Telework Is Taking Off!
Agencies with a robust
telework program in place as part of normal operations are better
prepared when employees transition to an alternative work arrangement
in an emergency.
When she issued her “Telework Challenge”, GSA
Administrator Lurita Doan spoke about the widespread interest in
incorporating telework into our COOP.
“When you think about how the government will need to operate
during a national disaster or following an act of terrorism, having a
large pool of trained and equipped staff who can work from home or a
remote location gives us a lot
of flexibility.”
According to the Agency Telework Ready Status report, many
organizations have partially established the infrastructure needed for
telework – particularly in the Services and Enterprise
categories. Those that have created an infrastructure
conducive to remote work are creating an environment that is supportive
of telework. And soon they may have to report what they are
doing to grow their telework infrastructure to Congress –
like it or not.
COOP
Friendly Legislation
There have always been good reasons to telework such as reducing
commuter congestion and being “green
friendly”. But management resistance and their fear
of lost productivity have been huge obstacles.
Research has tried to dispel this myth. The recently released National
Science Foundation survey, “Telework Under the Microscope - A
Report on the National Science Foundation’s Telework
Program” showed for NSF employees, telework is a win-win-win
for managers, employees, and the environment.
 Other
research conducted by The Telework Exchange with the help of industry
leaders such as Tandberg and HP show that federal employees are
telework friendly – they want a break from traffic
– and that security and telework are not mutually exclusive.
But research does not carry near the clout of Congressional
legislation. Winding its way through the House of Representative now is
HR461. This bill requires agencies to allow authorized employees to
telework at least 20 percent of the time in a two-week period. Both
House and Senate members have been
promoting legislation requiring each agency appoint a Telework Managing
Officer and submit an annual report to Congress rating agencies on
their telework practices.
Telework supporters have been working for years to get Congress to pass
such
legislation. What may finally push this legislation over the top is
what GSA’s Doan advocates – that telework is
essential to your COOP.
While there are similarities to supporting a remote worker and a
teleworker, they are not the same according to The Telework
Exchange’s Cindy Auten.
Is Your
Infrastructure Ready?
To expand the agency workplace from office to home requires procuring
secure remote connectivity, providing access to data needed to
accomplish tasks, acting
as remote IT support and managing the whole process, using IT
checklists to
maintain accurate records.
To support the technology components critical for telework translates
into
spending precious dollars in areas such as web-based applications,
Blackberry devices, laptops, and remote email access, which allow for
increased telework at low incremental cost. Such
“dual use” technologies – and their
related costs – can be shared across the organization by
mobile workers, office workers, and teleworkers.
Auten says agencies must pay particular attention to “the
security requirements that agencies must consider when building out
their telework program. The IT infrastructure must be able to handle
remote access in a COOP situation, which calls for more a more robust
infrastructure – and training – compared with just
as regular telework environment.”
Educating
and Exercising At Labor
Don’t sidestep training especially when it comes to security
outside the workplace counseled Auten. Telework is a lot about keeping
workers comfortable in their environment. “We always say
telework is not this ‘break glass in case of emergency
proposition’,” said Auten. “If you really
incorporate COOP into your standard operating procedures, you must
train and test. It is really a cultural learning shift and really
important training has to happen first.”
One federal department that has made a large investment in telework
infrastructure is the Department of Labor (DOL). Helping to lead that
effort is Pamela Budda, Work/Life Program Manager.
When planning for a pandemic flu outbreak, DOL quickly realized the
role of telework in as a part of their COOP strategy. Work on the plan
began in 2005 and signed off by the Secretary of Labor in 2006. This
operational plan was developed with input from all DOL agencies and
focuses on 11 elements of a viable COOP. One of those elements is
telework and DOL set out to test telework capacity as an integral
component.
| IT
professionals know all too well telework is not a
“break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” proposition.
Ongoing
commitment is required. |
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| Speaking at the Telework as a Continuity of Operations
Strategy” webcast, Budda explained that DOL has had over a
year of Telework Testing experience which included a department senior
executive level Table Top Exercise, regional Office simultaneous
multi-agency test implementations and regional telework training in
conjunction with COOP regional training.
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Some of the lessons learned were: DOL needs to develop standard
operating procedures to clearly identify how to perform essential tasks
during emergency situations; that pre-established accountability,
productivity and communication strategies are critical to success; and
that testing facilitates mutual trust, encourages telework agreements
and helps to maintain a sense of connection/minimize isolation.
According to Budda, these exercises show that employees who have never
teleworked will not be prepared to successfully do so in an emergency,
thus more reasons to train, equip, practice and exercise.
Despite issues, Budda says DOL telework testing had positive outcomes.
There is increased acceptance of telework as a viable option, day by
day; more DOL managers and employees realize the benefits of telework;
and telework positions DOL to carry out its functions in almost any
type of emergency.
Testing also showed there are technical barriers to telework; barriers
that can be overcome through communication.
“We talked with IT and we started working on
solutions,” explained Budda. “We can’t
fix everything right away, but now we have a plan. And we
wouldn’t have been aware if hadn’t done the
exercise and documented it. The IT staff is critical to the
success of telework.”
Are You Ready To TeleCOOP?
Supporting telework involves expanding IT capacity from office to home.
That entails procuring secure remote connectivity, providing access
to data needed to accomplish tasks, providing IT support and keeping
detailed checklists to maintain accurate records.
According to the Agency Telework Ready Status, teleworkers, telework
coordinators and agency IT management identified 14 infrastructure
components, in three different technology categories as
“critical
to effectively supporting telework”. They include:
Home
Office
- PC support
- Application access
- Security resources
- Peripheral support
Services
- Data communications
- Voice communications
- Teleconference communications
- Technical training support
- Help Desk support
Enterprise
- Secure access resources
- Application access resources
- Access to administrative functions
- Remote email access
- Collaboration resources
Experts also advocate the use of detailed IT Checklists to keep track
of what is needed to support each teleworker. Use the checklist to keep
a detailed user profile, software updates and patches, special software
requirements, VPN access, security settings and any communications
or peripherals needed.
And they make one more recommendation. Test everything to make sure it
works before it goes out into the field.
Learn more about what you can do to make telework more efficient by
visiting the GSA/OPM telework website at www.telework.gov or The
Telework Exchange website at www.teleworkexchange.com.
Sources: Agency Telework Ready
Status;
OPM/GSA Telework.gov; Telework Exchange
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