
  • Stakeholder support
  • Program parameters
  • Implementation plan
  • Technological support
  • Learning initiatives/awareness
  • Work agreements
  • Monitoring and evaluation

As with any significant change, there are barriers to overcome ...

  • Operational

  • Technical

Public Law 106-346

Section 359 States:
Each executive agency shall establish a policy under which eligible employees of the agency may participate in telework to the maximum extent possible without diminished employee performance.

No later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of OPM shall provide that the requirements of this section are applied to 25 percent of the Federal workforce, and to an additional 25 percent of such workforce each year thereafter.

100% POLICY COVERAGE BY 2004

What Are Agencies Currently Doing?

Agencies have been making telework successful and the number of teleworkers is increasing with each survey!

How...

  • Agency Ownership
  • Policy development specific to the individual agency
  • Expanding eligibility criteria through managing by productivity and results
  • Becoming aware of, and using, available resources such as "telework.gov" as a guide to successful implementation
  • Pilot programs as a start

Six Step Plan ...

  1. Form a planning team
  2. Perform suitability assessments
  3. Establish policy guidelines and procedures
  4. Develop an implementation plan and schedule
  5. Educate employees and their managers
  6. Set up an evaluation process

Step 1:

Form a planning team ...

  • Select a cross-section of individuals who will impact your program
  • Human Resources
  • Information Technology
  • Telecommunications
  • Finance
  • Legal
  • Union Representatives
  • Managers
  • Employees

Step 2:

Assess worksite assets and requirements to support telework ...

  • Worksite Assessment
  • Functional Assessment
  • Manager & Employee Assessments
  • Technical Requirements
  • Job Task Assessment

Step 3:

Develop policies and procedures that support "up front" goals and effective program implementation ...

Telework - Policy & Procedures

  • Purpose/goals of telework
  • Telework agreement
  • Responsibilities of managers/ employees
  • Communications requirements
  • Job characteristic assessment
  • Teleworker selection criteria
  • Work planning and scheduling
  • Productivity measurement
  • Performance assessment
  • Home office/Telecenter safety
  • Technology use

Step 4:

Once you understand the issues -- develop an implementation plan with
milestones ...

Implementaion Plan

  • Business
  • Operations
  • Technology
  • Human Factors

Step 5:

Educate employees and their managers

Teleworkers & Managers

  • Introduction to program
  • Success factors & barriers
  • Getting effective program started
  • "Nuts & bolts" of telework
  • Relationship principles and work-team dynamics

Managers also need to be educated on:

  • Key techniques for managing remote workers

Step 6:

Develop an evaluation process ...

  • Create tools to monitor and measure the program’s progress
    • Select key areas for evaluation
    • Telework program documents and guidelines
    • Management and employee views of telecommute initiatives
    • Work planning, scheduling and productivity
    • Manager, employee, and work-team dynamics
    • Technology
  • Establish an evaluation schedule
    • 30 to 45 days after implementation
    • 6 months to 1 year after implementation
  • Objectively identify problems/issues

Key Factor 1:

Educate teleworkers and their managers to ensure program success ...

  • Policies and procedures
  • Teleworker success profiles and selection criteria
  • Work planning and scheduling
  • Communications strategies and plans
  • Productivity evaluations and measurement systems
  • Remote management/teleworker-manager-team dynamics
  • Technology training

Key Factor 2:

Technology implementation and use guidelines ...

  • Equipment requirements and installation
  • Maintenance and repair
  • Software standards
  • Remote access and dial-in procedures (i.e. Citrix, Lap Link, VPN, etc.)
  • Phone and voice mail
  • E-mail
  • Help desk and technical support
  • Equipment and data security
  • Backups
  • Virus protection

Key Factor 3:

Evaluation tools to measure the results of extending the workplace ...

  • Employee/ Manager/ Co-Worker Surveys
  • Client Surveys
  • Focus Groups
  • Individual Interviews
  • Performance Evaluations
  • Productivity Worksheets
  • Cost & Benefit Analysis Worksheets

WWW.TELEWORK.GOV

Launched in partnership by OPM and GSA

  • Compendium of Success Stories
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Sample Agreements
  • Study Highlights
  • Sample Policy
  • Sample Checklists
  • Equipment Resources
  • Helpful Hints

Links to several useful resource sites

TELEWORK - ON THE HORIZON

  • Most Recent Success:
    • Public Service Recognition Week Exhibit (May 2002)
  • Up and Coming
    • Guide for Managers & Supervisors
    • Internet Based Training Module
    • Telework Issues Working Group Recommendations
    • Regional Training
    • Telework Survey

The Official Federal Government Website for Telework.www.telework.gov

 
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