Who said?
More than 200 individuals from nearly 70 organizations in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane and Thurston counties were interviewed by the Gilmore Research Group earlier this year on telework and alternative work schedules. The contacts were selected from employers that offer these work options formally or informally to employees, have pilot programs, or have considered them. Thirty-five percent of those interviewed were in managerial positions, 24% were in human resources, 16% were employee transportation coordinators, and 8% were chief financial officers.Why was research performed?
Government agencies concerned with reducing commute trips in order to increase highway capacity have been puzzled as to why alternative work arrangements, such as telework, compressed work schedules, and flex-time, have not been more popular with organizations in this area. The Commuter Challenge, its sponsors, and other agencies it works with, wanted to know why more organizations have not adopted these alternatives and for those that have, why haven't they expanded them to involve more employees.What comes after the research?
Based on the research results, the Commuter Challenge has identified a need for more information on the bottom-line, good business reasons for organizations to adopt new and expand existing alternative work arrangements, in other words, to embrace "new ways of working." In the coming months the Commuter Challenge will focus some of its resources on gathering and presenting that information to organizations located in King County. In addition, the Commuter Challenge will identify and design some training programs that will help managers and front-line supervisors adapt to new ways of working.What did respondants say?
N
inety-seven percent of respondents to recent telephone interviews said they view telework
and alternative schedules as a success within their organizations! But, only 1% could cite an objective
or concrete measure of that success. According to the Gilmore Research Group, which
conducted research for the Commuter Challenge and the Washington State Department of
Transportation, apparently that the programs keep employees happy and do not create problems is equated with success,
in the minds of the respondents.
Many companies known to be "progressive" in their attitudes toward their work force seem stuck
in a taxiing mode when it comes to telework. The survey, which
targeted perceptions, indicates more than half of those interviewed
feel management has taken a position of
allowing alternative schedules and work arrangements but not
actively encouraging their use.
This may mean that management tends to see telework and alternative scheduling as employee benefits rather than organization benefits. "To keep employees happy," and "to increase productivity" were the most common answers when asked what the goals of implementing such programs were. The goals cited fall into three main categories: employee aspects (mentioned by 24%), performance aspects (20%), and lack of problems (8%).
While the number of telecommuters and staff working
compressed weeks is still small and not widespread within most organizations, the potential to work anytime from anywherespurred in large
part by leaps in telecommunications technologyand the ability to work 40 hours in less than five
days, were viewed by the vast majority of respondents as inevitable waves of the future and viable
options within their organizations.
Many employers interviewed have their toes in the water but are still waiting for more evidence that increased employee satisfaction translates into bottom-line benefits, such as decreased recruiting and retaining costs, office and parking space savings, and increased productivity, before jumping in on a bigger scale.