# **Expert Consensus**

# 

# **on** 

# 

#  **Recommended Practices**

**for**

# **Telework Program Success**

# By

###### Wendell Joice, PhD US General Services Administration

####### With Technical Consultation/Support from :

###### Nancy DeLay, PhD Eli Lilly and Company

> Christopher McFerren US General Services Administration

###### September 2001

### 

##  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Responding to the need for substantiated information on effective
practices for establishing successful telework programs, the Office of
Governmentwide Policy, US General Services Administration (GSA)
undertook the following study to assess the validity of recent
recommendations on telework program practices. The practice
recommendations targeted for assessment in this study were obtained from
the work of a blue ribbon panel established by the International
Telework Association (ITAC).

In 1999, ITAC established a blue ribbon panel (BRP) of private sector,
non-profit, and government experts to develop and publish a list of
practices recommended for developing, implementing, and managing
successful telework programs.

In 2000, ITAC published the BRP findings in a document entitled, "e-Work
Guide." That same year, the American Management Association (AMA)
working in conjunction with ITAC, surveyed managers on their experience
with telework programs, including their views on best practices. ITAC
used the AMA findings to buttress findings reported in the e-Work Guide.

The current study, conducted in the fall and winter of 2000, utilized 62
experts with specializations in telework. These experts were asked to
assess the value of 33 telework practices recommended by the BRP.

#### [Results]{.underline} 

As expected, the experts rated most of the recommended practices as
essential or valuable for the success of a telework program. Seven of
the recommended practices were rated \"essential\" to the success of a
telework program; these practices focused on clear and measurable
program goals, executive champions and telework program
manager/coordinators, telework training for managers, teleworker
performance appraisals, teleworker and/or organizational technology
needs and support. It was noteworthy that, contrary to expectation, most
of the experts did not consider telework cost/benefit or business case
analysis, early involvement of union representation, or formal
evaluation as essential practices. Finally, approximately two-thirds of
the experts provided additional comments which were grouped into three
theme areas: relativity of the value of recommended practices, comments
on specific practices, and comments on the quality of the survey.

##### Conclusion 

Findings in this study suggest that telework program planners,
implementers, and other experts should consider the BRP recommendations
when setting up programs. In most cases, the BRP recommended practices
were deemed valuable to the successful development of telework programs.
Planning considerations, however, should focus on tailoring the
selection and implementation of these recommended practices to the
circumstances of the target organization(s). Even though there is a set
of recommended practices that were deemed to provide value to a telework
program, only a few of these practices were deemed essential. This leads
us to the conclusion that the selection of practices should be guided by
both the BRP recommendations as well as the circumstances of the target
organization. This is a case where one size does not fit all. Finally,
while specific practices should be selected to yield optimal program
performance, there is little if any substantiated guidance on the
optimal selection and implementation of recommended practices. ITAC and
the rest of the telework community of expertise would do well to develop
and communicate such guidance.

# TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary
............................................................................
i

Introduction & Background
................................................................... 1

Methodology
...................................................................................\...
2

Results
.............................................................................................
3

Discussion & Conclusions
.......................................................................
6

Appendix A : ITAC Blue Ribbon Panel Organizations
.................................. A-1

#  Appendix B : Participating Experts ...........................................................B-1

#  Appendix C : Assessment Items ...........................................................\.... C-1

Appendix D : Assessment Comments
....................................................... D-1

Appendix E : Additional Comments
.......................................................... E-1

# **EXPERT CONSENSUS ON RECOMMENDED PRACTICES FOR TELEWORK PROGRAM SUCCESS** 

*There are numerous commonly held beliefs about effective practices for
operating telework programs. The telework community of expertise needs
to determine and communicate practices which have been shown to be
effective in actual telework operation as opposed to being simply part
of telework lore.*

Despite being underway for more than a decade, telework programs are
still new or nonexistent for most organizations. This means that the
establishment and promulgation of effective guidance on program
practices is a key factor for continued and successful growth of the
telework movement. Currently, however, there is an abundance of
untested, anecdotal, and largely opinion-based information on telework.
To remedy this situation, the International Telework Association and
Council (ITAC) established a blue ribbon panel (BRP) to develop and
provide guidance and recommendations on telework practices. Based on its
findings, the BRP produced a telework program guide which is currently
being distributed by ITAC.

Utilizing the BRP work, the Office of Governmentwide Policy, US General
Services Administration (GSA) undertook the current study to assess and
further substantiate selected BRP recommendations. GSA conducted this
study because it has a responsibility for providing telework guidance
and assistance to Federal agencies and, therefore, shares ITAC's goal of
establishing fully substantiated telework practices and guidance.

# [BACKGROUND]{.underline}

THE BRP

In 1999, ITAC established the aforementioned blue ribbon panel, which
consisted of private sector, non-profit, and government experts (see
Appendix A for a list of organizations participating on the BRP). The
BRP focused on practices used by employers to develop, implement, and
manage telework programs. Practice areas included

\- Organizational issues

\- Human resources management

\- Technology requirements

\- Economic considerations

\- Facility requirements

\- Project/program management

\- Legal/risk management issues

\- Program promotion/marketing

In 2000, ITAC published the BRP findings in a document entitled, "e-Work
Guide." (The e-Work Guide may be ordered from ITAC's website
www.telecommute.org).

THE AMA SURVEY

In August 2000, the American Management Association (AMA) working in
conjunction with ITAC, conducted and documented a study on best
practices in telework. The AMA interviewed 352 managers in organizations
that currently sponsor telework programs. Working from a script designed
by AMA and ITAC's BRP, AMA researchers asked respondents to rate the
success and importance of various aspects of their telework programs in
an effort to discover "best practices" in telework. Additionally, AMA
contacted managers in 350 member companies that do NOT currently sponsor
telework programs and asked them about their organizations'
non-sponsorship of telework. The AMA published its findings in a report
entitled "2000 American Management Association/ITAC Teleworker Survey
(A)." ITAC used the AMA findings to buttress findings reported in the
e-Work Guide.

THE GSA STUDY

The Telework Team of GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy is
responsible for guidance, technical support, and coordination of
telework across the US Federal government. Seeking to provide the most
useful, accurate and substantiated telework guidance available, GSA
officials utilized a select panel of telework experts to obtain
additional validation of the recommendations in the e-Work Guide. The
resulting assessment, conducted in the fall and winter of 2000, differed
from the aforementioned AMA assessment in that the AMA assessment
utilized managers in organizations with telework programs while the GSA
assessment utilized telework program professionals with specialized
expertise in the field. While, clearly, there may be some overlap in the
telework resumes and perspectives of these two groups, conducting the
two assessments provided a more solid and reliable foundation for the
proposed guidance.

[METHODOLOGY]{.underline}

Assisted by ITAC, GSA developed an invitation list of 79 experts in the
telework field. This list was based on reviews of experience and
expertise of more than 100 individuals who were (1) referred to the
research team by current practitioners and/or others associated with
ITAC or (2) selected based on reputation. The final list of invitees was
based on judgments of the quality of the individual's experience
(length, content, etc.) and demonstrated expertise. The resulting 79
experts were invited to participate in a web-based assessment (Appendix
C) to evaluate a set of 33 telework practices recommended by the BRP.
Respondents were given the following instruction and scale to assess the
selected practices:

Based on my knowledge/experience, I consider this practice to be

1 = Essential for the success of a telework program

2 = Valuable, but not essential, for the success of a telework program

3 = Of minimal value for the success/failure of a telework program

4 = Of no value, but not detrimental, for the success of a telework
program

5 = Detrimental to the success of a telework program

6 = I don't know about this practice

Additionally, respondents were given the opportunity to provide
open-ended comments.

PARTICIPANT CATEGORIES

Telework program evaluation reports, ITAC conference proceedings, and
general information exchanges have suggested that the perceived value
and utilization of certain telework practices may vary across public and
private sector programs. Therefore, we divided the participating experts
into the following occupational experience categories relative to
working with telework programs: government, private sector, and
consultant.

SCALE

The rating scale was, essentially, a standard Likert-type scale with
scale points representing a value continuum. To interpret item
responses, we looked for response consensus which we defined as a
response frequency of 50% or more for any given response alternative.
Where there was no response consensus on a given survey item, we
examined the entire pattern of responses to the item.

[RESULTS]{.underline}

Assessments were obtained from 62 of the 79 invitees, a 79% response
rate. The non-respondent group appeared to be somewhat random in
make-up, with no apparent pattern on factors such as organization,
sector, or occupation type. Regarding participant categories, there were
20 consultants, 28 government employees, and 14 private sector experts.

Because the assessment items were based on practices recommended (deemed
to have positive value) by the BRP, we expected the ratings to be
positively skewed.

CONSENSUS ON RATINGS OF "ESSENTIAL" OR "VALUABLE"

As expected for most (29 of 33) items, a majority of the experts
indicated a rating of \"1\" or \"2\" (essential or valuable for the
success of a telework program). The following four items were the
exception to this finding:

> 13\. Requiring training to be in classroom format.
>
> (29% rated this item essential/valuable. The modal response, 44%, was
> \"minimal value\".)
>
> 19\. Selecting teleworkers based solely on manager recommendations.
>
> (21% rated this item essential/valuable. There was a lot of concern
> about this practice in that 44% considered it detrimental.)
>
> 28\. Conducting an assessment to determine teleworker work-related
> furniture needs at the teleworker's home.
>
> (44% rated this item essential/valuable. In this case, 32% rated the
> item minimal value or lower and an additional 24% indicated \"don't
> know\".)
>
> 29\. Providing the teleworker with company-owned furniture for use at
> the teleworker's home.
>
> (27% rated this item essential/valuable; 52% rated it minimally
> valuable or worse and an additional 21% indicated "don't know\".)

Participant Category Group Differences

There were no noteworthy response pattern differences between
government, consultant, and private sector categories when considering
ratings of "1" or "2".

CONSENSUS ON RATINGS OF "ESSENTIAL"

Seven of the 33 practices had an overall consensus rating of
\"essential\" to the success of a telework program:

> 4\. Developing clear, measurable telework program goals.
>
> 5a. Utilizing an executive champion.
>
> 5b. Utilizing a telework program manager/coordinator.
>
> 12\. Requiring telework training for managers of teleworkers.
>
> 22\. Ensuring that teleworker performance appraisals follow the same
> procedures and guidelines as those applied to other employees.
>
> 23\. Conducting an assessment to determine teleworker and/or
> organizational technology needs.
>
> 31\. Establishing formal arrangements for technical support of
> teleworkers.

Participant Category Group Differences

Ratings on five practices reflected possible participant category
differences in consensus on essential. Because of sample size issues,
only items with very large group differences (25% or more) were noted:

> 3\. Conducting a telework cost/benefit or business case analysis to
> justify and guide the anticipated investment in a telework program.
>
> (Considered essential by 57% of the private sector vs only 4% of the
> government respondents.)
>
> 4\. Developing clear, measurable telework program goals.
>
> (Considered essential by 71% of the private sector vs only 43% of the
> government respondents.)
>
> 5c. Utilizing a cross-functional project team.
>
> (Considered essential by 50% of the private sector vs only 25% of the
> government respondents.)
>
> 7\. Integrating telework with core business objectives such as
> reducing real estate or other operating costs and/or attracting and
> retaining quality workers.
>
> (Considered essential by 57% of the private sector vs only 29% of the
> government respondents.)
>
> 21\. Establishing clear measurable goals and objectives for the
> telework performance of individual teleworkers.
>
> (Considered essential by 71% of the private sector vs only 36% of the
> government respondents.)

OTHER NOTEWORTHY FINDINGS

Ratings on the following practices were noteworthy in that, contrary to
expectation, the majority did not consider the practices essential:

> 3\. Conducting a telework cost/benefit or business case analysis to
> justify and guide the anticipated investment in a telework program.
>
> 6\. Having union representation involved early in the
> conceptualizing/design process.
>
> 14\. Conducting a formal evaluation of the telework program.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Approximately two-thirds of the experts provided additional comments
(Appendix D) with nearly all comments coming from consultants (54%
\[22\] of the comments) and government employees (39% \[16\] of the
comments). We judged that the comments could be grouped into three theme
areas: Relativity of the Value of Recommended Practices (10 comments),
Comments on Specific Practices (23 comments), and Comments on the
Assessment Process (8 comments).

Relativity of the Value of Recommended Practices

These comments contained a common theme that the value of any particular
telework practice and whether or not it should be recommended depends on
the circumstances of the implementing organization. These comments,
explicitly or implicitly, questioned the appropriateness of establishing
generic recommendations and suggested that, instead, recommended
practices should be tailored to the organization's circumstances.

Comments on Specific Practices

For the most part, comments on specific practices were elaborations of
experts' reactions to issues covered by the items in this survey. These
comments covered a wide range of issues and there was no particular
primary pattern or issue of coverage.

Comments on the Assessment Process

Comments on the assessment process were constructive criticisms focusing
on potential weaknesses in the process. Most of the comments focused on
item content and structure problems.

# [DISCUSSION]{.underline}

LIMITATIONS

Following are limitations on the interpretation and generalization of
the findings in this study:

\- The practices examined in this study represent only a portion of the
totality of possible practices associated with successful telework
programs and should not be construed as representing the universe of
such practices.

\- The participants in this study were selected experts in the field of
telework. The participant pool was small and non-random; there is no
intention here of describing the participant pool as \"representative\"
of the population of telework experts (however defined) or empirically
based. Instead, the participant pool consists of individuals identified
by ITAC and by GSA to provide expert review. This process, however, does
not necessarily result in a significant limitation on our findings since
given the uncertain basis for the designation of telework \"expert\",
one would want carefully chosen experts as opposed to a random sample of
experts.

CONCLUSIONS

As mentioned above, the purpose of this study was to assess consensus
among a select group of telework program experts regarding the accuracy
of recommendations made by ITAC's blue ribbon panel on practices for
successful telework programs. To that end, the data show that the
majority of the experts agreed with the BRP's recommendations in terms
of practices perceived as valuable to the success of telework programs.
There were only a few recommended practices to which there was a
consensus disagreement in this particular regard. These exceptions
focused on practices recommending employer provided furniture for
teleworkers, classroom formatted training, and selection based solely on
managerial recommendation. There was a particularly strong consensus
against the value of the latter. Thus, except for these few exceptions,
these findings suggest that the BRP recommendations, used appropriately
(see below), can be very helpful for developing telework programs.

While supporting the accuracy of the BRP's recommendations, however, the
study experts judged that only 7 of the 29 "valuable" practices were
"essential" to the success of a telework program. This finding suggests
that telework programs can be successful without utilizing many of the
practices recommended by the BRP. The seven essential practices focused
on issues such as top-level support and coordination, training, program
goals, performance appraisal fairness, and technological support. To the
extent possible, telework program planners should implement the
practices deemed essential and select the particular array of other
"valuable" practices that will lead to optimal performance for their
specific organizational circumstances. Optimizing practices may mean
implementing similar, but not necessarily the same, practices sets for
different units within the same organization.

Following is additional support for the latter conclusion:

> 1\. In open-ended comments, 10 of the 62 experts supported the
> proposition that the value of a given telework practice depends upon
> the circumstances of the target organization.
>
> 2\. On at least four of the items, there was evidence of participant
> category group differences regarding practices deemed essential.

Despite the fact that ITAC has established a list of recommended
practices, the process of optimizing selection from this list may be
difficult. There is no substantiated guidance available in this regard.
Telework experts should establish guidance for program planners,
implementers, and/or managers on how to determine, select, and implement
an optimal set of practices for their organizations and how to determine
the point at which a recommended practice adds sufficient value to be
included in the program. A more ambitious contribution for telework
experts would be to establish a taxonomy of practice recommendations
based on organization circumstances and characteristics.

Essential Practices

As mentioned above, relatively few (seven) of the recommended practices
received a consensus rating of "essential." There were no surprises
among the seven since each has been the frequent focus of attention in
the telework community. For example, top level support often has been
touted as a key solution to the significant difficulties of overcoming
management resistance to telework; performance appraisal issues have
long been a sensitive topic for potential teleworkers; and, of course,
the role of technology (remote access, for example) has become
increasingly important, especially since the pace of technological
progress has increased performance and productivity expectations.

Participant Category Assessment Differences

Making an empirical determination as to whether there are significant
assessment pattern differences (implying different perspectives) between
salaried government, salaried private sector, and consultant experts was
not an objective of this study. Moreover, had it been an objective,
sample size and selection issues would have made such a determination
difficult. Our primary reason for utilizing participant categories was
to guide our examination.

To highlight potential evidence for such differences, however, we
identified five practices with very large response differences. For each
of these differences, the private sector experts rated the practices
higher than did the government experts. For simplicity, because of their
typically more diverse organizational experience, we decided to exclude
consultants from this particular observation.

Other Noteworthy Findings

It is interesting to note that widely touted practices such as cost
benefit/business case analysis and formal program evaluation, while seen
as valuable, were not seen as essential by the majority of experts. Even
the practice of requiring training for teleworkers and/or their managers
was deemed essential by only half of the experts. It is hard to judge
the reasoning for this except that it may be yet another reflection of
the aforementioned need to tailor practices to situations. It also may
reflect reality versus theory, which is why we conducted this study. For
example, like productivity analysis, cost benefit analysis often depends
on quantifying human resources and other factors that are hard, if not
impossible, to quantify.

Finally, a few recommended practices were deemed only minimally
valuable. These included items focusing on providing furniture for
teleworkers and requiring telework training to be in a classroom format.
With respect to providing training via a classroom format, the reader
should note that this is a judgment of the format (classroom) of
training, not a judgment of the value of providing training. Thus, when
one considers responses to the three items focused on training, the
consensus in this study suggests that it is not important that the
training be provided in a classroom but that training, per se, is
valuable to the success of a telework program.

Only one of the recommended practices had a modal rating of detrimental.
This practice focused on selecting teleworkers based solely on manager
recommendations. While this is a commonly employed practice, it is clear
that our experts had significant concerns about it, some of which may be
related to the more general problem of management resistance to
telework. It is noteworthy that at least three Federal agencies use
independent panels in lieu of an employee's manager to make the final
decision on selection to the telework program.

AMA Findings

The reliability and validity of some of the findings in this study are
supported by the facts that (1) selected findings from the previously
mentioned AMA findings mirror those in this study and (2) none of the
AMA findings contradicted findings in this study. Following is a sample
of similar findings from the AMA study:

\- Among best practices, "analysis and review of the organization's
technology base and its compatibility with worker requirements" had the
highest percentage of respondents (68%) rating it "critical" to the
program's success. Close behind was "Ensuring that teleworker
performance appraisals are equally applied to all teleworkers," with 67%
giving this a "critical" rating.

\- The LOWEST percentage of "critical" ratings went to "performing a
cost-benefit or business case analysis of the telework program," with
only 27% giving this item a "critical" rating.

\- More than half (52%) of surveyed managers said that having an
"executive champion," a senior manager who provides support, guidance,
and help to the program, is a "critical" factor in the program's
success.

Summary Conclusion

Findings in this study suggest that telework program planners,
implementers, and other experts should consider the BRP recommendations
when setting up programs. In most cases, the BRP recommended practices
were deemed valuable to the success of a telework program. Planning
considerations, however, should focus on tailoring the selection and
implementation of these recommended practices to the circumstances of
the target organization(s). Even though there is a set of recommended
practices deemed to provide value to a telework program, only a few of
these practices were deemed essential. This leads us to the conclusion
that the selection of practices should be guided by both the BRP
recommendations as well as the circumstances of the target organization.
This is a case where one size does not fit all. Finally, while specific
practices should be selected to yield optimal program performance, there
is little if any substantiated guidance on the optimal selection and
implementation of recommended practices. ITAC and the rest of the
telework community of expertise would do well to develop and communicate
such guidance.

APPENDIX A

ITAC BLUE RIBBON PANEL ORGANIZATIONS

Following is a sample of the organizations participating on the BRP:

Dun & Bradstreet

Netifice Corporation

Eli Lilly

Lockheed Martin Astronautics

Old Dominion University

Telework Analytics

American Management Association

Bell South

TManage

US General Services Administration

Symantec Corporation

U.S. West

Lucent

Hale & Hackstaff, LLP

Herman Miller

CISCO Systems

AT&T

AgilQuest

International Facility Management Association

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Netifice

# APPENDIX B

# PARTICIPATING EXPERTS

Following is a list of experts who participated in this study and who
gave permission for their names/organizations to be listed.

Darryl Anderson, Telework Coordinator, Minnesota Department of
Transportation, helping develop telework as a non-travel mode.

Mary J. Bray, Director, Hagerstown Telework Center, working in telework
for 6 years; Member of the International Telework Association and
Council Public Policy Committee, MidAtlantic Telework Association
officer for 4 years, member of Commuter Connections Telecommuting Ad Hoc
Group, and member of the Work/Family Committee of the
Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

Eddie Caine, Tmanage, Inc., has been a telecommuter since 1984 and has
promoted, researched, taught, advised and consulted on the subject since
1990.

Carolyn Davis Cockey, Executive Editor, Association of Women's Health,
Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses Washington, D.C., full-time telecommuter
(Fort Wayne, Indiana to Washington DC) remotely directs the operations
of two of this international organization's largest publications.

John Corbett, Telework Programs Administrator, The Arizona Department of
Administration, has 12 years' experience in designing, implementing,
researching and expanding telework programs; writing and producing
telework program implementation materials; conducting regional telework
initiatives; consulting with major employers, and training telework
coordinators:

www.TeleworkArizona.com

Elizabeth Daly, former Telework Program Coordinator, US Department of
Agriculture.

Michael Dziak, President of InteleWorks, Inc., consultant, speaker,
trainer and author who since 1991 has been helping clients maximize
their business potential through telework.

David Fleming, Fleming LTD: Telework, Telecommute consulting since 1985,
innovating telework programs in government, including telecenters:
www.mother.com/dfleming/

Bob Fortier, President of InnoVisions Canada (telework & flexwork
consultants); President of the Canadian Telework Association, (both
located at www.ivc.ca); and member, ITAC Board of Directors, has more
than 10 years experience in telework.

John F. Frank, Managing Principal, NISYS, Inc.(develops enterprise
level, internet enabled software applications), with more than a decade
of telework experience, was one of the primary architects and project
manager of IBM's implementation of telework ("mobile office"), a 9-state
initiative which became the standard for a national implementation for
more than 20,000 employees, at a cost savings of over \$60 million in
the first 3 years; as a consultant/managing partner, Mr. Frank advised
other major corporations in the implementation of telework.

Cynthia C. Froggatt, Principal of Froggatt Consulting (New York, NY) and
author of "Work Naked: Eight Essential Principles for Peak Performance
in the Virtual Workplace" (Wiley, 2001).

John Girard, Vice President & Research Director, Gartner, Inc., (world's
largest independent analyst firm, providing technology guidance to more
than 10,000 organizations) conducts research and advises clients on
management techniques and technology planning & choices for
telecommuters and road warriors.

Nicole Belson Goluboff, Esq., author of "Telecommuting for Lawyers"
(American Bar Association 1998) and of a forthcoming book on the legal
implications of telework to be published by the American Law Institute.

Gil Gordon, Gil Gordon Associates, telecommuting/telework consulting and
publishing for end-user employers and vendors since 1982, and widely
considered one of the world's top telework experts.

Gail Guest, Telework Program Coordinator, US Department of Labor, a
model employer which has made telework programs available to its
employees since 1993 and encourages managers to view telework as a means
of recruiting and retaining the best workers.

Noel Hodson, founded SW2000 Teleworking Studies (1988), which co-led the
EC projects Experts Unlimited and The European Charter for Telework,
advising major employers on, and devising management tools for, business
in the Information Society; also wrote the seminal Economics of Telework
in 1992 and the book Teleworking Explained in 1993.
http://www.noelhodson.com

Deborah Holden, Employee Development Specialist and Federal Aviation
Administration Telecommuting Manager at Washington Headquarters since
1997.

G. Alan Hunter, Assistant Executive Officer, California Franchise Tax
Board, has been the senior executive "Champion" of telework at the
Franchise Tax Board for more than a decade.

Ronald P. Hutchinson, TELCORDIA TECHNOLOGIES, a telecommunications
solutions company with over 1400 of its 7000 employees engaged in
regular telecommuting.

Joel Kugelmass, Administrative Analyst, UC Davis Cancer Center, and
author of "Telecommuting: A manager's guide to flexible work
arrangements," Jossey-Bass, 1995 and has 8 years' experience writing,
consulting, and advising on telecommuting within the public sector
environment.

June Langhoff, author (The Telecommuter's Advisor) and journalist,
writes about the new workplace for a number of national magazines and is
editor of Telecommute magazine, an e-zine for today's flexible
workplace.

Barbara Lietz, M.A., Operations Manager: Allina Metro Transcription
Services, U/M, UH, ANW Hospitals, eight years managing on-site (60) and
telework (30) transcriptionists; consultant providing model policy and
procedures for other hospital departments moving toward telecommuting.

Glenn Lovelace, Founder and CEO, Tmanage, Inc., a company focused solely
on facilitating and implementing e-workforce solutions; more than 20
years of communications industry expertise at Southwestern Bell, AT&T,
Fujitsu and Nortel, where he was Director of Telecommuting, developing
one of the nation's top telework programs.

Billy Michael, Senior Telework Specialist, Governmentwide Telework Team,
Office of Governmentwide Policy, US General Services Administration,
consults on telework for Federal Government agencies, assesses Federal
telework policies and pilot programs, and generally works to advance
teleworking across the Federal sector.

Janice Miholics, Vice President, Manager, Global Telework Strategies,
Merrill Lynch; the firm-wide program (3500 telecommuters in disciplines
ranging from technology to finance to public relations) developed in
1996, is structured around corporate principles of client Focus,
integrity, respect for the individual, teamwork and responsible
citizenship.

Bruce Murray, five years as Departmental Work/Life Programs
Administrator, US Department of Energy (DOE); the Work/Life Programs
includes DOE's telework program, known as DOE-Flex.

Jack Nilles, of JALA International, Inc., commonly considered the
"father of telecommuting," coined the terms "telecommute" and "telework"
in 1973; he has been involved in the design, implementation and
evaluation of telework programs worldwide ever since.

Joanne Pratt, President of Joanne H. Pratt Associates, Dallas, Texas, is
a futurist who helps companies implement telework for their employees,
does research on new ways to work that are enabled by technology and
helps vendors understand the home office. Www.joannepratt.com

Joseph Roitz, AT&T Telework Director, an award-winning program in which
more than half of its managers telework.

Christine Ross, Manager, Workplace Solutions, manages the team
responsible for developing strategy for the work environment at Cisco,
of which mobilework/telework is a key component.

Elham Shirazi, Consultant with expertise in program design,
implementation and evaluation of employer programs and the development
of regional telework resources.

Tony Smith, TManage Director of Professional Services providing
end-to-end telework solutions to fortune 1000 companies, 10 years
experience implementing and managing large corporate telework programs.

Susan Tierney, Marketing Coordinator, Regional Public Transportation
Authority which supports and promotes telework initiatives as a way to
enhance ways of doing business, improve air quality, and reduce traffic
congestion in the metro

Phoenix area and offers special outreach programs that include training,
management briefings, and informational materials.

Oria H. Todd, TeleWork Program Coordinator for the Mid‑Atlantic Region
of the US General Services Administration since inception of the pilot
program in the late 1980s.

Pam Tucker, TeleCommuting, Inc., a full service provider facilitating
the implementation of telework programs.

Fran Corcoran White, U.S. Geological Survey, has bureau-level

responsibility for/expertise in policy development and implementation to
include development of training for managers, supervisors and employees.

Kathryn Wolf, Department Worklife Program Manager, U.S. Department of
Justice, is the agency official (and six-year telecommuter) who manages
the Department of Justice Telecommuting Program which has been in effect
for since 1991: www.usdoj.gov/jmd/ps/worklife.html

APPENDIX C

# ASSESSMENT ITEMS

Based on my knowledge/experience, I consider this practice to be

1 = Essential for the success of a telework program

2 = Valuable, but not essential, for the success of a telework program

3 = Of minimal value for the success/failure of a telework program

4 = Of no value, but not detrimental, for the success of a telework
program

5 = Detrimental to the success of a telework program

6 = I don't know about this practice

ITEMS

1\. Requiring adherence to written operating policies and procedures.

2\. Requiring a written work agreement between the teleworker and the
teleworker's manager or other representative of management.

3\. Conducting a telework cost/benefit or business case analysis to
justify and guide the anticipated investment in a telework program.

4\. Developing clear, measurable telework program goals.

5\. Identifying or developing senior-level executive support as follows
(rate each one separately):

Executive Champion: senior-level individual to provide general support
and guidance; assistance in overcoming roadblocks within the
organization; and assurance that adequate funding is secured for the
program once the plan is accepted.

Telework Program Manager/Coordinator: to lead the planning &
implementation of the program, so that objectives are achieved.

Cross Functional Project Team: recruited from the various stakeholders
within the organization; responsible for planning, implementation,
management, and support of the telework program.

6\. Having union representation involved early in the
conceptualizing/design process.

7\. Integrating telework with core business objectives such as reducing
real estate or other operating costs and/or attracting and retaining
quality workers.

8\. Starting with a small pilot program.

9\. Monitoring organizational productivity changes associated with
telework.

10\. Monitoring individual productivity changes associated with
telework.

11\. Requiring telework training for teleworkers.

12\. Requiring telework training for managers of teleworkers.

13\. Requiring training to be in classroom format.

14\. Conducting a formal evaluation of the telework program.

15\. Providing a comprehensive telework orientation to the entire
organization.

16\. Implementing a change management process.

17\. Providing personal management tips (avoiding overwork/isolation,
maintaining healthy relationships with co-workers; maintaining
appropriate boundaries between work and personal life; etc.) to new
teleworkers.

18\. Selecting teleworkers based on minimum performance requirements.

19\. Selecting teleworkers based solely on manager recommendations.

Appendix C Continued

20\. Providing refresher training on an on-going basis.

21\. Establishing clear measurable goals and objectives for the telework
performance of individual teleworkers.

22\. Ensuring that teleworker performance appraisals follow the same
procedures and guidelines as those applied to other employees.

23\. Conducting an assessment to determine teleworker and/or
organizational technology needs.

24\. Implementing policies ensuring employer responsibility for workers=
health and safety wherever they may be working.

25\. Providing equivalent levels of insurance for main worksite and
alternate (remote) worksite equipment owned by the organization.

26\. Establishing equivalent health, safety, and comfort standards for
the main and alternate (remote) worksites.

27\. Assigning main worksite workstations to teleworkers based on an
assessment of their work-related needs. (For example, assigning
hotelling, shared, permanent, or no main worksite workstations to
teleworkers.)

28\. Conducting an assessment to determine teleworker work-related
furniture needs at the teleworker's home.

29\. Providing the teleworker with company-owned furniture for use at
the teleworker's home.

30\. Conducting a security risk assessment for the telework program.

31\. Establishing formal arrangements for technical support of
teleworkers.

# APPENDIX D

# ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Following are the unabridged additional comments provided by the
experts. For convenience, we have categorized the comments according to
the following apparent themes: Relativity of Recommended Practices,
Comments on Specific Practices, Comments on the Assessment Process.
Experts are identified by their participant category (defined in
Methodology).

RELATIVITY OF RECOMMENDED PRACTICES

Consultant: I have a problem with the first couple of questions‑I
didn\'t go beyond them. For example, requiring adherence to written
policies and procedures is very important for some

programs PROVIDED that the policies and procedures were written with
telework in mind. If they were not, then adherence to pre‑telework
policies and procedures can be counterproductive.

Similarly, a written work agreement is very useful at the outset of a
telecommuting project as a means for focusing everyone\'s attention on
the work products rather than the processes. After

some period, when the participants trust each other again, the written
agreement is much less useful. In short, my answers would depend on
certain assumptions about the phase of development of the telework
program‑and would likely vary as a specific program progresses.
Therefore, almost any answer I give could be misinterpreted if applied
to a program in a different phase. Hence, I respectfully decline to
answer.

Government: Well constructed survey and very comprehensive. Success of
course can be defined in many ways, depending on the program\'s measures
of effectiveness (if they are even spelled

out); therefore it is difficult to say that a particular practice is
\"essential for success; many practices though are valuable and help to
contribute to overall success, though may not be

absolutely necessary; also the combination of certain practices may
contribute to success in some cases but not in others; many times a
successful arrangement can work in a variety of ways

depending on the relationship between a particular manager and
employee\.... the performance expectations for teleworkers should be the
same as for employees in the main office.

Consultant: Good questions ‑‑ however, customer needs vary widely,
aspects essential to one program are sometimes unnecessary to another. I
think the elements that may need a little more time include change
management, marketing and promotion of telework.

Government: While telework may vary from one company to the next based
upon corporate culture, business needs and specific goals, the primary
\"rules apply to all employers & employees regarding telecommuting: The
most successful programs are structured (formal) programs and follow all
of the accepted terms/conditions of telework as an alternate work site
option for qualifying employees.

Consultant: Great survey. Answered \"don\'t know" when really I was
thinking \"It depends on the situation.\"

Consultant: The difficulty with the survey, is so many of my answers are
\"it depends on the circumstances." Yes, you should have written policy
and procedures, but flexible enough so that

exceptions can easily be accommodated. I don\'t see the set of
aggregated recommendations you\'ll get being as generally applicable as
the tablets of Moses!

Unknown: some items mentioned here may be more or less appropriate
depending on the size and nature of the organization implementing
telework.

Government: On questions where there were the response depended on
circumstances, I put in \"don\'t know\".

Government: I wasn\'t sure how to answer Question #29. If providing
company owned equipment is a policy and budgets don\'t allow it, the
practice could be detrimental to the success of the program.

Consultant: #22. You are presuming, of course, that the existing
performance appraisals, procedures and guidelines are effective. We\'ve
had experiences in which the current performance

measurement techniques are severely deficient, requiring us to measure
teleworker performance differently than non‑teleworkers.

COMMENTS ON SPECIFIC PRACTICES

Consultant: An addendum to a renters/homeowners\' policy is a good
inexpensive ID. Insuring that the organization is abreast of their
teleworker metrics to claim present and future tax credits

and grants, as well as significant public relations improvements is also
\"A good idea\".

Consultant: Only formal programs can properly gauge the costs and
benefits. Outsourcing is more beneficial in telework, than in the IT
environment, due to the specialized nature.

Private Sector: Collaboration and consistency are critical to teleworker
programs. By ensuring parity within organizations, and establishing
clear guidelines that are consistent with organizational practices, the
success of the teleworker, their manager and the program is much more
likely. Involving partners inside the organization and outside of it
(vendors or service

providers for example) ensures that all points of view are
considered\... everyone has a voice in the program\'s evolution and
therefore, everyone has a stake in its success.

Consultant: My answer to some questions of \"minimal value" is primarily
related to avoiding redundant or conflicting guidelines and policies for
teleworkers vs non‑teleworkers. In other words, companies should measure
employee performance based upon the job description, and NOT the
location from which they conduct the job. Likewise, do NOT draw
attention to teleworkers by setting up separate or personified rules
related to health, safety, security, and technical support. Teleworkers
should generally be expected to live under the same rules at home or the
office.

Government: In our program, each of our operating programs manages their
own teleworkers under a bureau‑wide policy. Up front training (and mind
set changing) of senior managers and

supervisors was invaluable. We then held several training sessions for
employees who were interested in participating and told them what their
responsibilities were in terms of

accountability for time and productivity. On several of the questions, I
answered minimal of no value because the question focused on
productivity only. It has been my experience that

although we watch to ensure no loss to individual productivity occurs as
a result of telework, productivity is only one part of the success
equation. Normally, the employees who want to

telework will increase their personal productivity, but will also be
less stressed, more accurate in their technical work due to fewer
interruptions during tedious assignments or parts of

assignments, feel less overwhelmed by their workload, etc. This is as
important to our employees as productivity. We also have an ad hoc
program whereby employees may work from home for a couple of days this
week and maybe not again for another 3 months in order to handle
deadline pressure, cyclic workloads, etc. This is our most popular use
and is very successful. In fact, I wrote our policy for telework and for
alternative work schedules under just such and arrangement.

Consultant: 3. Cost benefits analysis is proven for telework -- no need
to do it again. 8. Small pilot programs have been done by hundreds of
employers ‑ no need to reinvent the wheel. FAMILIES

‑ you should also train/consult the invaded homes and occupiers ‑ very
important; maybe essential.

Consultant: I checked valuable, but not essential, because a \"leader as
role model is actually much more valuable than an executive champion.
Also, a leader who is willing to commit resources (\$\$\$ and people)
during the development phases of the telework initiative is more
essential than a champion who is willing to talk about their support.\"

Government: I often find that in addition to supervisors, I also have to
counsel co‑workers regarding telework. The tendency is to think of the
teleworker as \"off work their telework day. I often have to remind them
that work assignments and calls should be forwarded to teleworkers just
as if they were sitting in the office.\"

Private Sector: My experience has led me to believe that the best
telecommute policy is no formal, detailed policy at all. There is
generally no policy, for example, that sets up strict rules

governing \"working from a hotel room while on a business trip ‑ the
employee simply does what needs to be done in between meetings or
perhaps in the evening. Working from home or other

remote location differs only slightly, why should there be a formal
policy for one and not the other? The overriding organizational goal is
to get the work done. Where such a thing

happens is irrelevant. I believe if treated as adults, employees will
act as adults and make appropriate decisions regarding telecommuting.
Formal programs calling for excessive monitoring, assessing and
evaluation drive up costs and become targets at budget‑cutting time. The
real test is: did the work get done. Every boss knows ‑ or should know ‑
the answer. Flexibility is a key ‑ but formal telecommute programs are
often inflexible. If it works for someone to telecommute every Tuesday,
great. In my case, every Tuesday is different so a regular telecommute
day is impossible. However, checking e‑mail and voice mail messages

from home in the morning ‑‑ maybe drafting a letter or some other
document ‑‑ then going off to a 10 a.m. meeting often makes a great deal
of sense, especially if the meeting is closer to home

than to the main work place. The flexibility to occasionally pick up my
son after school and finish my work day at home is an option I\'d hate
to give up. It\'s also a benefit to my company because I often work
additional hours at home and I believe the quality of the Government:
Telecommuting often increases productivity, but I would not say that if
a person performs at the same level that telecommuting is not working.

Government: 1. Telework was approved for those who achieved level 5 of a
five tier performance evaluation method and performed information
technology duties. 2. The average telework \"tour was Tuesday/Thursday
in non‑government provided space environment; Monday, Wednesday, Friday
in the office. 3. Employees were told what physical conditions and
safety requirements were required, but no inspection was performed. 4.
If employees are regularly out of sight because they are in client
space, then its a natural they telework. 5. Managers and supervisors may
telework one day a month to accomplish performance appraisals,
statements of work or other work that requires uninterrupted time. 6.
Telework is a quality of life issue that provides a competitive edge to
recruitment and retention of employees.\"

Consultant: Pilots can be detrimental to a program based on what the
dedition of a pilot is considered to be. In many cases, companies build
a pilot that in no way emulates what they plan to rollout to the general
populace. A \"phased implementation is recommended. Use the same
process, technology, etc\... just on a smaller scale to start with.
Pilots tend to cause most programs to fail because they are not
comparing apples to apples.

Consultant: Pilot program (Q8) ‑ Problem is calling it a pilot or
limiting number of first participants.

Government: 29. Can the Fed Gov provide furniture for use in a
teleworker\'s home? Requirements/goals etc must be the same for \"office
workers" and \"teleworkers.\" The client should not know if he/she is
receiving services/etc from an office or a home!

Consultant: It\'s important to distinguish between those teleworkers who
will be doing unique jobs in their telework role, such as a marketing or
public relations executive, from other types of teleworkers whose roles
that may be entirely designated as telework, such as clerical,
data‑entry, customer service, etc. In our organization, telework is
managed on a job‑by‑job basis, although the HR aspects of supporting and
appraising such personnel are absolutely the same. It\'s important that
in HR functions, we don\'t create a separate class of workers, such as
teleworkers v. onsite workers.

Government: It is important to recognize that the true benefits of
Teleworking will not be evident immediately. There will also be an
investment up front that will initially show up as a budget

increase. This increase however, will more than be recovered in the long
run.

Government: To clarify responses to items no. 21 & 26: #21. We need to
emphasize the point that telecommuting is simply performing one\'s work
from a different location. Establishing unique goals and objectives for
teleworkers seems to do the opposite. #26. OSHA regulations governing
workplace health and safety standards will require more of an employer
(due to the range of issues and situations to be addressed) than would
be necessary or acceptable in a residence. Many teleworkers, including
myself, work from a home office. It is acceptable from a general safety
and health standpoint but might not technically comply with OSHA
standards. If OSHA standards are imposed, the expense of retrofitting
homes could prove excessive and result in many teleworkers losing this
valuable work option. I believe this would detrimentally impact a
majority of teleworkers and add little, if any, value in the long run.

Government: My experience as a part‑time teleworker is as a Realtor in
which each agent provided his/her own resources to work at home at the
agent\'s expense. Equipment and office space at the main office was
shared.

Consultant: I found nothing of \"No Value\" or less. The survey
essentially outlines all the steps a prudent telework program
manager/consultant should incorporate to build enduring and

quality telework programs. The most critical step is determining what
problem is trying to be solved or need satisfied by a telework program.
From there we can move onto creating the

program and designing it for success.

Consultant: Refresher training (Q20) ‑ Not training, but focus groups &
brown bag lunches to learn from one another.

Consultant: Assessment of teleworker furniture needs (Q28) should be a
self‑assessment; ditto for set‑up and safety of home office. But it is
helpful to have guidance on ergonomics, etc.

## Consultant: One area that is not covered in the survey (that I would like to hear from others about) is the importance of internal and external messages being consistent. Nothing creates

more cynicism within a company than when telework is featured
prominently in their external advertising campaigns while internally
telework is not fully endorsed. I\'m not interested in

naming names\... but this is a real problem.

Government: Clear and measurable performance objectives (#21) ‑ goals &
objectives for teleworkers need to be defined for all employees ‑
responded \"don\'t know\" because I wasn\'t sure what was meant by
\"measurable\"; much of the work done today can\'t be measured on a
daily basis; work products however can be evaluated in terms of
quantity, quality and timeliness.

COMMENTS ON THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Consultant: Issues associated with technology seemed unstated. Lack of
reference to other forms of alternative work structure such as flextime,
compressed time, etc. narrow the focus unreasonably. Dual income,
childcare and eldercare issues deserve some consideration.

Government: This is a rather poor survey. All of these issues have been
dealt with by telework managers for more than a decade.

Government: If I didn\'t know how an element worked without the
practice, I said don\'t know even though I may have knowledge that the
program worked well with the practice.

Government: It would be more helpful if there was an answer to the above
questions that was more neutral, than valuable or minimal value; like
\"somewhat helpful.\"

Consultant: Item on assignment of main worksite workstations (Q27) is
unclear.

Consultant: Some of the questions were not posed very well, so the
answers have caveats. Should provide a comment section below each
question if you truly want feedback.

Consultant: I feel that the questions get me to confirm what anyone
would believe to be true about a managed program. The questions don\'t
deal with differences between good and bad program execution, which
would be more interesting information.

Consultant: Problem with the multiple-choice is these should be essay
questions. For example, #1 regarding written procedures. With the
Telework Facilities Exchange, the written procedures

relating to guest and host responsibilities had to be rigidly adhered
to. But the telecommuter‑manager procedures could be much more loosely
written and enforced. In these cases, the degree of specificity and
enforcement were related to the personalities of the individuals. With
the City of LA pilot program, I think the telecommuter‑manager
procedures had to be given an APPEARANCE of rigor to satisfy assistant
general manager level, but in reality could be more loosely enforced at
the telecommuter‑manager level. Anyway, almost every question can
benefit from that sort of qualitative explanation. But then who has time
to read them, or write them.

# APPENDIX E

# ASSESSMENT RESPONSES BY PARTICIPANT CATEGORY

(C=consultant; G=Government; P=Private Sector)

Response Scale: Based on my knowledge/experience, I consider this
practice to be

1 = Essential for the success of a telework program

2 = Valuable, but not essential, for the success of a telework program

3 = Of minimal value for the success/failure of a telework program

4 = Of no value, but not detrimental, for the success of a telework
program

5 = Detrimental to the success of a telework program

6 = I don't know about this practice

1\. Requiring adherence to written operating policies and procedures.

![](media/image1.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

2\. Requiring a written work agreement between the teleworker and the
teleworker's manager or other representative of management.

![](media/image2.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

3\. Conducting a telework cost/benefit or business case analysis to
justify and guide the anticipated investment in a telework program.

![](media/image3.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

4\. Developing clear, measurable telework program goals.

![](media/image4.wmf){width="6.058333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

5a. Executive Champion: senior-level individual to provide general
support and guidance; assistance in overcoming roadblocks within the
organization; and assurance that adequate funding is secured for the
program once the plan is accepted.

![](media/image5.wmf){width="5.308333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

5b. Telework Program Manager/Coordinator: to lead the planning &
implementation of the program, so that objectives are achieved.

![](media/image6.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

5c. Cross Functional Project Team: recruited from the various
stakeholders within the organization; responsible for planning,
implementation, management, and support of the telework program.

![](media/image7.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

6\. Having union representation involved early in the
conceptualizing/design process.

![](media/image8.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

7\. Integrating telework with core business objectives such as reducing
real estate or other operating costs and/or attracting and retaining
quality workers.

![](media/image9.wmf){width="6.058333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

8\. Starting with a small pilot program.

![](media/image10.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

9\. Monitoring organizational productivity changes associated with
telework.

![](media/image11.wmf){width="6.058333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

10\. Monitoring individual productivity changes associated with
telework.

![](media/image12.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

11\. Requiring telework training for teleworkers.

![](media/image13.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

12\. Requiring telework training for managers of teleworkers.

![](media/image14.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

13\. Requiring training to be in classroom format.

![](media/image15.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

14\. Conducting a formal evaluation of the telework program.

![](media/image16.wmf){width="6.058333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

15\. Providing a comprehensive telework orientation to the entire
organization.![](media/image17.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

16\. Implementing a change management process.

![](media/image18.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

17\. Providing personal management tips (avoiding overwork/isolation,
maintaining healthy relationships with co-workers; maintaining
appropriate boundaries between work and personal life; etc.) to new
teleworkers.

![](media/image19.wmf){width="6.058333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

18\. Selecting teleworkers based on minimum performance requirements.

![](media/image20.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

19\. Selecting teleworkers based solely on manager recommendations.

![](media/image21.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

20\. Providing refresher training on an on-going basis.

![](media/image22.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

21\. Establishing clear measurable goals and objectives for the telework
performance of individual teleworkers.

![](media/image23.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

22\. Ensuring that teleworker performance appraisals follow the same
procedures and guidelines as those applied to other employees.

![](media/image24.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

23\. Conducting an assessment to determine teleworker and/or
organizational technology needs.

![](media/image25.wmf){width="6.058333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

24\. Implementing policies ensuring employer responsibility for workers=
health and safety wherever they may be working.

![](media/image26.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

25\. Providing equivalent levels of insurance for main worksite and
alternate (remote) worksite equipment owned by the organization.

![](media/image27.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

26\. Establishing equivalent health, safety, and comfort standards for
the main and alternate (remote) worksites.

![](media/image28.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

27\. Assigning main worksite workstations to teleworkers based on an
assessment of their work-related needs. (For example, assigning
hotelling, shared, permanent, or no main worksite workstations to
teleworkers.)

![](media/image29.wmf){width="6.808333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

28\. Conducting an assessment to determine teleworker work-related
furniture needs at the teleworker's home.

![](media/image30.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

29\. Providing the teleworker with company-owned furniture for use at
the teleworker's home.

![](media/image31.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

30\. Conducting a security risk assessment for the telework program.

![](media/image32.wmf){width="7.558333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}

31\. Establishing formal arrangements for technical support of
teleworkers.

![](media/image33.wmf){width="6.058333333333334in"
height="2.2583333333333333in"}