Use Telework Day to Stress Test Your Systems
by Anita Campbell
Monday, August 3, 2009 has been designated “Telework Day.” Right now it appears to be mainly a Virginia initiative — but individuals and businesses across the United States are being encouraged to participate too.
The Telework Exchange has a dedicated page for Telework Day, providing:
On June 10, 2009, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine issued an Executive Order to “green” Virginia – calling for reductions in energy consumption and efficiency in state government operations as well as a statewide Telework Day to save the energy of commuting.
The Commonwealth of Virginia, Telework!VA, and Telework Exchange are encouraging organizations and individuals to telework from home or a remote location on Monday, August 3, 2009 – Telework Day
WHY?
Telework is a win-win-win opportunity for organizations, employees, and the environment.Telework supports:
- Reduction of traffic, greenhouse gas emissions, and wear and tear on public transportation
- COOP: Business as usual
- Personnel recruitment and retention
- Real estate savings
- Work/life balance and commuter-cost savings
So be green, give your car a rest, and make a pledge to telework on August 3.
As you can tell from the above language, it’s being touted as a green initiative and a way for all of us to reduce our carbon footprint. The Telework Exchange site has a built-in calculator that helps you as an individual see how much you are saving (or could save) in commuting costs, as well as the pounds of pollutants you avoid putting in the air by telecommuting. For instance, by using the calculator (you have to register first), it told me that each year I am saving $1,185 in commuting costs based on commuting to my last job, and 1575 pounds of pollutants.
Government officials like the idea of telework, because it takes pressure off of already over-burdened roads, and has the potential to keep the air cleaner.
For employers it can be a productivity enhancer and cost saver. According to PC World magazine:
Not only can telework help companies green their processes, but it can also pay off in productivity savings. For instance, Cisco recently reported it was able to save some $277 million in employee productivity costs alone by sending employees home to work.
“Telework Day is an important opportunity to advocate telework as a business strategy that can have a positive impact on the bottom line and improve organization efficiency,” said Jennifer Thomas Alcott, program manager for Telework!VA. “Telework is one of the most effective ways for people to greatly reduce their work-related carbon footprint and demonstrate that ‘work is something you do, not a place you go.’”
When it comes to employers, you’ll get the most benefit if you have systems and applications in place to make it easy for employees to work remotely. Systems need to be able to support their work so they don’t have to work against the systems. Remote work requires the right types of IT systems, business software applications, and telecommunications systems. Employees will obviously need to be able to communicate, access business applications, share files, and otherwise make it “business as usual.” While it’s possible for employees to work at home with limited access to company systems on a single day or two, as an ongoing way of doing business you may be required to rethink and overhaul your systems to make them more “remote-worker” friendly — if they are not already.
Telework Day could be a way to “stress test” your systems and see how conducive they are to employees working remotely. By participating in Telework Day — or designating a Telework Day of your own in your business — you can test out your systems and see what you’d need to change in order to make telework more widespread.
