THE SAVINGS DATA: During a 15 week period, 60 people teleworking part-time (an average 1 of each 4.5 total days worked), saved a total of 25,810 vehicle miles travelled. That's a total saving of 1,153.56 gallons of gas and 22,379 pounds of C02 during the Telework Pilot Project!
For 15 months in 2008/09 WSDOT funded Kitsap the Telework Pilot Project which recruited and tracked the telework progress of 14 local organizations. How has telework fared for those organizations since the Pilot ended in June 2009? We're happy to report that Telework is (mostly) still part of the operation!
Challenges have been met and overcome by almost all organizations. 11 are still teleworking and 7 organizations have increased their telework opportunities. They all consider participation in the Telework Pilot Project useful: It focused organizations on telework ~ they started to do it, or made it work better.
We also heard that TeleworkToolkit.com, the website created during the Pilot, was a great resource for developing a telework policy or establishing whether one was necessary, setting up a home office, and as a source of telework ideas.
Some participants shared that the economic downturn has made it more important, either perceptually or actually, for staff to be in the office. It's no suprise that less or no telework exists in those organizations. While not everyone has experienced challenges since the Pilot Project, a pattern of specific issues is clear:
Lack of management support
Negative public perception of telework (Public Agencies)
Is telework a right or a privilege? How to re-enforce that? How to manage expectations?
I.T. issues
Clearly, telework ~ a formal program or something more casual ~ needs periodic refinement. One size does not fit all. Many smaller organizations don't see the need for a telework policy ~ often only until an issue arises where the absence of a policy becomes a challenge. Medium sized organizations require more structured telework solutions and monitoring.
What do our participants need now? We heard that regular telework information and resources to help with refinement of telework policy and implementation would be useful. Participant organizations that no longer teleworked said they could use tools to educate their managers, as well as regular remindersthat telework is possible.
We aim to meet some of those needs through the Telework Kitsap webpage and e-newsletter. We welcome any comments and suggestions to the email address below.
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