We’ve Been Doing Telework Since Before It Was Mandatory
By now, most everyone is familiar with the concept of telework. But we’ve been at this for a long time. Denver South has long advocated for telework and flexible schedules as potential solutions to relieve traffic congestion in our region. Now more than ever, as 80 percent of our population has adapted to working from home during the COVID-19 Pandemic, we are navigating these new norms with you. Our hope is that employers will evaluate instituting permanent policies and guidelines around teleworking and flexible work schedules.
According to the Telework Enhancement Act, telework or teleworking is defined as “A work flexibility arrangement under which an employee performs the duties and responsibilities of such employee’s position, and other authorized activities, from an approved worksite other than the location from which they would otherwise work.”
A telework program gives selected employees and managers the option of working off-site on a full-time, part-time, or even temporary basis. Some policies allow staff to choose to work from home offices, telework centers, or satellite offices. The formality of a telework arrangement depends on the company and the employee’s needs. Let Denver South and our Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) partners help your business continue, establish, and customize your organization’s telework needs.
Denver South is partnering with the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) Way To Go program to promote the Telework Tomorrow initiative. This program will support employers as they prepare to transition back into the workplace while encouraging them to continue to offer formalized telework options as a perk to employees.
Way To Go and Denver South will help employers with one-on-one guidance as well as a telework implementation tool kit complete with policy templates, announcement materials and more—all at no charge.
Microsoft Teams Meetings Tutorial
Denver South Teleworking Primer
https://denver-south.com/a-teleworking-primer/
https://denver-south.com/flexible-work-and-teleworking-why-not/
Way To Go Telework Tomorrow Campaign
https://waytogo.org/teleworktomorrow
Tips for establishing telework and managing remote workers:
https://www.actweb.org/i4a/headlines/?controller=headlines&action=headlineDetails&id=258&categoryID=0&startVal=1&newWindow=true
Telework Frequently Asked Questions from the Office of Personnel Management
https://www.opm.gov/faqs/topic/telework/
Latest Work-At-Home/ Telecommuting Mobile Work/Remote Work Statistics
https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics
Keys for effective teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic:
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_739879/lang–en/index.htm
How to Switch Off from Work When Home Becomes Your Office
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/switch-off-work-from-home_uk_5e74bb4cc5b6eab7794647c5?guccounter=1
The benefits most frequently cited by the selected agencies were improved talent recruitment and retention, increased productivity, and improved work/life balance.
FEDERAL TELEWORK
Better Guidance Could Help Agencies Calculate Benefits and Costs
https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/678465.pdf
Additional Telework /Flex work articles and resources:
https://denver-south.com/flexible-work-and-teleworking-why-not/
The COVID- 19 pandemic forced many Denver South organizations and government agencies to implement telework and flexible work hours in a very quick and informal way. While some had established policies in place, a large majority of employers were creating telework plans simultaneously while the plans were being rolled out. Now, with telework and flexible work in the spotlight, some employers and employees are recognizing this is a perk that could potentially continue one-to-two days per week.
Flexible work arrangements, even in the absence of the pandemic, have been shown to improve recruitment and retention efforts, increase employee productivity, and provide a sense of healthier and happier employees. As our country responded to the shelter-in-place orders, it was impressive to witness how companies ramped up in record time to implement telework and flexible work options to stay productive and efficient. This paradigm shift could reveal a trend of how we work in the future. How prepared is your organization to navigate the new WFH norms? Denver South is here to help you determine what is important to include in your telework policy. Below are a few examples to help guide this process.
DENVER SOUTH’S TELEWORK POLICY
Click here to view complete policy
AECOM’s TELEWORK POLICY
AECOM, with 800 employees located in Denver South, allows teleworking and flexible work schedules for their organization. “AECOM allows their employees to work remotely for all or part of their regular work week and to adjust the time and/or days of their regular full-time work shift or work schedule, as long as the schedule meets the required core hour period and the needs of their specific job requirements.” Their policy also indicates work arrangements must be documented and approved by management and can be discontinued at AECOM’s sole discretion.
CITY OF LONE TREE’S POLICY
Click here to view complete policy
DENVER BASED CONSULTING FIRM’S FLEXIBLE WORK POLICY
This Denver based consulting firm shares their policy around Flexible Work. Ahead of the curve, this policy was in place, pre-shelter-in-place orders.
Click here to view complete policy
WORKABLE.COM
Workable.com shares a great template to serve as a starting point for setting up your employee’s policies.
Click here to view policy sample
CONTACT US
Sheryl Machado
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Office: 303.831.5375
Evangelos “Evan” Gatseos
TDM Marketing and Outreach Manager
Office: 720.693.9280