Telework Obstacles and Opportunities, Prepared by: Kate Lister & Tom Harnish, CITRIX, August 2013.

“Over the last several years telework has driven virtual collaboration and teleconferences which have replaced costly business travel, caused desk assignments to vanish and be replaced with “hoteling” policies, and at-home offices to replace time-consuming commutes.  But, when it comes to Federal agencies, many are still struggling to make telework a reality due to several real, but surmountable obstacles. Telework enables employees to work from home, while travelling, or even at a client’s location while having the same access to email, data, and applications they need to do their job.  In a recent Federal telework report that Citrix developed with Global Workplace Analytics, Citrix surveyed more than 100 Federal telework coordinators and other government executives with telework-related responsibilities.  The survey found that respondents found easier access to online files, more collaboration tolls, and access to video conferencing, the top technology initiatives that would impact their agency’s program.  Overall, the report found that many obstacles and opportunities remain as agencies work to fully realize the benefits of telework.  Additionally, some examples of these valuable benefits include:

• Cost savings:  $6.4 billion a year in Federal government
• Reduced absenteeism:  31 percent as calculated by the Telework Savings Calculator
• Increased productivity:  13 percent as calculated by the Telework Savings Calculator
• Collaboration:  62 percent have seen a positive impact on collaboration as a result of telework at their agency”