May 15, 2011

The need for effective workplace Leadership and Teamwork has never been greater, yet there seems to be vast differences of opinion on whether INNOVATING, and REFORMULATING Information Technologies (IT), Policies, Processes, and Procedures (P³’s) will actually create new jobs, especially in rural areas. Those presently excluded from information age ‘distributed’ employment continue their reliance on expensive transportation solutions, either commuting long distances or moving closer to an employer’s facility.

We have wasted much of the past decade debating information age job creation,  preferring to talk about the possibilities of mainstreaming the new ways of working in abstract futuristic terms instead of implementing what technology and good sense suggests now.  Personally, I am rather tired of hearing those in upper and mid-level management, after ‘thinking about it’ for months and sometimes years, decide it’s time to try a pilot telework program.  Telework programs have been piloted to death.  Telework works! And, there are those of us associated with TelCoa who have actually designed and implemented telework programs that can assist other organizations get off on the right foot with a fully integrated Work@Home™ program.

Until very recently, governments, federal, state, and local, have exhibited indifference to distributed work, arguing and bickering over all sorts of minor issues, while the unemployment numbers have risen and highway congestion and constriction have increased. The rising cost of gasoline makes getting to some jobs just too expensive, and outdated solutions like light rail projects and highway expansions, divert attention from the best modern day work/life balanced solution – Working from Home!

With the ever expanding availability of broadband telecommunications, new Work@Home™ employment opportunities, both full time and part time are developing for both urban and rural workers.  Several states are offering incentives and tax breaks, as well as increasing private sector employment opportunities by reducing or eliminating obsolete protocols, unnecessary zoning hindrances, and jurisdictional taxation overlaps.

The federal government is making its best effort yet to implement telework internally, but still has not done anything to offer Work At Home benefits / encouragements to those in the private sector. These benefits and encouragements could include corporate and personal tax incentives, standardized home office deductions,  requiring federal contractors to integrate significant telework programs into winning bid proposals, and eliminating double taxation on interstate teleworkers imposed by several states.

The good Work@Home™ news  is that today more executives and forward thinking investors are recognizing the many benefits of distributed work for their organizations, their employees, our communities, and society in general through reduced energy usage, and an improved environment both here in the US and globally.

TelCoa salutes all those who are willing to risk ‘change for the better’, those who question outdated ‘status quo arrangements’ that no longer produce results, and those visionaries who offer practical solutions to replace the jobs sent overseas with opportunities to work and live in any geographic area which can be serviced by a broadband connection!

Jack Heacock
Sr. Vice President
Co-founder
The Telework Coalition