What problem does it solve? Reduces congestion on roads, eliminates money wasted on declaring a state of emergency, saves money on rent and other operating costs, allows for extended hours of operation for some public services. What is your solution and who does it apply to? Allow staff to work from home at least 3 weeks per month. Equip staff with laptops and cell phones in order to proceed with work responsibilities. Unit meetings may still occur via conference calls ,Go To meetings skype or during the 4th week of the month. This request could cover the entire State where clients are not required to be served in the office. The pilot should originate with the Office of Child Support Services. We do not need to be in an office setting to complete our work. Clients do not visit this office. We are accountable to Federal Rules and policy. The federal government has the largest percent of telecommuters. Our Federal contacts are among this surprising statistic. The State should follow suit. The telecommuting guidelines exist for the Federal government and it should be adopted by the State. What is the anticipated impact? Employee attraction and retention- sound pension system; Improved hours of operation; quicker email/telephonic responses to customers and stakeholders; happy taxpayers: Allowing just 1 worker to telecommute at least half the time can save an employer more than $11,000 a year. See https://www.fundera.com/resources/working-from-home-statistics . Other State departments will see the success of telecommuting and will want to adopt standards and policies for their units.
I believe this idea is more impactful due to the fact it has been proven that employees that work from are more productive and efficient.
Thank you for your support, everyone. Please share this innovation with others so that we may get to the second phase. This would be great if mandated by the State.
I believe this idea is both impactful and feasible because the cost of renting a building can be greatly diminished by downsizing, allowing funds to be used for other matters. Many state employees already have cell phones and tablets therefore the cost would be a lesser expense than continuously paying rent or having to move staff around when leases are up. This would also give employees greater flexibility creating a better work environment. Happy employees = Greater Productivity!
This is the 6th "work from home" idea voted into the top 20!!!
NJOIT already has the tech infrastructure to do this, and slashing the carbon footprint of NJ's largest workforce would dovetail nicely with the administration's clean energy goals. What are we waiting for? Cultural resistance can be assuaged by phasing in a telecommuting policy over 2-3 years. Positions could be assigned a classification that identified the percentage of their duties that could be accomplished remotely, and home/office work schedules could be tailored accordingly.
Much of general state business can be conducted from home. Safeguards should be in place to ensure employee's are being productive. There should be designated office days guided by individual agency requirements. If employee's have office workspace and computers, they should be provided laptops to use at home, and docking stations to connect in the office and swap out desktops. A big concern would be overtime and comp time abuse. Employee's should also be allowed to work in their office.
Managers looking to create a flexible work culture should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach; dictating exactly how these policies may be used can make them less effective. Talk with your team about your expectations, so there are no surprises later on. For example, if you set a policy that employees may arrive late or leave early when they need to, do you want them to give you advance notice? Of course, trust is going to be a big factor. you should trust them to get the work done.
More work will be accomplished because there will be not time wasted on commuting. Also staff will accomplished more work because they will be working happier. Of course, this will not work for everyone, but I think it will be healthier and less stressful for most of the state staff. Reynaldo
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