What’s the beef about telework?
Filed under: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security and law, Telecommuting
Seems like telework is wildly popular with just about everyone — except managers.
But Congress seems to be taking advantage of the widespread disdain for bosses and execs to introduce legislation that would expand telework opportunities for at least one group, federal employees.
The 2009 Telework Improvements Act, offered by a bi-partisan group of congressional reps (Reps. John Sarbanes, D-Md., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Gerald Connolly, D-Va.) would force the Office of Personnel Management to develop a uniform, government-wide telework policy.
It also would compel agencies to allow eligible employees to use the alternative work arrangement for at least 20% of their hours during a two-week period.
The bill’s sponsors are positioning telework as good governance and beneficial to the environment and workers’ quality-of-life issues.
They’ve also identified telework as a great recruitment and retention tool.
Sponsors cite a drastic reduction in auto trips and improvements in operations continuity in the post-9/11 era as among the benefits of telework.
The legislation would require agencies to designate a telework managing officer and boost training for employees and supervisors. It also would give teleworkers greater protection against punitive treatment from managers.
Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, are expected to introduce a companion bill in the Senate on Thursday.
“There is everything to gain by significantly expanding telework in the federal sector, and nothing to lose,” said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.
Could the same be said for your organization?
Some experts in telework say that the big obstacle to telework is a matter of trust on the part of managers. Studies of telework consistently show that it boosts morale and productivity. So why don’t bosses like it?
Comments
4 Comments on What’s the beef about telework?
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J on
Fri, 1st May 2009 11:39 am
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Telecommuting Journal on
Mon, 4th May 2009 9:37 am
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HRPeg on
Tue, 5th May 2009 8:57 am
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Rich on
Tue, 5th May 2009 2:21 pm
I’ve been angling for getting some telework implemented at my company and I suspect it all comes down to the belief that teleworking means goofing off. It means doing other things when you’re supposed to be working. It’s a faith-based issue, I guess. Management as a whole is convinced that this is true and are stubbornly persisting in that belief without even testing it to gauge productivity and cost savings.
Many bosses don’t like it because they’re still stuck in old management ruts where the first gauge of a worker’s worth is whether or not they get to work on time and whether or not they call in sick.
http://telecommutingjournal.com/2008/11/telecommuting-%e2%80%93-a-technology-killed-by-management/
Telework is fine, but it will cause the revamping of existing workers’ comp regulations and OSHA standards. It will be interesting to what the actual impact will be.
If your first thought isnt’ about data security than you have no business thinking about it. Security breaches caused by remote access has doubled in the last two years. And its not just loss of data but losss of systems. Next you have all the compliance issues with how data is being handled at the remote end.
