Washington Dental Service
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Telework
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Insurance
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Seattle, Washington
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Photo courtesy of Wash. State Dept. of Transportation .
“We enjoy all kinds of side benefits, including space savings, employee retention, and a better work/life balance for employees. But the real story about telework is making better use of human energy,” says Washington Dental Service CEO Jim Garrison.
Garrison estimates he can accomplish more reading, writing, or analyzing in three hours at home than in three days in the office, because of fewer distractions and interruptions.
Telework, a top-down decision
When Garrison became CEO in 1991, he set in motion a number of changes at this dental benefits company. With his leadership came employee involvement, teams and team leaders. Garrison took WDS from pencils and calculators to the era of PCs and management by results. “With the exception of certain windows of coverage, we don't worry a whole lot about when people are here. You've got to decide if your employees are adults and if you are going to treat them as such. When you do, they respond,” Garrison says.
Marietta Urseth-Presser, Technical Services Team Leader, says the reason WDS is succeeding with telework is because the directive was top-down. “Our CEO came here with the mind set that we would become teleworkers,” she says.
In addition, an implementation team spent several months putting the program together–studying what policies make telework programs a success, and then educating managers and employees about the alternative work option in a mandatory, company-wide meeting. Five Professional Relations staff were ready and willing to serve as the pilot.
WDS employees have the ability to request to telework, but managers have the right to refuse based on job requirements, performance, team needs or business needs. A telework agreement is signed by each teleworker, the team leader, and the team leader's supervisor. Teleworkers receive training, a copy of the WDS telework policy, and supporting materials.
Better workforce is return on investment
“I wasn't thinking I needed to save eight parking spots and seven office cubicles–that's nice, but not the reason we introduced telework,” Garrison emphasizes. WDS is investing in equipment and services that allow its employees to connect from home or other locations as seamlessly as if they were clicking their computers on at the office. Garrison and CFO Tracy Peterson see their return on investment in the form of a higher quality, more productive workforce.
WDS has representatives from every department except the mail room working at home anywhere from once a month to five days a week. Its five Professional Relations staff spend most of their time at customer sites or working from home, commuting to the office no more than once a week. They have traded their cubicles for a smaller, common work space for their time in the office. As full-time teleworkers, WDS supplies them with computers, printers, at-home business lines, cellular phones, email and voice mail.
Less office time = more provider visits
Dr. Max Anderson, WDS's dental director and head of the Professional Relations unit, says he always thought his team was operating efficiently. “But as soon as the program started they immediately became more effective. Doing their jobs means they're out in the field visiting dental providers. With less need to come into our office, they're using the time to make more provider visits.”
Space savings appreciated
In fact, while space savings is not WDS's primary goal, Peterson says management has challenged certain groups, whose work is mostly external, to give up their desks in exchange for shared spaces. Close to capacity at its work site, WDS is banking on the Professional Relations group that consolidated its work space and hoping others will follow suit.
Employee satisfaction a retention factor
WDS acknowledges the benefit of telework in recruiting and retaining employees. “Our company is in a hiring crunch to find qualified people in the Seattle area, so we're hoping telework will help us tap into remote markets for employees who prefer to live at a distance and avoid the traffic,” Urseth-Presser says.
How do you measure productivity?
How does WDS know its employees are more productive? “As CFO, I'm happy to say we've done no measurement of teleworkers–that's because I believe the most important benefit is not measurable, and that is appreciation by employees and the attitude shift that comes with it,” Peterson says. “Telework implies trust, independence and high performance,” she explains.
Human Resources Manager Matthew Fairfax answers the productivity question rhetorically, “When you receive an email from someone at 10:30 p.m. or 5 a.m., what does that tell you? The reality is we know we are getting more productivity from people.”
Emergency management
WDS's emergency management plan incorporates telework in the case of a company-wide interruption. Staff with operational telephones and electricity can continue to work at home during service interruptions.
Union agreement negotiated
“Managers were all for it with few exceptions,” Fairfax says. “Those responsible for union employees were hesitant–they questioned whether it was something their staff would be able to do.” From day one, WDS invited a union representative to serve on the implementation team. Telework initially was offered only to non-union staff. After minor negotiations revolving around whether represented employees could “grieve” their telework-related issues, the option was rolled out for union employees as well. WDS agreed they could grieve, although it specified that telework was a privilege not a benefit.
Interest-free loans aid computer purchases
An interest-free computer purchase program is popular with employees and supports WDS's desire to have employees teleworking when it makes better sense for their job or task and personal life. At any given time, more than 50 employees are participating in the computer loan program. This program not only supports telework but also encourages computer literacy.
Lessons learned
In retrospect, Urseth-Presser says she would change nothing about the implementation except to provide some additional training to team leaders and managers. “Telework may institutionalize itself like our flextime policy, which is now just a way of doing business. In the meantime, however, crossing the T's and dotting the I's in the policy ensures everyone has a clear understanding of the expectations,” she says.
©1998 Washington State University Cooperative Energy Program. The Telework, Compressed Workweeks, Flextime case study is a publication of the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program in collaboration with Commuter Challenge with additional support provided by the Washington State Department of Transportation. This publication contains material written and produced for public distribution. You may reprint this material, provided you do not use it to endorse a commercial product. Please reference by title and credit Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program and Commuter Challenge. Trade names have been used to simplify information; no endorsement is intended. Published Sept. 1998.