Teleworking Brown Bag Lunch DENR Manager’s Forum September 12, 2006

Introduction  Bethany Rose Goodwin, Environmental Specialist, Division of Environmental Health, Public Water Supply Section, DENR Sustainability Team Chair  As our society evolves, Teleworking will be a critical tool for ensuring DENR’s ability to fulfill our mission statement of “conserving and protecting North Carolina’s natural resources and maintaining an environment of high quality, for the health, well being, and benefit of all”.

 Teleworking is a flexible tool to aid in achieving compliance with DENR’s Strategic goals such as: - employee retention improvement. - employee retention improvement. - the flexibility and pollutant reduction aspects make it an example of achieving DENR”s Vision through “innovation, teamwork and partnership, -- as well as DENR’s Code of Conduct for employee respect, communication, accountability, innovation, teamwork and work ethics. With thousands of DENR employees commuting everyday, embracing teleworking will demonstrate that DENR is willing to practices what it preaches. With thousands of DENR employees commuting everyday, embracing teleworking will demonstrate that DENR is willing to practices what it preaches.

History- How The Sustainability Team became involved  From DENR conducted a Pilot Study involving 5 agencies, 64 participants, and 14 job types  Clean Air Rules of 2004 were signed into law revising the 8-hour Ozone standard to 0.08 parts per million (ppm).  The Clean Air Act requires EPA to designate as Non-attainment, any area that was violating this standard based on the 3 most recent years of ambient air quality data. Unfortunately, 32 counties in NC were designated as non-attainment areas. Hat’s off to Air Quality, as their Specialists report that most areas will reach attainment by their scheduled date! The data shows that the Triangle should reach attainment this year!  This encouraging news has not occurred by LUCK, by cooperative weather conditions, or by doing things “the way we’ve always done them”, but by promoting and educating industry, government agencies, and the public on Best Management Practices and about fuel and commuting alternatives.

Response to Non-attainment Designation  NC legislature passed bills that enhanced and expanded auto emissions testing in 48 counties by  2004, DENR became a formal member of the EPA/USDOT-Best Workplace Practices for Commuters program, (of which teleworking is an option)  DENR Sustainability Team creates a sub-team to explore implementation of a formal teleworking policy and procedure for DENR

Sustainability Team Report-1  The need to reduce emissions by 20% is discussed at May 2004 team meeting.  Discussion led to a simplistic solution; to Telework 1out of 5 days a week for all DENR employees to help reduce emissions 20%. Now, bearing in mind that the solution is more complex than that since Air Quality specialists state that only 50% of emissions are due to mobile sources; efforts by DENR to set an example by employing alternative work practices will not solve the emissions problem entirely, but it represents one innovative approach that can immediately impact our environment in a positive manner.  DAQ and DWM have already successfully implemented teleworking within their divisions.  Joe Stroup DENR-HR was consulted about a proposed DENR Teleworking Policy from previous years that he had researched.

Sustainability Team Report -2  The telework subteam revised the preliminary report and consulted with HR for final review.  HR presents final draft to Deputy Secretary Benton  Secretary Ross signed the DENR Teleworking Policy and Procedure, effective July 1, 2005.

What Can Teleworking Do For You  Teleworking will provide managers with a program for enhancing employee productivity, realizing potential utility savings, and improving employee morale and retention.  Enable managers to meet programmatic goals, through a formal, systematic and flexible structure based on measured performance.

What can this do for you  Public Employers have a special obligation to insure that employees and resources are being used efficiently and productively; teleworking has proven to increase both efficiency and productivity and also has the potential, if instituted proactively, to provide vital continuity of operations during emergency situations or pandemic outbreaks. Our citizens expect us to be on the job, particularly in an emergency; we are the “they” people are talking about when they ask “What are “They” doing to fix this problem.

What Can Teleworking Do For You  Housing and Urban Development Chief Information Officer (CIO) Lisa Schlosser credits teleworking with allowing her operations to continue following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. She states that  “Fear of Change and of introducing new ways of doing business are the main barriers to teleworking today.”  Studies have found improvement in recruitment, leave usage, productivity, as well as reduced overcrowding and office space costs. As we look toward new DENR facilities teleworking could benefit us in reducing the age old parking problem that we continue to struggle with.

 The American Management Association reports cost of absenteeism were reduced by 63%, an average of $2000 saved per every employee.  Linda Koontz, Director of Information Management with the General Accounting Office reports that the US House Committee on Government Reform recently made clear that “ the threat of a pandemic underscores the importance of agencies having robust telework programs that can facilitate the social distancing needed in such an event. Agencies must, however make the necessary preparations to enable them to use telework effectively during an emergency, including testing their capabilities.”

Who Teleworks  US Dept of Justice  US Dept of Labor  US Nuclear Regulatory Commission  Housing and Urban Development  Social Security Administration  Federal Aviation Administration-22,000 telework  Securities Exchange Commission-30% telework, all employees are eligible  NC DENR- telework allowed with supervisor discretion  States of Arizona, Florida  Georgia, Virginia-offer businesses tax incentives to allow their workforce to telework  US Patent Office  Just to name a few!

Telework Info Sources  Telework success stories         Telework Security Info     