Dashboard Doggies

I’ve noticed a phenomenon I call the “Dashboard Doggie.” This is where a group of people meet to talk about what an important role Telework can play in Continuity of Operations, cost savings, traffic congestion relief, and employee recruitment and retention. Yep, everyone agrees it’s a great idea and one whose time has really come. We all nod at one another, agreeing that Telework would really help accomplish these goals. By the end of the meeting, there’s so much nodding we each look like one of those little doggies with the articulated neck and head that bobs up and down, up and down as it sits on the dashboard of a moving car. The problem with the Dashboard Doggie phenomenon is that, while everyone agrees—and, granted, especially when it comes to business people and politicians that’s never to be taken as a given—more often than not nothing of substance actually happens. We just all meet again at a later date to talk and agree some more.

I commend the several states that are taking action to move Telework beyond the Dashboard Doggie phase. A fair number, Maryland and Virginia among them, give tax incentives to businesses who implement a telework program. This is a move in the right direction, but our neighbors in the Southeast may have taken the extra step that will have more cars parked in home driveways than parked out on the highway during rush hour.

Georgia recently passed House Bill 194 which, in 2008 and 2009, will give up to a $20,000 tax credit to businesses that conduct a Telework Assessment. Similar to the programs in Maryland and Virginia, there are additional tax credits for implementing a Telework program.

The importance of the Telework Assessment tax credit is this: implementing a successful Telework program is not a cakewalk. Let’s face it—it’s a dramatically different way of doing business. It requires buy-in from key stakeholders in management, IT, HR, and end-users (the employees who will actually be doing the teleworking). That buy-in involves understanding where your company is in terms of IT infrastructure, HR policies and procedures, management oversight and workflow, and employee work culture. It’s important to hear from each group the concerns and challenges they face—then come up with solutions and a plan that addresses them.

By conducting a Telework Assessment before implementation, companies can build a roadmap to a successful and robust telework program—one that will deliver on the promise of “business as usual” Continuity of Operations, cost savings, traffic congestion relief, and employee retention.

Georgia got it right: give companies an incentive for going through the steps to develop a custom Telework program. I applaud Virginia and Maryland for offering the tax incentives they have for Telework program implementation. To really get everyone beyond the Dashboard Doggie phenomenon, states should go one step further and offer a tax break to companies who conduct a Telework Assessment.

Rita Mace Walston General Manager, The Telework Consortium