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From what I can tell, anything really worth having or doing in life comes in fits and starts. The things worth fighting for and the things you have to struggle to achieve are often the things that mean the most. How does the adage go again? Good things don’t come easily?

It seems telework is no different. The telework measure was rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives last week. Introduced by Representative John Sarbanes of Maryland, the measure would have required uniform rules for federal employees who work at sites other than their regular government offices.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated a cost of $30 million for the government over the next five years. The figure, however does not take into account financial savings possible through telework, which is more difficult to estimate with accuracy.

Despite this setback, it is important to note that a similar telework bill was approved by the House in 2008. Unfortunately it was not passed in the Senate. But it is likely that the measure will be reintroduced soon with hope of passage.

It is interesting to me that here in Minnesota we seem to see very strong bipartisan support of the telework bill, yet the issue is more polarized in Washington DC. I have hypotheses as to why that may be, but what do you think the reason may be? Can a telework bill pass soon?

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Recently, we have seen great strides in telework locally and federally. It’s really wonderful to see private and public sectors working together in a non-partisan manner for telework as a means to improve society as a whole. With the success of our Telework Twin Cities program, an ever-growing number of companies utilizing eWorkPlace services, and local public officials verbalizing their support for our work, we have been pleased as punch here at headquarters (and since we are a teleworking program, headquarters is pretty much everywhere!).

Major federal advances were also made for telework on April 14 when a House committee approved a government telework bill that "would require federal agencies to adopt policies allowing employees to work away from the office, with exceptions for those whose jobs cannot be performed elsewhere. Each agency would have to designate a telework managing officer to oversee the policies."

Passed by The Oversight and Government Reform Committee with bipartisan support and little debate, the voice vote added to the telework momentum in recent months. It is likely that a House vote will be scheduled by Memorial Day and we are looking forward to it.

Times they are a'changin'. Expect even greater strides for telework in the coming months!

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to inform you about some good news. Wait. GREAT news!

Telework Twin Cities has been getting some great press lately. Even public officials are taking note.

Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak (D), Saint Paul mayor Chris Coleman (D), Bloomington mayor Gene Winstead (R), and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) have all unanimously proclaimed April 2010 “Explore and Experience Telework Month”.

It is really wonderful to see all the support across the aisle for telework. You can see Governor Pawlenty’s proclamation posted on our website as a PDF file here.

For those of you without Adobe, the proclamation text follows:

“State of Minnesota Proclamation

WHEREAS: Telework is the practice of working from home via technology such as internet and mobile devices; and

WHEREAS: There are many benefits of telework in Minnesota, from reducing traffic congestion to conserving energy; and

WHEREAS: Telework helps Minnesota families thrive and businesses prosper due to increased flexibility gained through the integration of work, home, and community; and

WHEREAS: Telework is an initiative of eWorkPlace, a state-sponsored program for Twin Cities Metro Area employers; and

WHEREAS: As an innovative model, eWorkPlace seeks to change and enhance the way Minnesota companies conduct business and increase awareness of the value of telework.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, TIM PAWLENTY, Governor of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2010, as:

EXPLORE AND EXPERIENCE TELEWORK MONTH in the State of Minnesota.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Minnesota to be affixed at the State Capitol this 22^nd day of March in the year of our Lord two thousand and ten, and of the State the one hundred fifty-first.” 

It’s going to be a great April, folks! Happy teleworking!

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Calling all employers and employees! We are happy to announce that Telework Twin Cities will be coming soon to a workplace near you…

What’s this, you say?

eWorkPlace is encouraging Twin Cities metro area commuters to register and make the pledge to telework for one or more days per week from April 11-24 just in time to celebrate Earth Day.

Already on board are Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak, Saint Paul mayor Chris Coleman, and Bloomington mayor Gene Winstead! The three mayors have already proclaimed April 2010 “Explore and Experience Telework” month!

In addition, we are pleased to provide access to free telework training as well as sample proposals to address with managers and learn about the “business case” for telework.

Telework Twin Cities benefits for the world:

• Help the environment
• Promote workplace efficiency
• Reduce strain on transportation infrastructure

Telework Twin Cities benefits for you:

• Save time!
• Save $$$!
• Register and be eligible to win gift cards, netbooks, and an Apple iPad!

Now is your chance to get on board and make a difference!

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Want to be a Fortune 500 Company? Want to be considered one of the best companies to work for?

You might want to think about adding telework to your strategy. Of the 100 Best Companies of 2010, 84 companies provide telecommuting to their employees. The top ten companies with telecommuting have anywhere from, 26% employees at Shared Technologies to a whopping 93% employees at Deloitte telecommuting. See the list here.

Then point your mouse this away and request eWorkPlace program information.

It’s never too late.

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Over one month into 2010 already. Time always slips by faster than I expect. In the meantime, plenty of predictions have rolled in about the future of telework in the coming decade. These predictions are not pulled out of thin air. Instead, many seem to predict that we will build off trends that have already been occurring over the last few years. These ideas are compatible and will spur one another forward. What am I talking about?

In the next year and beyond, experts agree that we will be going green and going mobile. We see it all around us in the small and the big ways. Need an example of a small and a big way all in one? Well.

A personal ‘green example’: I was at Target the other day. I declined a bag and was given a small discount on my purchase as a result. Perhaps I am behind on the times and/or living under a rock, but this was news to me. I knew of other retailers that offered similar incentives, but I simply didn’t expect it from the Minnesota-based giant.

These types of practices are becoming more and more common as businesses of all shapes and sizes become more and more green. A few cents off for not using a bag may not seem like a big deal, but I see it as an indicator that our culture is changing. The small ways are reflective of the big changes. These kinds of changes, while indirect, pave the way for telework.

And, while the idea of mobility is desired for more than just its green compatibility, there is no denying these concepts often go hand in hand. Our wireless capabilities are growing and our hesitancies are diminishing.

This is good news for telework, good news for business, and good news for us all. Not convinced?

How about a direct example in the government: Even the White House encourages its employees to telework – not just during emergencies but routinely as a practice that supports the Obama administration’s policy to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. If you want people to take you seriously, you’ve got to set a good example, right?

Paternalism aside, everywhere in the country we see telework catching on.

In fact, another large private employer gets it too: Chattanooga, Tennessee, anyone? Their biggest employer, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, wants to double its telecommuting staff from 400 to 800 in the next year because the program is working so well in terms of cost savings as well as productivity. And on top of all that? Mobile and green!

Call me an optimist, but this decade is looking mighty, mighty good for all these reasons and more.

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

As the old adage goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Apparently, and excuse me for not knowing this, you can create groups on the photo-posting website Flickr based on the topic. I found the pool for the topic “telework” today. There are over 500+ photos individuals have uploaded to showcase bits and pieces of their lives, as related to telework.

Some are funny, some are touching, but all remind me of why telework is important to all of us as people. Balancing different parts of our lives is easier, using the technology that we have is smarter and more efficient, working this way can make us more productive and happier. Why not tap into that potential? 

You can see the photos here. Here’s a taste of some of my favorites:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geirarne/66766269/in/pool-telework Today’s Office "Today I'm telecommuting from my old bedroom at my parent’s house."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddfic/456799827/in/pool-telework Day 2: Now THIS is what I call telecommuting… "Since construction of our new bathroom is right next to my home office, I was forced to relocate temporarily. Soft purple couch, warm roaring fire, laptop, and pussycat. Does it get any better than this?"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smoocherie/274017500/in/pool-telework So this is what a technomad is… "Enjoying an afternoon working while hanging out with radven on Treasure Island, CA. Like my office view today? Photo taken by radven using the camera on my smartphone. Laptop being powered by radven’s solar power system on his tab rv. " Technomad heaven, I hear.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tadnkat/3923364820/in/pool-telework This is how we roll. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/turniptopia/1539329707/in/pool-telework pericraft lately pt. 2

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Happy holidays, everyone!

"The season is upon us" is really just a pretty way of saying we are going to get DUMPED on with snow. Good for making snowmen and sitting by fireplaces, but not so much for clear roads or traffic flow.

Federal offices in Washington D.C. are all but sure to close down. Some of these workers will actually be teleworking during this time, so productivity may not be lost after all! News isn’t so clear on what businesses in Washington D.C. will be doing though.

I know that here in good old Minnesota we stubbornly send our employees out to treacherous roads, and almost proudly so, regardless of the weather. What’s two feet of snow in a night, eh?

By no means am I picking on our great work ethic or our fantastic snow removal services, but it doesn’t particularly make sense to send out whole workforces during blizzards or to drive on ice rinks when we have options like telework. Though ice rink driving could potentially be a pretty cool addition to the Winter Olympics… but I digress.

Weather is always that unpredictable factor on your bottom line. Why not be prepared?

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

So, I realized that although we showed this great little video at a conference we held over the summer (if you missed the conference, no worries, click here for the presentation materials!), we neglected to put the video up on the blog.

Enjoy:

Love it. Though it does hit on a serious issue with telework – how do you trust that your employees are actually doing their job while they telework? In case you missed it in our FAQ, you can start reading about managing teleworkers here.

If you have any personal experience/advice about this, we’d love to hear it!

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

We have about one month, give or take, until the end of 2009. Like many people, when something is near its end, I often start thinking about new beginnings. I circle back and forth and around. I think about what became, what could have been, and what should be.

Take congestion, for example.

According to the Metropolitan Freeway System 2008 Congestion Report, Twin Cities freeways actually saw a substantial drop in congestion, from 20.9% in 2007 to 17.3%. I know that is difficult to swallow when you’re sitting in traffic after a long day’s work, but from the numbers alone it seems like we have been making some headway.

I suppose my worry is that people see this as good news and will become complacent in following years. So it is important to note that according to many experts, the reduction we saw in congestion was actually due to the economy.

Fewer jobs and less money = less traffic.

Like everybody, I would prefer the economy to grow and reduce congestion all at once.  

Will the 2009 Congestion Report show another drop? Will congestion because of the poor economy or because of proactive efforts like eWorkPlace? 

All I know is that we must actively continue working on lowering congestion in 2010. The eWorkPlace program cannot make congestion disappear, but it certainly helps to reduce the problem and raise the benefits. 

P.S. If you’re already taking advantage of our eWorkPlace program, you may find our instructional YouTube channel helpful. There you can learn about how to use the Commute Tool, Tracker, and Survey to help us measure the effects of our efforts.

P.P.S. Someone make me this shirt.

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Well, folks, it looks like it is already November. The fall season has gone by quickly and as I write this we are experiencing surprisingly good weather in Minnesota… let’s hope I didn’t jinx it just by saying that.

In the last couple months, we have experienced reason after reason to continue pushing telework here at eWorkPlace… at least if you view things through a “telework lens” the way I do. Any talk of H1N1 or “swine flu” for instance. Or economic troubles. A rainy day. Budgets and deficits. Particularly bad traffic. You get the idea.  

I don’t mean to say that telework can be a one size fits all solution to any problem, but too often it is viewed as a possible benefit to employees rather than as part of the equation to a solution for employees AND employers. While doing one of my regular searches, I found a telework quiz geared towards employees but why don’t I see more of these things geared towards employers?  

We need to change the way we talk about telework. Let’s start now. What are your thoughts?

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

Being the telecommuting junkie that I am, I have a habit of Googling for telework and reading whatever I can find about it. Blogs, news, videos, pictures, you name it.

In my search, I recently came across a Planetizen blog written by Tim Halbur where he suggested the creating of a telecommuting town. To summarize, Halbur’s town builds on the idea of a telework utopia, where all workers are able to work from home, creating a zero commute. While this may not be possible, his project proposes to select twenty towns across the country that are “ripe for creating a telecommuting hub”. Based on what is learned from the project, city halls, town centers, meeting rooms, and other public spaces may be “retrofitted” to become telework-friendly.

Surely, this is a bold idea. But of course the most pressing question is: How realistic is this? Is it practical? Heck, do we have the money?

Or, discarding practicalities, it is also interesting to ask why ideas like these are becoming more popular. These conversations are becoming more and more frequent, particularly online. What can we glean from that?

It seems to me that the popularity of this idea is what is important. It is what many employees and employers seem to want more and more. The most innovative and exciting businesses have already taken advantage of telework to increase their productivity, life satisfaction, and to save money.

While a Telecommuting Town may not be available near you (or anywhere… yet), the eWorkPlace program does offer some pretty great incentives to get at some pretty great benefits. And it’s definitely more feasible than creating entire towns for telework, no?

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota

A recent report by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) found that although traffic congestion is down, costs to commuters are still rising. In 2007, commuters spent one hour less stuck in traffic and wasted one less gallon of gas than they did in the year 2006. According to the 26^th Urban Mobility Report, this was primarily due to higher gas prices.

At best, this is mixed news. Traffic jams still cost $87.2 billion dollars in lost time, productivity and fuel in the year 2007 according to TTI. Over 2.8 billion gallons gasoline was wasted that year – enough to fill each commuter’s gas tank for three weeks.

Another issue the TTI report raised was that although the current recession will prolong this dip in congestion, traffic volumes will certainly rise when the economy improves. But… what should we do if we want both a healthy economy, decent gas prices, and reduced congestion? …too much to ask? Well, the report goes on to propose a number of long-lasting solutions… including flexible work hours and teleworking!

Although businesses can’t participate in reducing congestion through the creation of toll lanes or bike paths, it is certainly feasible to participate in telework. What will that save your company as an employer? You as an employee? All of us as a community?

Although I could probably leave that as a rhetorical question, there is one tool you could use to give you an estimate of your individual commuting cost. Our eWorkPlace Commute Tool is a calculator that helps you see your own monetary costs as well as your environmental costs via annual greenhouse emissions.

Frequently, the numbers are striking. It goes to show that individuals really can make a difference… but it’s easier when the barriers are lowered.

In this case, eWorkPlace can help you, your company, and all of us change the way we think about work as well as the ways we can contribute to the reduction of congestion and the growth in savings. Forgive me, I’ve probably said something similar before, but I have a tendency to repeat myself when I really believe in something.

Adeel Lari, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Innovative Financing, Research Fellow, and Teleworker
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota