Quench: Telework’s Virtual Water Cooler

Managing telework, in its current implementation, is hard.  

Management is being bombarded by the media and telework advocacy groups, such as our Telework Consortium, extolling the need for telework to alleviate traffic congestion, the staggering costs of commuting and to ensure continuity of operations (COOP). 

The most popular argument given to explain the low participation rate in telework programs has been the “resistance of management.” However, I believe that given the current state of the telecommunication infrastructures supporting telework, this “resistance” is well founded. Co-location of management and workers at a “place” has, since the start of the Industrial Revolution, been fundamental to the practice of “work”. The benefits of co-location include: rich of face-to-face interactions for exchange of both verbal and non-verbal cues, the ability to perform collaborative work, socialization and informal transfer of knowledge and information-the “watercooler” effect.  However, the current suite of telecommunication services (circa 1985) that support telework (the telephone, e-mail, VPN remote and Web access) supply none of the above attributes of the workplace and thus are only adequate for managing workers involved in solitary or episodic work tasks.  

In spite of the inadequacy of the telework infrastructures, there is no relaxation of the requirements upon managers to deliver the expected goods and services. 

It doesn’t have to be this way!  The tools are available to effectively manage teleworkers and a remote workforce. 

Modern multi-media (video, audio, electronic whiteboard), desktop PC-based IP telecommunications services, as deployed in our Telework pilot demonstrations  can dramatically change this mismatch between managing the “workplace” and a distributed workforce. They also provide the remote worker with a richer workplace context for socialization and collaborative work. 

So the Telework Consortium does more than irritate management with telework advocacy—we help in fielding successful telework programs based upon modern telecommunications infrastructures. 

The process starts with our assessment program, one that leverages our public and private-sector experience in pilot telework programs. These assessments analyze current conditions and suggest steps necessary for successful implementation BEFORE committing to the telework program.   

Give us a call…perhaps later you will have the capability to meet us “face-to face” on your PC.  

Cheers 

William Mularie, Ph.D.
CEO, The Telework Consortium