President’s Corner
TelCoa thanks U.S. Representatives Jim Himes, Rosa DeLauro, and Elizabeth Esty for introducing the Multi-State Worker Tax Fairness Act, H.R. 4085, 113th Congress. We strongly support this crucial legislation. The bill would finally eliminate the telecommuter tax, a steep penalty often resulting in double taxation of income that interstate telecommuters earn at home. The telecommuter tax unfairly burdens telecommuters and their employers and limits telework adoption. Congress must make the Multi-State Worker Tax Fairness Act law! TelCoa and other advocates are working to secure the bill’s enactment, but we need your help! >>> Read More...
Guest Columnist
4 Great Examples of Telework’s Impact by: Brie Weiler Reynolds As champions of telecommuting and flexible work options for all, we certainly don’t have to tell TelCoa readers about the benefits of telework--we all know and love them. But as organizations like ours work to spread awareness of, and support for, flexible ways of working, it’s really important to remember the individuals for whom we work--the millions of professionals whose lives would be positively impacted by more access to telework and flexible jobs. At 1 Million for Work Flexibility, we hear daily from supporters about why they support the expansion of flexible work options for all. Here are four great examples of why work flexibility, including telework, is vitally important to individuals, to companies, and to society. >>> Read the entire blog at...
Hot Topics & Links
"Working from home not for everyone, but it can still be a 'win-win' for many workers and employers" is an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer featuring TelCoa President Chuck Wilsker and Advisory Board member Diane Stegmeier. For the complete article, > click-here... -------------------------

Private Sector

Articles

Kentucky Teleworks honored for work in job creation

by Bailey Richards

Telework coming into the forefront of job creation Eastern Kentucky – as coal production and Appalachian Region mining jobs face a bleak future due to increasing environmental protectionism and other governmental carbon policy restrictions on coal fired electric utilities in favor of more costly subsidized ‘Green Energy’ alternatives.

November 16, 2012

Click here for article

 

 

The Best-Paying Jobs You Can Do From Anywhere

Jenna Goudreau Forbes Staff

The future of work may not require office plans.  Within the next 10 years many businesses will be built completely with virtual teams of online workers. Hiring more virtual workers gives them access to millions of potential candidates, many of the best-paying are concentrated in health care, similarly, telepharmacists have escaped from behind the counter, there’s also a greater need for translators, who aren’t tied to an office and earn a median of $43,000 annually.

October 19, 2012

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You Might Be Able to Flex Your Way to a Fatter Paycheck

By Brian O’Connell

Contrary to what ‘some others’ are erroneously reporting, the telework trending is upward during the last half of the first decade on the 21st Century no matter how measured…  one day per month, one day per week, part-time or full-time!

One can only speculate why anyone would suggest there is a downward ‘trend’ in the number of teleworkers???  Perhaps those so reporting have a vested interest with antiquated industrial era work practices, “ STAUTUS QUO” that continues their unique individual interest, cash flows, organizational positioning, etc… rather than supporting job growth, greater employment opportunities regardless of geographic location, and competing more effectively (and fairly) in the emerging global market place.

10/31/12

Click here for Entire Article

 

Employees Forego Higher Wages in Favor of Flexible Work Schedules

by Jessica Miller-Merrell, xceptionalhr.com, blogging4jobs.com

Working from home has never been easier. And never before have employees been willing to give up certain benefits just to have a home-based job. 17% of the 2,500 employees surveyed said they would give up a salary increase to have more work flexibility in their schedules. When looking for alternatives to an annual raise because of a difficult year, a company might be able to retain its skilled workforce by offering employees highly coveted flexibility.

10/25/2012

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More Valley workers working from home

By Tim Sheehan – The Fresno Bee

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that about 14,200 people in Fresno County about 4.1% of the county’s working population, are working from home either as self-employed entrepreneurs or telecommuters and an increase of almost 3,500 since 2000.  As communication and information technologies advance, workers are increasingly able to perform work at home and these changes in work patterns have both economic and social implications.

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012

 

Click here for article

 

Working from home grows in popularity

The number of workers who spend at least one day at home also went up, from 7 percent to 9.5 percent of the workforce says the U.S. Census Bureau. The top telecommuting cities, by percentage of workers at home most of the week can be found here.

October 20, 2012

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Are Office Hours Outdated?

By Ned Smith

Office hours as we know them may be coming to the end of the line, a new survey shows. Today’s mobile workers are more productive and less stressed-out when they’re working remotely. The downside is traditional support services could do better meeting needs.

October 12, 2012

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Telework job fair set for Oct. 4 in Hazard, Kentucky

The Kentucky Teleworks System can offer access to rewarding, well-paid, and legitimate jobs and they won’t have to move away from home for that employment. Working from home has become a reality for hundreds across Eastern Kentucky because coal mining and manufacturing layoffs have increased, and many possess the necessary skills to work from their homes.

Click here for article

 

My Life as a Telecommuting Robot

As more employees work remotely, companies are looking for high tech ways to hook them in.  Telepresence robots to see and hear home office co-workers, video conferencing on steroids, holograms and wormholes, oh my!

By RACHEL EMMA SILVERMAN

August 8, 2012

Click here for article

Wind Tsunami’ Tests Public Information Call Centers

The largest non-hurricane power outage in the state’s history. Virginia integrated the five calls centers with a cloud platform by Salt Lake City-based vendor inContact.  The state’s five 211 call centers are connected by a cloud-based platform that enables enhanced communication.

BY: Sarah Rich | September 6, 2012

Click here for article

Do teleworking employees have higher productivity?

Making a friend of geography’ through the use of electronic means opens the doors to communicate more effectively with greater numbers of people, share more data points with problem solvers (a.k.a. innovative people), an provide true opportunities for the individuals and the organization to thrive.

By Dave Johnson

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Why Remote Workers Are More (Yes, More) Engaged

Someone working in the same office with their leader needs just as much effective communication as someone located in a different office. It’s just that, ironically, they’re less likely to get it.

by Scott Edinger ~ August 24, 2012

Click here for article

Working Mothers, CEOs and the Death of Face Time

Victoria Pynchon, Contributor February 19, 2012

Ceo’s are utilizing text messaging, instant messaging and video chat and many work virtually.  Trend is that face time is diminishing, and increasing numbers are scheduling quiet time for thinking or scoping out the competition.

Click here for article

 

Forty Percent of Employees Willing to Cut Pay to Work from Home

July 18, 2011- Business News Daily

Results of a July report from Staples Advantage online.  74% are willing to relinquish between 2 to 5% of their salary to work at home.

Click here for article

 

What does the new economy mean for the shape of communities?

BY KAID BENFIELD  – FEBRUARY 6, 2012

What does the ‘new economy’ mean for the shape and futures of communities?  How do we live and work together in this new age with increasing financial challenges and growing populations?  Will manufacturing and customer service jobs return to the United States?

 

This article strongly echoes what the members of TelCoa have been suggesting and advocating for more than a decade ~ that trusted institutions …educational, healthcare, retail, and workplaces all need to change, along with governmental services, taxation systems, and regulatory apparatus – including judicial review and their findings – to better monitor and verify the results, while rooting out those who are mischievously abusing the resources we all depend upon.

 

No longer must we bind ourselves to expensive vulnerable and often unnecessary physical ‘transportation solutions’ born in mid-nineteenth century and status quo P³’s (policies, processes, and procedures) developed under the oft discredited philosophies of Marx, Engels, Keynes, and other quixotic dreamers.

Click here for article

Will We Need Any More Office Space?

By Tim Trainor -December 21, 2011

These BOMA comments, findings, and recommendations are rooted in TelCoa’s ‘playbook’ of the last decade plus!  The ‘key’ to the future of work is ‘WE’ as in Work Environment ~ Work@Home™; work from anywhere (any place that suits you); work anytime (that you ‘spark with great ideas for innovation and reformulation’); be prepared to fulfill both your work and family responsibilities whatever nature throws at you (Snowmageddon!); all the while reducing dependence on petroleum imports, expensive, and time consuming ‘transportation solutions’ left over from the early industrial era…

Click here for article

Plantronics Smartens up its Headquarters for Remote Workers

By Mary Catherine O’Connor – December 15, 2011

It is time for companies to get creative about boosting creativity.   Smart companies like Plantronics are breeding productivity through flexible working enviornments.

Click here for article

Clarkson Business Center Temporarily Suspends Daily Hours

September 21, 2011

By PETER CROWLEY – Managing Editor (pcrowley@adirondackdailyenterprise.com)

Clarkson Universities Business Center will reopen in the next 10-14 days using cost saving volunteers.  Telecommuters and small businesses were not utilizing the space as they preferred to work from home.

Click here for article

 

Fairfield County Businesses Offer More Telecommute Options

Editor Chris Rueli: Christopher.Rueli@patch.com

One third of CFO’s have increased their remote work in the past 3 years according to Accountemps. Increasing numbers of companies are encouraging telecommuting as an option.   The most common professionals include accountants, architects, economists, journalists, researchers, consultants and stockbrokers.
Click here for article

Telecommute Nation: If Half of Us Could Work Remotely, Why Don’t We?

July 22, 2011 By Derek Thompson

More than 34 million people — equal to the population of Texas and Pennsylvania combined — work from home occasionally. Twice as many could if they wanted. In the next few years, maybe they will.

For entire article click here

 

Seeking Loyal, Devoted Workers? Let Them Stay Home

July 11, 2011  By ANDREA COOMBES

A recent survey finds that workers who telecommute from home or elsewhere, while still a very small portion of the work force, report the highest levels of satisfaction with their jobs and loyalty to their employers. In the poll of about 10,000 U.S. workers, 73% of remote and home-based workers said they were satisfied with their company as a place to work, compared with 64% of office workers.

For entire article click here

Press Release:
June 27, 2011

Outdated Business Management Practices Block Flexible Work Styles, Hinder Competitiveness

New Report Shows That America’s Employers Cling to 1950s-style Management Practices

“Come on America, something needs to change — and that something is senior management attitudes towards new work styles. It’s time to join the 21st century and focus on work as a thing we do, not a place we go. With that mindset, every business could become more dynamic and competitive overnight.”,  Brett Caine, President, Citrix Online

Click here to read entire press release.

Click here to read the entire report.

 

 

Telework Levels the Field for Some Rural Minnesotans

March 24, 2011, by Jennifer Vogel, Minnesota Public Radio

…Rural communities, dying for success stories…  They are hoping that better connectivity will make it feasible for more people to live and work farther from the city. They hope it’ll stave off a pattern of out-migration that’s been draining young people from their towns and farms for a century…  “Fueled by broadband adoption, better collaboration tools, and growing management experience,” by 2016, 43 percent of American workers will work from home at least one day per week.

Click here to read the entire article.

Click here to read the text of legislation proposing telework tax credits in Minnesota.

 

 

 

Virtual medicine as effective as physical doc visits

Webcam doctor visits called convenient, and save time and money

March 21, 2011, By Lucas Mearian, Computerworld

Results of a five-year study on telemedicine showed that patients can be treated virtually by physicians as effectively as if the patients made physical visits to the doctor’s office. In another finding, the remote treatment also improved doctor-patient communication

Click here to read the full article.

 

 

 

How Telecommuting Lets Workers Mobilize for Sustainability

March 2, 2011 by EBR, Energy Business Daily

Over the years, telecommuting has proven to deliver significant societal, environmental and economic benefits. Many organizations have recognized the gains as a boon to promoting sustainable business practices and their bottom lines. While a recent survey found that less than 4 percent of U.S. private sector workers actually work from home, that figure could reach as high as 30 percent by 2019, according to TechCast, a George Washington University–based virtual think tank.

Click here to read the entire artcle.

 

This article provides many interesting and informative statistics which further bolster TelCoa’s IT + P³ = E³ formula for Successful Work Today and Tomorrow.

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