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US GOVERNMENT Interagency Telecommuting Program |
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The term "Telecommuting" as used here refers to a means of performing work on a regular basis in a location other than the principal office, either at home or at a nearby telecenter.
Both the National Performance Review (NPR) and President Clinton's Climate Change Action Plan identify telecommuting as one solution to accommodate the demand for increased mobility and to enhance worker satisfaction. In fact, in his memorandum of July 1994 and subsequent correspondence, President Clinton directed federal agencies to support telecommuting and satellite work locations as a way to expand family-friendly work arrangements throughout the Executive Branch.
| Overview | Look here for an overview of Telecommuting today including benefits and expansion plans. |
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| Executive Support | Review executive correspondence supporting the telecommuting initiative. |
| Implementation | Review the steps you need to take to implement a successful telecommuting program. |
| Interagency Pilot Project | Read about the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Interagency Pilot Project. |
| Interagency Telecenter Listing | Review an updated listing of Telecenters by region nationwide. Includes POC information. |
| Nationwide Telecommuting Initiative | Review the government-wide initiative to increase federal participation in Telecommuting. |
| National
Telecommuting Initiative Action Plan |
Developed by the President's Management Council (PMC) Interagency Telecommuting Working Group, this Action Plan outlines a Five-phase plan to be implemented over a three-year period beginning in January 1996, to increase Federal participation to 60,000 telecommuters by the end of FY1998. |
| Internat'l Telework Association (TAC) | See what this combined public/private organization is doing to increase Telecommuting opportunities. |
| Telecommute America | Learn what private and public organizations are doing to educate the public about Telecommuting and its benefits. |
| Frequently Asked Questions | Review the answers to frequently asked questions related to Telecommuting. |
| Special Events | Check this location for upcoming special events. |
| Agency Telecommuting Coordinators | A complete list of Federal Agency Coordinators with contact information. |
The Climate Change Action Plan published in 1993 directs the EPA and DOT to take a series of actions designed to promote home-based and center-based telecommuting. These actions direct that:
Moreover, the Federal Employee Clean Air Incentives Act (P.L. 103-172) paves the way for federal agencies to establish programs designed to coax employees to reduce their reliance on single occupancy vehicles. These measures can include:
Among the last category, several measures that yield significant benefits are: ridesharing, alternative work schedules, and telecommuting. Recently, the President designated GSA as the lead agency for implementing this legislation. Responsibility has been lodged in GSA's Office of Workplace Initiatives, the same office that administers the interagency telecommuting project.
Clearly, the federal government can begin immediately to demonstrate its leadership and commitment in this area by serving as a model employer. The President's memorandum implementing the National Performance Review recommendation on the family-friendly workplace is an important first step. It directs OPM and GSA to work with agencies to expand flexible work arrangements and directs the President's Management Council (PMC) and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to provide guidance to implement these actions.
Accordingly, the federal government could aim to increase federal telecommuting levels to more than 60,000 employees (three percent of the federal workforce) by the end of fiscal year 1997. Serving as a catalyst - particularly if linked with intergovernmental and public-private partnership arrangements - this short-term effort would demonstrate the workability and efficacy of both home-based and center-based telecommuting and should trigger increased state and local government and private sector involvement.
Such an initiative was discussed in a white paper written by GSA and published for public comment in September 1994 by the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology. The paper proposes that an interagency team led jointly by DOT and GSA plan, implement and evaluate a three-year effort targeting as many as thirty metropolitan areas across the country. The proposal, which is currently being reviewed by the PMC, links home- and center-based arrangements and combines telework sites with community-based, multi-purpose telecenters that provide customer service and public access to the expanding information infrastructure.
The proposal suggests that selection of metropolitan areas be based on four considerations:
Thirty metropolitan areas that meet these criteria include:
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It is expected that each local venture would encourage and support flexible work arrangements (such as home-based telecommuting) and attempt to establish a network of community-based, public-private telecenters throughout the metropolitan region. Many centers could provide multiple services (including support to home-based telecommuters) with the number of centers ranging from 12 to 24 per city. The number of workstations may also vary from a low of 10 or 15 for neighborhood settings to as many as 50 or more at regional centers.
The principal strategy for significantly increasing telecommuting in the short term would rely heavily on intergovernmental and public-private partnerships at both the national and local levels. The lead agencies (DOT and GSA) would establish a national project team (NPT) and designate sponsors in each metropolitan area to lead local project teams (LPTs). The NPT would provide field managers with program guidance, technical support, and organizational and marketing assistance and oversee and evaluate project outcomes on behalf of the PMC.
The NPT would coordinate national efforts to foster increased federal employee participation in agency flexiplace programs and would consult with Congressional officials, national representatives of state and local interest groups (e.g., National Association of Counties, League of Cities, etc.) and related private sector organizations (e.g., Conference Board, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, etc.) to gain additional support.
In each target community, local teams would offer symposia on telecommuting issues and related programs. Symposia would be directed to area partnership members and representatives of other interested organizations. Moreover, the LPT would develop area-specific plans in consultation with appropriate federal, state and local officials and with private sector groups. At the federal level, this will include: affected agencies, Congressional representatives, field managers, Federal Executive Boards and Associations, and CASUs (many of which have already begun cross-servicing with state and local counterpart organizations).
At the state and local level, contacts would be made with: state agency officials, municipal leaders, councils of government, metropolitan planning organizations, state associations of counties, statewide city management organizations, empowerment zone and enterprise community officials, and others with interest and/or resources. In addition, private sector involvement would be pursued through local chambers of commerce, boards of trade and other individual firms or groups that wish to make a contribution.
Building on telecommuting projects already underway in Washington DC and California and on other ventures begun even earlier, the team would seek to expand existing partnerships in these locations and initiate new ventures in other metropolitan areas. Partnerships could include shared-use or service arrangements with community colleges, local government offices, underutilized state or federal government facilities (including DOD installations), community malls, shopping centers and professional complexes, local utility operations, private professional, hoteling or business service centers, state and/or county fairs, regional economic & technology development councils, local schools and libraries, and other public and private community economic development undertakings.
It is anticipated that such partnerships would target underutilized facilities and make it possible to offer other family and community-friendly amenities, including service kiosks, public access to the information highway, child care, local fitness programs, training, and distance-learning educational opportunities.
Program emphasis would be on increasing both work-at-home arrangements and telecenter utilization, with centers also serving as an office support mechanism for home-based telecommuters. Support for those working at home could include: coaching, technical assistance, counseling, and drop-in administrative support (e.g., laser printer, copier or fax use; videoconferencing; mailhandling; etc.).
Agency heads could urge senior managers to encourage home-based telecommuting and might provide full technical and administrative support for these arrangements. Project teams would assure that agencies have access to the latest information and techniques in this regard and will make available cross-agency shared support where needed.
Furthermore, every effort would be made to design centers so that agencies can bring services closer to their customers (e.g., taxpayers, veterans, social security recipients, farmers, small businesspersons, etc.). As local projects are planned, officials from participating agencies (at all levels of government) should have an opportunity to use the telecenter as a platform for other applications.
Given the investment in modern telecommunications technology (e.g., TCP/IP routers, narrowband and broadband ISDN, ATM/SONET, etc.), multi-purpose use would bring down unit costs for all participants. Such economies of scale can also make it possible for federal agencies to maintain service capabilities in suburban and rural areas if only on an intermittent basis (e.g., once or twice a week).
Project planners should consult with local transit authorities to extend bus routes and other transportation services to new locations. Every effort should be made to maximize transportation demand management benefits. Air quality and energy conservation are, after all, two of the principal driving forces behind the initiative. Local projects could experiment with making available clean fuel shuttles and dial-a-ride programs and small, short-range, low cost electric vehicles for those who cannot walk or bike between home and the nearby center.
Employing telecommuting centers as hubs to support increased work-at-home arrangements would also lower unit costs for the employer. This will require technical and administrative support for telecommuters and their supervisors and related training, marketing and evaluation activities. As more employees from the same organization telecommute, an agency or firm can begin to redesign its principal office for more intermittent use and generate savings to offset telecommuting participation costs.
To this end, GSA Regional Offices can provide office space planning and reconfiguration assistance to local federal managers as requested. Local projects should be encouraged to make such assistance available to other public and private employers (possibly through area phone companies and others in the private sector with such expertise) as further inducement to make telecommuting happen in their organizations.
The proposed three-year initiative, which builds on the learning and programmatic successes of earlier efforts, differs from these pioneering ventures in six strategically significant respects. The approach:
To illustrate the synergistic mission-related applications made possible in such an undertaking, consider the desirability of:
While the central theme of this interim report is telecommuting, increased NII support provides additional benefits from technology investments. For example, telecenters hold significant potential for bringing government services closer to the public. This will not only eliminate lengthy commutes for employees, but should enhance mobility for citizen customers as well.
Viewed as the anchor for a multi-purpose resource facility, a community-based telecenter could include such applications as:
Funding support will be sought through existing agency appropriations, targeting investments for related purposes to collaborative public-private undertakings. It is estimated that at least $50 million will be needed during FY 1995-97 to spur significant participation in telecenter activities in the short term. Inasmuch as agencies have not budgeted for these needs and will require time to re-engineer their principal office operations, such additional funding support will determine the extent of increased telecommuting activity (in both the public and private sectors) during the next several years.
Outcomes measured in surveys and focus groups would include changes in:
This project also would examine: the impact on inner-city and remote rural community access to flexible workplace opportunities and to information technology, telecommuter spending patterns and community involvement, utilization and impact of office technology, office furnishings and ecology, and other related matters. Moreover, the evaluation would be conducted in collaboration with similar action research funded by DOT and Caltrans at UC-Davis.
Lastly, the development of telecommuting centers provides an opportunity to utilize and evaluate advances in office equipment, furnishings, environments (both physical and social), and designs. There have been several recent studies showing productivity improvements resulting from factors such as increased ventilation and access to natural light. The project would examine a wide range of office factors and their relationship to job performance and quality of work life.
Looking to the future, if the three-year initiative is successful, government officials should consider the following activities and policies to promote home-based telecommuting and telecenter growth over the long term:
Some key features and services offered at local centers might include:
Further, local communities might experiment with a mobile version of the multi-purpose center (e.g., a trailer or "infomobile") for inner-city neighborhoods. The District of Columbia's Office of Maternal and Child Health has been using mobile "Mom" trailers to help improve prenatal health through outreach and information. The District is also using roving municipal centers. Local officials could use trailers to provide a limited version of the full range of teleservices offered at fixed centers. Some of the international experiments in this area may have transferable aspects.
The longer-term vision for telecommuting should aim to gain more rapid acceptance of the concept, introduce distributed work approaches to a significant cross-section of the American workforce, and bring public services closer to where government's workers and customers reside.
Using the nation's successful experience with flexible work schedules (i.e., flexitime), GSA sees no reason that flexiplace arrangements cannot climb to twenty to thirty percent of the workforce by early in the next decade. Moreover, these efforts should attempt to reinforce other goals and values relative to environmental, economic and societal functioning. Continued emphasis also should be placed on aiding inner-cities and remote rural areas gain access to the nation's evolving information infrastructure.
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