Summary
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Governmental entities were among the earliest adopters of the concept of Telework – and the technologies necessary to support it. Since the early 1990’s government has led the way, and it has not been unusual to see initiatives designed to address the need for flexible work plans, and reduce travel expenses, urban congestion, and infrastructure and real estate costs at the federal, state, and local levels. This decade, which has been marked by 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, has seen momentum build towards Telework, as the imperative of continuity of operations planning (COOP) is appreciated more than ever before. The timing of a number of factors, however – new leadership mandates, the needs of workers and community, and the availability of enabling technologies – is contributing to an almost perfect storm of conditions that we believe is beginning to drive rapid adoption in both governmental and corporate workplaces.
This paper, based in part on interviews with those involved in federal Telework programs, discusses the business and social issues that make Telework increasingly attractive to federal agencies today, the ways in which Telework is entering the DNA of government workflow and solving major issues, the tools necessary to enable the teleworker and other distributed workers, and practical issues to consider from a policy and programmatic perspective. |
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