Public Policy Platform on Flexible Work Arrangements

On May 13, 2009, Workplace Flexibility 2010 released a comprehensive set of policy solutions to expand Americans’ access to flexible work arrangements such as compressed workweeks, predictable schedules, and telecommuting. Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) alter the time and/or place that work is conducted on a regular basis - in a manner that is as manageable and predictable as possible for both employees and employers. FWAs provide: Flexibility in the scheduling of hours worked, such as alternative work schedules (e.g., non-traditional start and end times, flex time, or compressed workweeks) and arrangements regarding overtime, predictable scheduling, and shift and break schedules; Flexibility in the amount of hours worked, such as part time work, job shares, phased retirement or part year work; and Flexibility in the place of work, such as working at home, at a satellite location or at different locations

Does the Market Help Workers Balance Work-Family Conflict?

We use data from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey (1999-2002) to assess the take-up of family-friendly benefits that are provided by employers. We distinguish between availability and actual use of benefits to account for worker selection into firms according to benefit availability. We find that selection is important for understanding the takeup of family-friendly benefits, although it does not differ much between genders. We also find that the provision of these benefits helps workers relatively little to manage the work-family conflict and benefits are often unavailable to those who need them most. Our findings suggest that the market fails to help employees balance their family-work conflict.work and family balance, family-friendly benefits, take up of employer benefits

New Jersey's Growing Remote Workforce and the Skill Requirements of Employers

Highlights factors driving the rise in remote work jobs, the ways remote work is affecting the workplace, and the skills workers need to be effective in remote work environments

WP 7 - Teleworking policies of organisations - The Dutch experience

The over-all picture concerning the diffusion of telework stemming from research undertaken in 2000 and 2001 is rather negative. Teleworking policies of organisations hardly go beyond the minimal definition that we used in analyzing Dutch surveys from these years (organisations offering the opportunity for teleworking and, if they were asked for, paid for the necessary facilities). The conclusion is not exaggerated that a large majority of Dutch organisations are playing a waiting game on teleworking, even in sectors where jobs show a rather high ‘teleworkability’. The few exceptions (Interpolis, TNO Arbeid), mainly seizing the opportunities of building new offices or relocate their businesses, to combine flexible offices with teleworking policies, soon get nation-wide attention. Meanwhile, various surveys indicate a further growth of telework in the Netherlands in the 1999-2001 period, although this expansion seems to concentrate on multi-site telework by mainly self-employed – largely a ‘new economy’ phenomenon (Van Klaveren and Van de Westelaken, 2001). In this country, teleworking is apparently spreading rather informally and implicitly, leaving a wide gap between the policies of organisations and the preferences of many workers.

Benefits of high-speed broadband for Australian households

This report from Deloitte Access Economics examines the benefits to households of high speed broadband in 2020 when the use of digital tools will be widespread across the economy. Deloitte assessed potential household benefits in the areas of communications; e-commerce; e-health; online education; e-government services; savings from an increase in telework; and the flow-on benefits to households from business productivity.Executive summaryHigh-speed broadband is transforming our economy and society, with major implications for households, business, governments and the environment.The report looks over the horizon to 2020 when Australia’s economy will be a fully digital economy, powered by the National Broadband Network (NBN). Recent developments like smartphones, apps and social media will be more deeply embedded, while video content, the cloud and machine-to-machine technologies will be widespread.Households will benefit from improved communications, greater choice and competition from e-commerce, more online services, greater employment opportunities, including through telework, and savings in time and money from reduced travel. They will also experience improvements in goods and services quality and/or lower prices as businesses take up new productivity-boosting applications of the digital economy. There will also be environmental benefits from reduced travel and other applications.Our estimate is average annual household benefits will be worth around $3,800 in 2020, in current dollars. Around two-thirds of these benefits ($2,400) are financial benefits, the rest are the equivalent monetary value of consumer benefits such as travel time savings and convenience of e-commerce. The research reported in this publication was commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. The information and opinions contained in it do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy

Leveraging State Economic Development Resources to Create Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities

A 2009 research brief produced for the NTAR Leadership Center, a consortium led by the John H. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Founded in 2007 under a grant/contract with the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, the NTAR Leadership Center's mission is to build capacity and leadership at the federal, state, and local levels to enable change across workforce development and disability-specific systems that will increase employment and economic self-sufficiency for adults with disabilities. This brief examines existing state, regional, and local economic development resource tools and discusses ways in which states and localities can leverage traditional loan and financing programs that enhance job creation, provide access to local employment opportunities, or help support employment for residents, including those with disabilities

Telework in the European Union

This report examines the phenomenon of telework in the EU – particularly in the context of the European Framework Agreement on Telework, which was signed by the peak social partners in July 2002. The report first assesses the incidence of telework across the 27 EU Members States and Norway, highlighting the overall increase in telework usage. It goes on to examine the regulatory framework for telework, with a particular focus on the European Framework Agreement’s implementation in the context of national industrial relations systems and given the unique nature of this autonomous agreement. The report also looks at issues concerning the employment and working conditions of teleworkers – such as health and safety, data protection, access to training and the voluntary nature of telework. It concludes with an overview of the social partners’ position on telework

Beyond Infrastructure: Broadband for Development in Remote and Indigenous Regions

Recent telecommunications stimulus projects in the U.S. and Canada were intended to increase availability of broadband through funding infrastructure investments, largely in rural and remote regions. However, true access involves more than availability; it also includes affordability and adoption. This paper presents a framework for analyzing broadband adoption that takes into consideration geographical, economic and cultural environments in indigenous communities. It includes an overview of potential social and economic impacts of broadband in remote areas, using examples from the Alaska study and the Canadian North. It then reports on results of an evaluation of Internet use and potential adoption of broadband in remote indigenous communities of southwest Alaska. Finally, the paper provides a comparative analysis of U.S. and Canadian policies intended to achieve affordable access to broadband for rural users and sustainable business models for rural broadband providers.Ye