People familiar with the developments in the federal workplace have noticed that legislators and the Office of Personnel Management have been promoting telework arrangements.  See this website, jointly sponsored by the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration:  http://www.telework.gov/

The concept first became attractive to me when I saw the twin towers collapsing on September 11, 2001.  My first thought was, "How are they going to get people to work in those kind of places again?"

How about you and your organization?  Any successes or failures worth sharing?  Lessons learned?

I completely agree that telecommuting is a viable option.  According to Chuck Wilsker, President and CEO of The Telework Coalition, telecommuting just two days a week can reduce a person's gas expense by 40%.  Wilsker, who has studied workplace trends and telecommuting for over ten years, recently noted, "The more organizations that have telecommuters, the more likely we will see [gas] prices stabilize or drop at the pumps."  Not only are there savings to the commuter, there are advantages to the employer.  British Telecom, which has 80,000 employees, found productivity rose 31 per cent among its teleworkers, due to lack of disruptions, stress, and commuting time.   

Numerous administrative, technical and educational positions may be performed well at home.  The number of employed Americans who performed any kind of work from home, with a frequency range from 1 day a year to full time, grew to over 44.4 million in 2004 (2004 American Interactive Consumer Survey conducted by The Dieringer Research Group) and is still rising. 

Telecommuting can be a tough sell for traditional managers.  Obviously, micromanagers cannot be sold on the idea under any circumstance.  Also, some workers cannot resist the temptation to watch 8 hours of ESPN.  But for many of us with discipline, computers and high speed internet access, what are you doing at work that you can't do at home?