These are some of my personal notes from the first annual Telework Summit, held November 10-11, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. You can also download my entire collection of notes as a PDF. If you do, please share them with a friend!

The Program

Elham Shirazi, e-planning

Telework is a management option.

Telework adoption rates are higher than public transit adoption rates!

• Telework is cheaper
• Telework is easier

The economy and work/life balance both benefit from telework.

“We’re done piloting telework as a nation.”

“Start where you feel comfortable.”
Grow your telework program organically.

Tips on initiating a telework program:

• Talk about ROI
• Tune your tools to your corporate culture
• Ask about “implementation steps”
• Define milestones
• Include termination clause in pilot programs
• Pay attention to liability, worker’s comp
• Train managers first (empowering them)
• Management buy-off
• Define audio conference etiquette

Don’t assume that telework is a measurement tool.  How will you measure your operation?
If you collect data too fast, you might get bad data
Elham suggests collecting data after 6 months

Telework’s big challenge is “getting managers to manage.”

Do we manage presence, or do we manage work product?
Who should manage teleworkers?

The economist calls the new generation the “nomadic generation.”