My
inspiration for writing this blog was drawn from “telework” which we discussed
extensively in the class this week. Telework enhancement Act had been
culminated into law in 2010. It required agencies
to determine eligibility and notify all workers about it. I browsed
telework.gov to explore it more and was glad to find that it provides
sufficient guidance to federal agencies over various categories associated with
telework such as eligibility, performance and pay and leave procedures. A clear
distinction between participation and eligibility was interesting to note. For
instance if en employee is eligible for telework, his consent is still
mandatory to assign him telework assignment to have his participation.
Similarly, eligibility on part of employees cannot be taken as “right to
participate” for teleworking until federal agency reposes trust in an employee to
assign him/her an assignment.
glimpse of telework.gov
Position
of telework managing officer was also made mandatory to direct access to an
agency head. In legislation, training programs were
included and telework was made part of business continuity operations in case
of natural disasters and extreme weather conditions. I believe the biggest advantage
of telework lies in offering “continuity of operations”. For instance, in 2010 days-long snow storm in Washington dealt a heavy
blow to the work of federal offices and due to presence of teleworkers $30 million a day were saved. In fact such an
encouraging figure was the main reason to passage into law of the Telework
Enhancement Act of 2010.
It’s a good
omen that now Federal agencies have complimented their disaster recovery (DR)
programs with telework as part of disaster recovery plans as it would make them
well equipped to deal with natural disasters like Katrina in future.
Furthermore, teleworking assists government in taping potential of seasoned
veterans by inducting them who may not prefer to become part of conventional
office hours routine.
Telework also helps in reducing carbon footprints, rand
transportation subsidy costs. “According to the National Capital Region 2013
State of the Commute Report, Federal agency telework participation has more
than doubled since 2007, while private sector engagement has grown by only 25
percent during the same period.”
I am optimistic about future of teleworking because in the US,
it was made part of Digital government 2012 strategy that aims to Make the
Federal Government more “digital-friendly” and motivate agencies to induct
more mobile Federal workforce. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), presents a bright
example with approximately 65 percent of its 11,500 employees teleworking.
Another example is of U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) that re-opened
its renovated headquarters in 2013 with framework of regional workforce
employment.
Despite many advantage including reduction in cost,
energy and being environment friendly, I believe that psychological and social
impact of telework on organizational performance are not so easy to gauge
because while telework may be best for people who prefer to work alone, the
idea may not be very convincing for extrovert people who prefer to grow
together in an organization by working in teams. Other areas of debate may be
how to balance a work life and professional life at home, and missing out promotion
prospects at work place because of one-time projects which may come up for
people at offices and provide them with chance to prove their mettle and get
promotions. Apart from it, some may argue that telework may lead one into being
workaholic because in absence of any clear demarcation between work life, one
may get obsessed by checking work emails all the times even while having meals
and the due motivation may not be there for him/her by colleagues from office to
work by maintaining an equilibrium in his professional life.
References:
http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse_new/work_employment/teleworking/miniweb/pg4.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment