Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of the NetTech Center of Winchester, Virginia in its new location at 2281 Valley Ave. (mapquest)

The Center provides complete ready-for-business office space for teleworkers, among others. Linda Whitmer, Director of the Center, had reason to beam as she encouraged visitors to tour the beautiful new facility. According to Linda, the offices were nearly full already prior to any advertising. They house an even mix of federal clients including workers from DoD, Army, Navy, GSA, Treasury, and the Federal Highway Department; and private businesses, such as the Winchester Incubation Regional Enterprise (WIRE). Linda estimates that, on average, the federal teleworkers spend 3 days a week at the NetTech Center. Glenn Woodley from GSA, while pleased with the current utilization, hopes that state and local government will also take advantage of the facility and other GSA-supported telework centers across the area.

Read the full story...

12:22:51 PM    
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Business Benefits of Telecommuting takes another look at the report from Economist Intelligence Unit, blogged earlier.

Some interesting statistics and quotes:

• by 2005, 80% of companies around the world will have employees who telecommute (up from 54% in 2003)
• executives surveyed cited the following benefits: office overhead cost savings (69%), enhanced productivity (64%), improved staff morale (49%), enhanced business continuity (31%), and attractive recruiting benefit (29%).
• employees most suited to telecommuting were those in the sales (75%), research (52%), marketing (42%) and IT (34%) business lines

11:08:02 AM    
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Forbes Magazine round up of articles on telework, part 4:

Trojan Horse, Meet the Home Office [Forbes, July 17, 2003] warns of the potential security risks that teleworkers add to the corporate network. One example is the "U-Turn" attack.

"In such an attack, a hacker first targets an unsecured home computer. He then gets control of that computer's user name and password for its VPN access to the internal company network. The hacker can masquerade as that employee and has the same level of network access that he or she does, including whatever confidential information would typically be within the employee's reach."

One safeguarding technology that is gaining attention is the application layer VPN. This technology allows remote access to corporate networks via a web browser, which provide increased security over traditional VPNs while reducing the cost and complexity of installing home-based firewalls, according to Jeff Wilson, an analyst with San Jose, Calif.-based Infonetics Research.

10:44:37 AM    
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Forbes Magazine round up of articles on telework, part 3:

Working At Home, Safely [Forbes, July 17 2003] reports on the home safety of teleworkers and related responsibilities of their employers. (This article was also carried as Telecommuting Trouble [ABC News, July 18, 2003].)

"Precisely how to monitor telecommuter safety is a delicate matter. "Everyone is struggling with the issue of privacy and the role of the employer with regards to the home worker," says Liberty Mutual's Jacobson. "Most employers are not willing to visit the employee at their home to do an assessment because they respect the employee's privacy. They will only go if invited."

"Rather than visit the home, some employers require their home-based workers to do self-inspections and send in regular written reports to their supervisor or human resources department."

10:27:48 AM    
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Forbes Magazine round up of articles on telework, part 2:

Telecommuting's Legal Black Hole [Forbes, July 17, 2003] keys off of the recent legal decision related to the Florida teleworker employed by Reuters in New York. says "Legal experts say companies must guard against the potential pitfalls of telecommuting now." Recommendations include establishing a formal telework policy to guard against discrimination when employees requests to telework are denied. Policies should be created that cover both full-time teleworkers and occasional teleworkers, since the legal risks are the same. Cross-jurisdictional issues like those in the Reuters case are especially complex. 

"Bertrand B. Pogrebin, a labor lawyer at Rains and Pogrebin, based in New York, urged U.S. and state labor departments to set guidelines for employers. "The law has not caught up to modern-day practices," he warns."

10:23:39 AM    
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Forbes Magazine round up of articles on telework, part 1:

The Dark Side of Telecommuting [Forbes, July 14, 2003] reports that the trend toward teleworking is growing, 'Last year 32 million people were telecommuters in the U.S., and it is estimated that 50 million employees--one-third of the U.S. workforce--will be telecommuting by 2006.' Tim Kane, president of ITAC, says telework benefits employees by enabling them to balance work/life issues, while businesses can save on real estate and technology costs.

Sounds great, right? So what's the downside?

"There are plenty of horror stories out there," says ITAC's Kane. "Most of the people it didn't work out for are those who were involved in a program that was not put together well by their employer."

10:22:13 AM    
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Managers don't like to telework [Personal Computer World, Jul 17 2003] summarizes a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by AT&T. "Managers see the benefits of home working for their staff but are less willing to try it themselves or pay for it, according to a new report." They also found an increase in the use of virtual teams. Kevin Harvey, vice president and UK country manager for AT&T, claimed "We've saved over $150m. Two-thirds of that in increased productivity, $35m in facilities savings and $15m in staff retention."

9:38:30 AM    
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