Another article by Amy Trask, Sun staff, A NEW WAY TO WORK Kitsap's Costly Commute (August 3, 2003) provides a great overview of a study done in Kitsap County, just outside of Seattle, WA.

The study itself is available in PDF format at http://www.kpud.org/telecom/powerpoint.html, along with a number of related presentations for viewing.

The study takes a broad-based view, looking at the costs and benefits of substituting teleworking for various representative commutes by homeowners in Kitsap county, across Puget Sound, into Seattle area offices. The representative commutes are based on a number of assumptions, all well documented, to come up with three sets of cost/benefit conclusions, one each for employees, employers, and the community.

Lets look at a small slice of the report: the downside of teleworking, and how these issues can be minimized.

For employees, the downside included teamwork difficulty, communications difficulty, and concerns about career advancement. Companies expressed the same concerns, but the study notes that "most of the teleworkers in these surveys are connecting via dial-up or DSL/Cable modems, thereby making any real-time video-presence nearly impossible."

What would we find in a survey where all teleworkers were connected via high-speed access enabling real-time video presence? Would teamwork be easier? communications seamless? Would career advancement still be a concern? If everyone teleworked just a few days a week, would these still be issues?

Managers were also concerned about security (electronic and physical), supervising, and the upfront cost of equiping teleworkers. The study authors suggest that training (and time) would address concerns about supervising remote workers. Security and equipment costs were estimated at $2,500-$3,000 per employee in an unspecified study, though cost savings in office space and productivity gains are expected to outweigh these. Regulatory and Legal issues must be considered as well.

Again, how would these concerns change if real-time video presence were available for managers to remotely supervise their employees? Would this help identify physical security issue to address?

What about the costs of equiping teleworkers? Without debating the estimated price tag, consider the numbers presented in Home/work's A-plus, (blogged earlier), that reports "Management Recruiters International estimates that employers can save $10,000 per employee by reduced absenteeism and job retention costs." Since these cost savings aren't include in the Kitsap report, companies are way ahead of the game even without cost savings in office space and productivity gains.

There are so many more thoughts and ideas generated by this report, but that's all the time I have today. What implications do you find most intriguing?

1:20:11 PM    
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