Teleworking and Remote Access

Presented by: Khalid Anjum

Director, Department of Information Technology

Middlesex County

New Jersey

The local government perspective on WHY IT leaders in should champion

teleworking and remote access.

KEY ELEMENTS

Role of Government CIO’s

Drivers, Challenges, technology,, Policies & Procedures

Role Of Government CIO’s

• Government CIO’s play a critical role in government. Their influence spans all aspects of government and they are in a unique position to positively influence every aspect of public service and good government. Having sound knowledge of telework will help them better influence government decisions.

Drivers for telework

• Green Initiatives & Programs

• Aging and retiring workforce

• Attract new talent

• COOP/COG / Workforce resilience

• Real Estate Value Proposition

• Compliance

Challenges

• Security – Most important concern• COOP- low priority• Last mile – Who manages• Employee Expense• IT Support – a whole new dimension• Regulatory Compliance• Management and Control• How to measure performance

Challenges - Continued

• Union issues

• Determination of overtime pay

• Employee eligibility for telecommuting

• Sick days as related to working from home

• Discipline

Build Policies & Procedures

• Establish teleworking policies & procedures in the personnel manual.

• Include a definition, type of work, identify who has authority to establish arrangements, and the flow of paper that leads to the department head recommendation getting board approval

• Develop an approval process work flow with telework agreements and forms for execution by the employee and the Board.

Telecommuting Agreement

• Develop a Teleworking Agreement that will be executed by the employee & the employer.

• Include days the employee has to be in the department, work hours at alternate site, specify employee accessibility during work hours, equipment, supplies, support,

• Security inspection, hold harmless etc – see handout

• Work at Home Emergency Tool Kit

Technologies

• Secure Wireless LAN

• IP Security VPN

• Web VPN

• IP Communications IP telephony, PDA’s Blackberries

• Remote Management Software

• Collaboration Tools & Services

Other Important Facts

• Encourage the Culture of Teleworking otherwise COOP/COG will fail.

• Employees who have never teleworked will not do so in emergencies.

BENEFITS

• Increased Productivity• Employees are not limited to working from home

resulting in a greater opportunity for productive and work hours throughout the day.

• Employees who telecommute tend to be more productive and display increased motivation for their job as well as higher morale and less absenteeism.

• Telecommuters avoid travel time and may deal with a reduced number of distractions and interruptions than they would encounter in a conventional workplace environment 

Organization and Staffing Flexibility

• Not limited in hiring employees

• Ability to select top candidates from anywhere in the county.

• Free to restructure or reassemble the best teams to fit individual projects with minimal disruption to the company.

Employee Retention

• Eliminates the number of employees who resign because they want or need to move to a new location

• Telecommuters can move with minimal disruption to their work productivity and less employee turnover means bottom line savings for the company in recruiting and training costs

Cost Savings

• Helps to achieve significant savings associated with real estate costs and overhead.

• Companies can grow without the need to create additional workstations or build new office spaces.

• The reduced travel time for employees who telecommute also promotes savings in relation to gas prices and automobile maintenance and repair costs.

Environmental Preservation GO GREEN

Telecommuting significantly reduces traffic congestion and automobile emissions as well as providing a considerable potential for energy savings in the areas of on-site heating and cooling, lighting, automobile repair, and highway building and maintenance.

Conclusion• Teleworking ensures business resilience and empowers

the government to maintain service during work disruption. It is a “Green Initiative” and also results in reduction in operating expenses. This is all good government.

• Therefore it is important to champion teleworking in our day to day interaction with decision makers and elected officials, because the little steps we take to ensure continuity of services will one day save the day for your department.

• So build your strategic plans to include providing full access to enterprise applications across the board for the teleworker only good things can come from it.

THANK YOU