TelCoa, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to promoting virtual, mobile, and distributed work, interviewed telework program managers at organizations with large telework programs. The employers represent more than 500,000 employees and almost 150,000 teleworkers and mobile workers. Interviews were conducted during the last weeks of February and first week of March, 2006.
The study, sponsored by Intel, looked at how these large organizations addressed and overcame obstacles and objections to create successful programs that benefit both the organization and its employees through reduced real estate costs, increased employee retention, and a much higher rate of employee satisfaction.
“As long as employees have a laptop, high speed Internet access, and a phone, they are in business wherever they are. And, with the convergence of these three technologies, whether a wireless equipped laptop with a VoIP phone, or a new generation PDA, work can be done from almost anywhere,” says Chuck Wilsker, president and chief executive officer of TelCoa.
“This is an especially valuable survey, because it drills down into the benefits, costs, challenges and unexpected consequences experienced by managers; much more than the census type research of employees produced to date”, says John Edwards, chairman of the Telework Coalition
One point that was consistent throughout the study was that telework plays a significant role in business continuity and continuity of operations planning. Several participants who had employees in New York City on 9/11 or in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina mentioned how their employees were able to work immediately after these tragedies because of the programs they had in place.
The Telework Coalition hopes many other organizations will use this report as a guide for either starting a telework program or enhancing an existing one.
An executive summary of this study is available.
