Yesterday the House approved telecommuting legislation that requires federal agencies to allow qualified workers to work from home at least 20 percent of the hours worked in a two-week period—that’s two work days or one day a week in most cases. The national average, by the way, is 2.3.

The idea is to give more federal workers the opportunity to telework and boost productivity by cutting down on commuting time, reducing absenteeism, allow for greater organizational flexibility, reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and offer relief from high gas prices.

To date, studies have cited such issues as management resistance, security concerns and technical problems for reason that have slowed adoption.

The Office of Personnel Management estimates 110,000 federal employees teleworked at least one day a month during 2006, down slightly from the year before. At the Labor Department, on the other hand, teleworking was up 58 percent because the agency integrated teleworking into its continuity of operations planning.

The good news, according to an AP story, “…the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 600,000 federal and D.C. government workers, said the legislation was a good first step in that it requires agencies to show that workers are ineligible for teleworking rather than the current system where workers are presumed ineligible unless the agency determines otherwise.”

The bad news is this bill and the Senate version don’t have any enforcement mechanisms for agencies that don’t meet teleworking requirements. But it’s another small step forward.

There’s a provocative, perhaps intentionally obtuse, blog [link below] that argues: Should the Government Incentivize Telecommuting?

Why does the EPA and DOT need to fund some organization that promotes telecommuting? Why does Virginia need to give $35,000 to companies that adopt teleworking programs? Why does Oregon need to give tax credits and vouchers to businesses that invest in telecommuting equipment? Why do we need to pay salaries, benefits, and pensions to the government workers who run all of this?

Why can’t we let companies come to these conclusions on their own? If telecommuting is the smart, profitable way to do business, you’ll see more companies telecommuting. You’ll see McKinsey letting its consultants work from home every day. You’ll see Goldman Sachs setting up home offices for its investment bankers. You’ll see Skadden Arps incentivizing its lawyers to not come to work.

Why don’t you see any of this?

Maybe it’s because telecommuting has never been conclusively proven to provide a net benefit. Maybe it’s because business owners don’t want their employees sitting at home watching soap operas, taking naps, trolling MySpace, downloading porno, skipping off to “community events,” immersing themselves in spy novels, or simply lying around doing nothing. Maybe it’s because successful management requires oversight, face-to-face interaction, and in-the-flesh meetings.

Either way, why is any of this the government’s business? Why the involvement? Why the expenditure of tax dollars?

One commenter says:

If you manage a company, you have to be crazy to let your employees work from home….My company is old school. At your desk by 8, leave by 5. Open office space so people can easily talk to each other as issues arise. Much more productive than if I was to let my employees work from home. I can GUARANTEE you that they’d be doing exactly what you mention above. Especially the ones in their 20s. Our taxes should DEFINITELY not support any govt efforts to push U.S. businesses toward telecommuting. Talk about govt interference in the market!

As you might guess I posted some very strong (but polite) feelings about this. What do you think?

A recent State University of New York study found that patients using telemedicine to manage congestive heart failure experienced a reduction in overall health care costs of 41 percent. Reduced physician office visits alone saved more than $115 million annually.

Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons (P&S) at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC) and SUNY Upstate Medical University have received a $28-million grant to bring health care into the homes of under-served rural and inner-city residents with diabetes.

Telemedicine can give people the tools they need to take control of their health. The system will empower people to take better care of themselves through monitoring, access to information, and education. This ‘house call’ of the future will allow patients and clinicians to reach out across any distance for care.

Participants will receive Internet service, training in equipment use, and maintenance support. Patients will check their blood sugar, blood pressure and other factors that affect diabetes. They’ll be able to view their own medical information, learn more about diabetes and receive recommendations and instructions on how to manage their disease.

Decision support systems will play a crucial role, and an automated care guideline system will analyze each patient’s data. If information recorded on the computer varies from predetermined values, an automated alert will be sent to the physician or nurse. The system also will provide suggestions and reminders to patients about what steps they need to take to maintain good health.

Columbia’s Center for Advanced Technology coordinated the participation of companies including American Telecare, which is providing the special home-based units, and Bell Atlantic, which will serve as the telecommunications carrier.

We’ve come a long way from, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Yesterday’s post was about IRS laws, so we thought follow-up with some advice on a related home-based business topic: zoning laws.

Just so ya know, you could be breaking the law by simply starting a home-based business!

Zoning laws are determined by your city or your county, depending on where you live, so start by finding who establishes your zoning laws, and then familiarize yourself with their regulations.

If you plan on running a home-based business that will have no employees and no walk-up customers, the zoning question may never arise. Usually it’s complaints from neighbors that bring home-based businesses to the attention of zoning boards. If employees and customers are seen going in and out of your home, or taking up parking spaces that would normally be used by residents, you could run into problems with the zoning commission.

In addition to complaints from your neighbors, you can also run into trouble if the amount of space your business takes up in your home is greater than the actual living area. This is referred to as "space percentage," and while it can be difficult to determine exactly how much space your home business occupies, it can lead to a zoning issue. Frequent deliveries by big trucks isn’t going to go over well neighbors either.

The type of merchandise you are selling may also be restricted in a residential area. This commonly only applies to businesses dealing with chemicals, such as fertilizer, but it may affect other types of business as well.

If you’re trying to keep a low profile and avoid zoning issues, don’t go posting a sign on the front lawn. Simply posting a sign for your business may breach of zoning laws.

If all else fails, consider having zoning laws changed. It’s not unusual to have laws established 100 years ago still in effect that make your business illegal even when what you’re doing is common practice by modern standards.

Now here’s a work from home opportunity that’s unique! Check out this news release about a new FAA and National Air Traffic Controllers Association telecommuting program. Our comments and observations follow.

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For Immediate Release
April 1, 2008
Contact: FAA: Lynn Tierney (202) 267-3883; NATCA: Doug Church (202) 220-9802

FAA, NATCA Announce Agreement on Air Traffic Work At Home Program (ATWAHP)

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association today signed an agreement to create an Air Traffic Work At Home Program (ATWAHP), designed to foster a better work/life balance, reduce pollution, and improve working conditions for employees of the FAA.

Under the ATWAHP, controllers will have access equipment and technical support that will allow them to work in the comfort of their den, basement, or even their bedroom. This program is designed to foster job satisfaction and help solve safety issues.

FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell said, “I am gratified that the Air Traffic Controller segment of our workforce will now be able to work from home in conditions that could lead to safety improvements. This telecommuting program, which is similar to those in place throughout government and industry, will let us reduce our carbon footprint and improve family relations while increasing air safety.”

“Creating an atmosphere where controllers and their families can work in more comfortable conditions while they identify, report and correct safety issues will go a long way in helping us further improve our safety record,” Sturgell said.

The program is for 18 months and will begin at several targeted facilities. If the program is determined to be successful after a comprehensive review and evaluation, both sides intend for it to be a continuing program.

“NATCA is committed to improving air traffic control system safety and this program is a step forward in that goal,” NATCA President Patrick Forrey said. “We believe safety would be enhanced if all employees responsible for the safety of the traveling public were able to begin working from home. For the people NATCA represents, the benefits are clear: this provides us with a way to reduce the stress and expense of the daily commute and improve performance-related issues affecting system safety.

“This type of program, which is widely used by industry, is essential to encourage employees to relax and enjoy working for the FAA while together with FAA management we develop solutions to enhance safety,” Forrey said.

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Back in the ’30s, before radar, a lonely air traffic controller wearing a fedora and puffing a stogie would lethargically push little pieces of cardboard around a map. That was the way they tracked, if not controlled aircraft back then. After all, on any given week, there was only one westbound flight out of Albuquerque headed for Phoenix and Sacramento.

Then, as technology advanced, dozens of controllers, sleeves rolled up in the unairconditoned facilities and with cigarettes dangling from their lips, sat in front of rows of radar screens in huge darkened rooms. As aviation technology advanced from lumbering DC-3 to intercontinental 707 to supersonic Concorde, computers and communications kept pace to ensure the highest possible level of safety for the traveling public.

But increasingly-stressed controllers remained trapped in dank caves now chilled to inhuman temperatures in deference to the needs of cranky electronics.

Today, with ever smaller computers and lightning fast communications enabling change, and backed by a Congressional mandate encouraging Federal Agencies to allow their employees to work from home, the FAA and NATCO have taken a bold step. And in so doing, the agency has responded to critics demand for modernization by initiating a program that will allow controllers to work from the comfort of their homes.

“The idea first occurred to me while playing with a flight simulator on a home computer,” one FAA executive admitted on the condition of anonymity. “There were people flying airplanes around the sky from bedrooms and dens all over the world, everything from Piper Cubs to giant airliners and Navy F/A-18 fighters, while I provide separation and flight following service from my sunroom on the back porch. It was just like the real thing, and the screen I was looking at wasn’t all that different from the one I sat in front of at work. But I was sure a lot happier with a beer in one hand, music on the stereo, and my dog at my feet.”

Today over 14,000 controllers endure the daily commute risking far greater harm than their counterparts in the sky, while choking on increasingly expensive fuel and polluted air.

Our research shows that if 40% of the FAA controllers worked from home–a proportion comparable to other government agencies–they individually would save 26 work-days of time a year (the equivalent of a very nice vacation), and $807 dollars in gas bills. Cumulatively, the controllers would save 67,000 barrels of crude oil, and eliminate 12,000 metric tons of CO2–that’s more than the work at home population of Baltimore MD saves, according to the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey numbers applied to Undress4Success.com’s computational model.

We applaud this visionary FAA program, especially one they had the guts to start on April Fool’s Day .