For more traffic woes, and the hope that telework could provide a solution, see Milwaukee's traffic solution: Work at home by Chuck Haga (Star Tribune, August 9, 2004). A huge construction project worth $810 million, the biggest public works project in Wisconsin history, will soon make a huge snarl of the already overburdened highways. Local government officials and the local cable provider are banding together to encourage telework by offering discounted broadband access, but numerous concerns still hold back folks from jumping on the bandwagon.

'"I just haven't seen much interest on the part of a lot of people -- employers or workers," McAuliffe said, "not in telecommuting or any other alternatives. It seems all most people want to talk about is making the freeways bigger and faster. They're pretty much set in their ways, and the personal car is becoming almost the exclusive transportation option."'

The problem lies in the traditional view of telework, where employees can no longer be seen. Managers (who may be at home themselves) worry, is my staff working? Are they available and accessible? Employees worry, will I be less able to secure that promotion if I loose out on face time with my boss? The solution the Telework Consortium promotes is virtual presence - collaboration tools that include video, so you can see your coworkers, just like in the office. These new applications run over the open Internet, on recent PCs and Macs, with a webcam and headset that costs less than $100 per computer. Licensing schemes and costs vary, but won't provoke sticker shock.

And for those restauranteers concerned about loosing business: virtual presence certainly won't help you sell meals to area workers - but your suburban locations may make up for it as home-based workers release their cabin fever!

4:18:08 PM    
comment []  trackback []

Communication at Work by Robert Holland (Richmond.com, August 10, 2004) discusses blogs and other electronic communication tools, and how corporate trust factors into their use. It's nice to see business blogs getting referenced more - and respected more.

'... One indication that blogs are picking up steam is that some bloggers received press credentials so they could write about the Democratic National Convention in July.

Now corporations are looking at the potential for blogs to be used as tools to enhance knowledge sharing and communication among employees. Not surprisingly, Microsoft and IBM are two leaders in the effort to introduce blogs to corporate America. The idea is to allow employees to post blogs on the company intranet – or perhaps even the public Web site, depending on the target audience – so they can share information more quickly and efficiently. '

3:40:48 PM    
comment []  trackback []