The Power of Telework

Posted October 25th, 2010 by BfA Staff


With the launch of our Online Supporter Week, we here at Broadband for America realize that the biggest topic on just about everyone’s minds these days is the economy. In a challenging job market, the world of broadband has been an exception to the rule, creating well-paying and rewarding jobs.


Part of adjusting to the new broadband economy is realizing the growing potential of telework. Just a few years ago, employees who worked from home or remote locations were a small fraction of the workforce. Today, nearly 40 percent of all employees have the potential to work outside the office at least part-time. And the benefits of telecommuting extend from the very top of the corporate ladder down to the prospective employee looking to improve their career prospects.

As Shannon Perkins, owner of The Work from Home Lounge, wrote on the BfA blog:

[T]elecommuting is a good choice – maybe the only choice – for a growing number of people. Telecommuting is a rising trend and many well-known businesses are telecommuter friendly, such as ATT, 1-800-Flowers, U-Haul, and HSN … A telecommute position is just as real as a “traditional job”, you must have the quality, experience, and skills to get a telecommute position.

Telesaur founder Chip Kohrman struck a similar note in his blog post for BfA discussing how the power of telecommuting is providing a bridge for employers looking to expand their workforce:

Employers, wary and fearful of adding full-time staff and repeating the pain of layoffs, have found they can utilize the skill and knowledge of some of those folks who may have been performing tasks from order entry and tracking to copy writing and graphic design, all at a lower cost to the company but at nearly the same gross income for the employee-turned-contractor.

And it’s not just the telecommuting jobs themselves that are being created through increased broadband adoption, as the Telework Research Network’s Kate Lister wrote, telework is great for the environment and the extended savings it provides to both employers and employees can provide a significant economic incentive:

Articles have been written detailing the amount of money a telecommuter can save by not having to pay transportation costs – gasoline for a car, or the fare for a bus or train – not having to pay for parking, lunch or daycare. The savings to an employer range from reducing the amount of office space to the amount of coffee they need to provide. Printers, copiers, light, heat, and air conditioning costs would all shrink if more employees worked from home.

[W]e should examine some of the broader savings which might be achieved by more people working from home. If everyone who could work from home today did work from home, we would save 45 million gallons of gas – at $3 per gallon that would be $135 million saved in fuel costs in one day. It would also eliminate 423,000 tons of greenhouse gases which is the equivalent of taking 77,000 cars off the road for a full year.

Senate passes compromise telework bill

Eligible federal employees could telework at least 20 percent of the hours they work each 2-week period



◦By FederalDaily Staff

◦Oct 01, 2010

Telework proponents this week lauded Senate passage of a compromise federal teleworking bill. The Senate passed the bill Sept. 30 with an amendment on unanimous consent.



Under the Telework Improvements Act of 2010 (H.R. 1722), agencies will have 180 days to determine the eligibility of all employees to telework and to establish policies for eligible employees. After an employee is deemed eligible, he or she must enter into a written telework arrangement with the agency. Eligible feds could telework at least 20 percent of the hours they work each two-week period.



H.R. 1722 also requires agencies to incorporate telework into their continuity-of-operations plans, allowing them to head off the effects of events such as the blizzards that struck the Washington, D.C., area this year. The bill also orders the Office of Personnel Management to expand telework training opportunities for employees and managers. The House now has to act on the compromise.



“Employing telework on a governmentwide scale constitutes a significant culture shift in the federal workforce,” said Federal Managers Association National President Patricia Niehaus, whose organization supports the bill.



Niehaus said the change will require “an increased investment in managerial training to maintain employee engagement, monitor performance and promote cooperation when face-to-face.”



“This is a very welcome development,” said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley, who applauded the bill’s training provision. “The more managers and employees understand telework, the more the advantages become clear."