Overview

Congress has mandated that home-based telework be made available to all federal employees by 2004 as an alternate work approach. However, to date, less than 4% of federal employees are engaging in home-based telework programs, lagging the pace of implementation anticipated in the original legislation. Home-based telework does present unique managerial, organizational, and cultural issues to federal organizations, which often result in challenges facing successful implementation. The purpose of this analysis was to specifically address barriers to implementation related to the information technology (IT) needed to provide teleworkers with an effective work environment in the home, and to maintain connectivity with the office. This analysis resulted directly from a request made by Congress that the General Services Administration (GSA) "...identify and develop a plan to resolve technology barrier issues that impede the creation of home workstations for federal employees."

The premise used to guide the overall analysis was that barriers due to information technology are impacting the implementation of home-based telework programs by federal organizations. The approach used in this analysis contained the following elements:

• Assessment of technologies available to support home-based telework, including performance, functionality, user interface and cost issues
• Perspectives of CIO staff and IT management in federal organizations of potential technology barriers to home-based telework facing federal organizations
• Insights from telework coordinators concerning the actual impact of technology barriers on implementation and management of telework programs
• Feedback from teleworkers and teleworker managers on the effect of technology barriers on overall teleworker effectiveness
• Review of "lessons learned" concerning information technology challenges and solutions through case studies of organizations with active telework implementation plans.

Data collection efforts to obtain CIO staff and IT management perspectives, teleworker coordinator insights, and teleworker and manager feedback focused on ten executive departments and agencies:

In addition, CIO staff and IT management perspectives from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) were obtained to better represent the perspectives of DoD organizations in this area.

The overarching finding from this analysis is that there are technology problems associated with Federal telework implementation, but that, today, no single information technology barrier is preventing or impeding telework implementation. Additionally, the analysis found that IT, as a resource for telework programs, is frequently provided on an "as needed"basis. For example, many federal agencies have not yet addressed how the home IT environment supporting the home-based teleworker should be configured, funded, or supported; as a result decisions concerning selection, acquisition, and support for home IT equipment are made by individual managers. As Federal telework expands, these IT problems, if unresolved, will become significant barriers to successful implementation and operation of telework programs. It is recommended, therefore, that IT management in federal organizations must be more effectively engaged in telework planning, budgeting and implementation to insure successful resolution of IT issues which federal managers and telework coordinators are facing as telework programs move forward. IT support for home-based telework should be addressed at an enterprise level to ensure successful delivery of IT capabilities to employees, and that as telework expands to become an important alternative for most or all federal employees, IT management must play a greater role in planning and implementation support to ensure these employees have the IT capabilities necessary to perform their jobs.

The analysis identified certain IT-related issues that will present challenges as the scale of home-based telework expands, including the following:

• Bandwidth and availability of residential network services that will provide the last mile connectivity for home-based teleworkers
• Performance and reliability of legacy client-server applications in a home-based telework environment, particularly when supported over dial-up connections
• Protection and security of agency information and systems as networks are "opened" to accommodate home-based telework.

The challenges resulting from these (and other) IT areas are not expected to prevent most federal organizations from proceeding with telework implementation. However, if left unresolved many federal organizations will likely find that these challenges will slow or significantly impair implementation activities as telework becomes more prevalent in the federal environment. Such challenges can be resolved through application of agency IT planning, architecture, budgeting, and project management processes that have not yet been fully brought to bear on home-based telework.

Assessment of Technologies

The survey of technologies supporting home-based telework evaluated key information technology components supporting the home environment. The survey partitioned these IT components into three broad domains:

• Residence domain, including PCs, printers, software for the home environment, and residential network services to provide connectivity
• Network domain, encompassing wide area transport and remote network access technologies
• Enterprise domain, including application software and enterprise-level information security capabilities.

Within each domain a number of potential barriers were identified against which available technology solutions could be assessed. The functionality, performance, and cost characteristics of available products and services in these domains were evaluated. In total, sixteen potential barriers to home-based telework were identified across all three domains. Technology solutions are available to assist agencies in addressing these barriers, but an agency's need to implement these solutions will depend on the severity of the impact of specific barriers on each agency's IT environment and home-based telework programs. Thus, these sixteen potential barriers were used in planning the data collection activities in the following perspectives:

• CIO staff
• Teleworker Coordinators
• Teleworkers and Managers
• Case Studies (of organizations implementing home-based telework).

Description of Findings by Perspective

CIO Staff and IT Management

CIO staff and IT management within the departments and agencies contacted during this analysis were able to provide insights into the degree of IT support of home-based telework programs, IT planning activities related to telework, and the impact of the potential barriers to telework implementation identified in the technology assessment. In general, home-based telework has not yet been a factor in the longer range IT planning and budgeting decisions made at the department level. For example, enterprise-level assessments of telework impact on end user equipment, agency technology architectures, user environments, network services, and information security have not yet been performed by many of the agencies contacted. CIO staff and IT management are aware of telework implementation efforts within their departments and agencies, but home-based telework to this point within most departments and agencies has been relatively slow, and typically driven at the bureau/sub-agency level or below, limiting its visibility to department-level IT staff.

However, there were some concerns that CIO staff at the department/agency level were able to address, when considering the longer term impact of large scale home-based telework deployment. First, the availability and performance of broadband residential data service (e.g., Digital Subscriber Line service, cable modem service) was viewed as a potential barrier, from the standpoint of coverage limitations, ease of installation, ability to support virtual private network services, and cost. CIO staff view high-speed connectivity solutions to the home as a necessary condition to ensuring a quality in-home work environment in the future, but see unknowns in the current market environment in making such connectivity ubiquitous. Second, the performance of legacy client-server applications over remote connections, particularly in the absence of high-speed network connectivity, may limit availability of certain enterprise systems to home-based teleworkers, or potentially require redesign of these applications to function over remote access (particularly dial-up connections). Redesign of these applications or migration to web-based architectures would likely alleviate any such problems along this line, but the extent of potential problems with legacy applications portfolios is not yet known. Third, security of agency information and systems in the course of telework implementation was viewed as an important but manageable concern moving forward. CIO staff and IT management contacted throughout the analysis generally indicated that the technology and management tools to address IT security issues are available now, but effort needs to be placed into identifying security risks and designing solutions to mitigate these risks.

Telework Coordinators

The overall findings suggest that, from the perspective of telework coordinators, technology does not present a barrier to telework. However, telework coordinators identified technology-related issues that should be addressed in an effort to make telework programs stronger and more viable for a larger proportion of the workforce. First, telework coordinators view the task of obtaining funds to equip teleworkers with personal computers and network services as the most significant technology-related challenge facing federal organizations as they seek to expand telework. Second, while most telework coordinators do not view security as a major issue, there is concern that the volatility of the security issue could lead to future problems and therefore warrants attention. Third, greater communication and coordination is needed between telework coordinators and IT staff with regards to telework implementation efforts. Fourth, availability of appropriate IT equipment for use in the home is a challenge facing telework implementation; currently, some employees use recycled equipment or personal equipment. Finally, the speed of a teleworkers' network connection impacts the overall quality of a teleworker's home IT environment, thus pointing to the need for sufficient network connections.

Teleworkers and Teleworker Managers

Questionnaires were designed to gather information from teleworkers and managers of teleworkers about their experiences with technology barriers to telework. About 2,400 teleworkers and 900 managers of teleworkers, drawn from nine of the ten organizations in the analysis, were invited to participate in the questionnaire (one agency was not included in the questionnaires because its home-telework program is still in the planning stages). The questionnaires were conducted through a website during late November and the first half of December 2001, and generated acceptable response rates of 43 percent for teleworkers and 38 percent for teleworker managers.

Findings from the questionnaire results show that although teleworkers and teleworker managers do not generally view technology issues as a major barrier to telework, some technology issues can present problems. When asked to rank the technology barriers to telework, respondents ranked system performance and teleworkers' access to equipment and services as being the top two barriers. In addition, funding is a serious barrier for some teleworker managers, and funding issues have a great impact on whether they are able to provide equipment and services for telework. Access to technical support is a serious barrier for some teleworkers and teleworker managers, and teleworkers believe this can greatly impact their performance. However, teleworkers and teleworker managers generally believe that technology barriers have little impact on the frequency or the success of working from home. In addition, respondents report that IT-related security had little impact on management's decision to move forward with home-based telework, nor did IT-related security concerns impact the ability of teleworkers to work from home successfully.

Other findings showed that most teleworkers use a standard set of equipment and services, including a personal computer, applications software, printer, and a dial-up Internet connection. More than half of teleworkers use their own printers and personal computers for telework. Also, most teleworkers have access to telephone communications services, including teleconferencing and the ability to communicate by phone while working online. More than half of the respondents reported that teleworkers receive little or no training for telework. When training is provided, teleworkers and their managers have mixed opinions on how much it provides information needed to telework.

Case Studies

The case studies focused on specific organizations that have had successful experiences with home-based telework programs, and included the following organizations:

Most of these organizations had either gained experience in managing home-based telework programs or had successfully completed pilot programs and were actively rolling out home-based telework to larger segments of their workforce. These organizations shared many common elements of their approaches that appeared to contribute substantially to their ability to successfully confront IT-related challenges that arose during implementation. First, senior management within these organizations often endorsed and actively promoted home-based telework as a vital element of the organization's strategy. Frequently, as a result of this leadership, management from multiple disciplines within a given organization were key contributors to creation of the telework program; these disciplines often included IT, human resources, procurement, facilities, and security, as well as core business operations. This improved communications between management enabled telework planners to anticipate potential problems, and to identify and resolve actual problems encountered during trials and pilot programs. IT management was able to provide guidance and recommendations on suitable home equipment, software configurations, and network services that were compatible with agency architectures. Further, equipment and connectivity needs for home-based teleworkers were included in longer range IT budgeting and planning within these organizations. These organizations often emphasized the use of broadband residential data services and training in home IT equipment to improve the overall effectiveness of the home IT environment.

Impact of Home-Based Telework on IT Costs

Additions and enhancements to an agency's IT infrastructure to support home-based telework will lead to higher agency IT costs. These additional costs will include "per employee" costs for additional equipment and network services (e.g., dual desktop computers for the office and home environment, laptops with docking stations, residential broadband services to improve connectivity) and enterprise infrastructure enhancements to support employee access from beyond the organization's boundaries (e.g., VPNs, firewalls, remote access servers and connectivity, network and configuration management tools, redesign of client/server applications).

Many of the enterprise infrastructure enhancements have additional uses beyond telework, for example to support mobile workers, improve virus protection, and provide secure Internet access. It is expected that the "per employee" costs for hardware and network services will be the dominant IT cost drivers in telework implementation. These costs will impact an organization's IT seat cost, which reflects the full costs for providing employees with the hardware, software, network connectivity, and technical support to adequately perform their jobs. The actual impact on seat costs will be primarily driven by hardware and network services costs. The impact of these elements will be driven largely by IT management decisions on the types of equipment and connectivity needed to support for home-based telework, and by agency telework policies governing how many employees can engage in home-based telework, the actual equipment to be provided to support teleworkers, reimbursement for network services, and other issues governing IT delivery to the teleworker Many of these policies have yet to be defined by many federal organizations, and most of the organizations contacted in the analysis had not yet viewed teleworker IT costs from an overall IT seat cost perspective. Agencies may be able to mitigate the impact on IT seat costs by considering home-based telework requirements in the identification and acquisition of personal computers for use by teleworkers, and by incorporating telework requirements into agency desktop technology refreshment/replacement cycles.

Overview of Recommendations

The recommendations from this analysis primarily address management behavior necessary to ensure the proper level of IT support for successful home-based telework implementation. The solutions to the substantive IT challenges to telework implementation faced by federal organizations lie in ensuring adequate involvement and participation by IT management within these organizations. The state of technology will pose some challenges telework implementation (most notably with respect to network services and client-server applications). However, active participation of senior IT management in telework planning and implementation will be necessary if solutions are to be identified and implemented in a manner consistent with an agency's IT architecture and long term strategy.

The recommendations resulting from the findings and conclusions fall in five major areas, described in the following paragraphs:

• Senior Management Leadership
• IT Planning for Telework
• Broadband Residential Services
• Security
• Training

Senior Management Leadership

Interviews with CIO staff, telework coordinators, and case study organizations throughout the analysis illustrated the importance of leadership from senior management in launching successful telework programs. Organizations in which the senior leadership had endorsed telework as important to the future success of the business were better able to engage a broader range of agency stakeholders in planning and implementing home-based telework programs. For example in several organizations contacted in the analysis senior executives have identified telework as a strategic qualitative advantage these organizations could offer with respect to recruiting and retention of staff, as market salaries for staff with specific skill sets rise. This leadership by senior management was often the key factor in organizations being able to mobilize functional support groups such as IT, human resources, facilities, and procurement in supporting telework. As a result, IT staff assisting with telework implementation were able to assist in defining home equipment and network connections compatible with the office environment, provide training to teleworkers, and make necessary adjustments to agency IT infrastructure to ensure successful implementation. Federal departments and agencies should provide guidance to senior management at the component level and below to take on this overall leadership role within their organizations regarding home-based telework implementation. Further, CIOs and IT management should take a proactive role in educating management within their organizations on how information technology can be leveraged to further telework programs and reduce implementation risk.

Several organizations were able to engage management on the benefits of telework to the organization through the use of business case analyses. These organizations were able to identify cost reductions in the post-telework office environment that offset much (and sometimes all) of the additional costs of IT equipment and services for home-based teleworkers. In addition, the most attractive approach to implementation can usually be identified through this process. Thus, departments and agencies should provide guidance to component organizations on the use of business cases as part of telework planning, both to identify longer-term benefits and assess implementation alternatives.

IT Planning for Telework

A key finding from this analysis was that many organizations are at the very early stages of planning home-based telework, and often staff planning and implementing telework programs have not yet fully engaged IT staff in decisions regarding home telework equipment, software requirements, network services, and other aspects of IT support for home-based teleworkers. In addition, IT organizations have frequently not yet identified standard products or configurations for home environments, nor have they fully assessed the impact of home-based telework on their agency IT environments. In some cases, employees are providing their own machines for home-based telework applications, and in other cases managers may provide employees with excess or obsolete equipment for the home environment. The potential impact on the longer term agency IT environment could be large, but many organizations are not yet factoring telework into their long range IT plans.

CIO staff and IT management in federal organizations should define requirements for home-based telework and include them in the organization's longer term IT architecture and capital planning processes. Specifically, federal organizations should define technical requirements for the home environment as part of their enterprise desktop architectures to ensure availability of end user systems and support services that provide sufficient support for teleworkers. In addition, decisions on legacy application modernization and redesign should reflect the benefits for home-based teleworkers; while such benefits may not be sufficient to justify major redesigns of agency mission applications, the benefits derived from greater accessibility and performance to home teleworkers could make the case for modernization more attractive. Finally, as CIO staff and IT management consider requirements for home-based telework, federal organizations should consider technologies that can facilitate telework and improve the effectiveness of the home telework environment and possibly the office environment as well. For example, document management systems, collaboration tools, and performance measurement systems would allow federal organizations to better manage document access, team communications, and overall effectiveness not only of teleworkers, but of office-based staff as well.

Broadband Residential Services

The quality of the home IT environment will be governed largely by the capacity and performance of a teleworker's connection to the agency network. CIO staff pointed out that the limitation of the "last mile" connection was a key issue to be resolved for large-scale home-based telework to be most successful. While most teleworkers are using dial-up connections today according to the questionnaire results, as the scale of telework expands (involving more or most employees in some organizations, many of whom will telework more days during the week than today's norm), the limitations of dial-up access are expected to become more apparent. Two organizations with successful telework programs contacted in the case study discussions have created standard policies for providing broadband services for their teleworkers.

Federal organizations should facilitate the adoption and use of broadband residential services for home-based telework, both to improve the quality of service for home teleworkers and to expand telework opportunities to additional federal workers. Specifically, CIO staff and IT management should identify broadband options for home-based telework to match expected teleworker requirements (as part of the overall IT architecture process). Further, telework policies should address and clarify how an organization within a department or agency will compensate employees for use of broadband residential data services in support of home-based telework.

Security

Managers in organizations actively implementing telework are concerned about security and protection of agency information and systems. However, the need to provide information security is not seen as a reason to inhibit home-based telework in any of the organizations contacted in the analysis. CIO staff and IT management in organizations that have not deployed home-based telework are aware that expanded access to the outside world may lead to increased vulnerabilities. These staff members believe that sufficient technology solutions and management processes are available to address these concerns; the key challenge these organizations will face is obtaining the resources to identify vulnerabilities, deploy the right tools, and implement the correct practices to ensure security. Management in most organizations indicated that an important element in any information security plan was training and education of employees on security policies, information protection procedures, and potential consequences, and that such training will be key elements of home-based telework. In addition, IT staff in several organizations implementing telework have reported that since the vulnerabilities due to remote access for mobile workers and home-based teleworkers are very similar, the additional effort and resources needed to secure an agency's network against telework vulnerabilities are very small if vulnerabilities arising from other remote access applications have been adequately addressed.

Information security assessments conducted by federal organizations should include potential vulnerabilities emerging from home-based telework. Security issues arising from home-based telework should be addressed in enterprise-wide IT security and protection plans. Federal security policies specifically address al aspects of remote and Internet access for all applications, including (but not limited to) home-based telework.

Finally, telework programs should ensure that all teleworkers are educated regularly on these security topics (as should all employees in organizations utilizing sensitive or classified information).

Training

The analysis found that the more successful telework programs emphasize teleworker training. However, CIO's, teleworker coordinators, and teleworker managers confirmed that teleworkers often receive little or no specific training concerning the home IT environment. This appears to be the case despite the fact that teleworkers tend to be more dependent on their IT environment than office-based staff. In addition, managerial concerns over teleworker accessibility remains a primary issue facing telework implementation programs. Federal organizations continue to explore different approaches to allow teleworkers and managers to remain in contact. It is important to note as well that employee awareness is a fundamental element of an organization's information security program.

The role of education and training should be emphasized and expanded in federal home-based telework programs particularly in relation to IT, security procedures, and maintaining effective communications. Federal organizations should: first, assess the needs of home-based teleworkers and incorporate basic IT training into telework programs based on the needs of teleworkers as necessary; second, consider electronic means to assist teleworkers and managers to stay in contact during the business day (e.g., pagers, cell phones, email); third, provide training to teleworkers on appropriate procedures to maintain regular, reliable communications with their managers; and fourth, provide teleworkers with ongoing training on tools, processes, and procedures concerning information security and vulnerability.

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