Middle managers primary obstacle to greater workforce mobility 10 December, 2009 By Mark Cox

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That's a key conclusion of a new study by Telework Exchange, a public-private partnership focused on expanding telework adoption.

The "Mobilizing Against Pandemic" study, sponsored by Intel, found that 81 percent of government and business IT decision makers have written business continuity plans. However, the study finds an inflated IT confidence -- both private and public sectors report implementation challenges and lack assurance that employees could work remotely during an emergency.

In addition to business continuity driving the requirement to empower the remote workforce, mainstream mobility demand is rising in organizations. Eighty-four percent of surveyed IT decision makers believe the need for mobility in their organization has increased in the past year and telework is the leading driver. In the next three years, public- and private-sector IT decision makers expect telework to increase by 65 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

"The report is mostly aimed at the federal government, said Nigel Ballard, director of federal marketing for Intel, whose group handles the inside-the-Beltway business. "But we polled the private and public sector both. We didn't just want to know where the government was. We think the study works well as a discussion document in the private sector as well, both for the enterprise and SMBs."

"When it comes down to it, the question is if something bad happened, could we carry on this enterprise with people working from home?" Ballard said.

Ballard noted that while there are many federal positions where people can't work from home, with the post office having the most obvious examples, there are many federal workers who can, but don't.

"The government has many thousands of workers who have no contact with the outside public," he said. "They mainly pump in data. The best example of an agency with teleworking would be the Patent and Trade Office. Its' workers are working from home offices and have been for a long while. Many other agencies could do the same one if they weren't so worried about change."

Facilitating teleworking is also key to attract and retain the best employees, Ballard said.

"At the executive level, they are acutely aware the federal government has a recruiting issue on their hands. How do they get the best and brightest to join them? When these candidates rank and rate benefits from potential employers, work environment is an issue, and commuting and sitting in a cubicle is not attractive when compared to companies that do offer mobility tools and the ability to work at home some days. Government at a mid-management level needs to understand this to attract and retain a world class workforce."

The study outlines five simple steps organizations can take to support a mobile workforce.

: The first is Education -- engage management. Poll respondents said nearly one in three organizations experienced management challenges while testing their business continuity plans. Encouraging managers to telework and implementing performance-based management processes can help engage management to accept a more mobile workforce

Ballard thinks this is the most important of the five steps.

" I believe there are a lot of federal employees who have not been made personally aware that could work from home three days a week, or that they supervise people who could. Many people have not been asked. When polled, people say they would like that option, but they haven't asked because they don't want to rock the boat."

Step 2 is Social Distancing -- utilizing remote access. Forty-four percent of government agencies and 22 percent of businesses report that they do not provide remote network access to all employees. Organizations must empower remote access clients and anticipate peak bandwidth requirements.

Step 3 is Empowering, providing mobile equipment. When purchasing laptops, 61 percent of government agencies and 78 percent of businesses report choosing business-class laptops and respondents expect to increase inventory levels in the next three years. Business-class laptops include integrated security features and remote manageability. Organizations should assess current mobile equipment inventory to meet emergency requirements.

Step 4 is Vaccination, of the IT kind, which means locking down mobile security. Survey respondents admit one in seven laptops lacks built-in security. Organizations must select laptops with integrated security features, including encryption. More than equipment, organizations must establish written policies and require comprehensive security training for all employees.

Step 5 is providing for House Calls -- establishing mobile support systems. Forty-six percent of public-sector and 39 percent of private-sector organizations report that they do not provide mobile tech support to employees. Organizations need to prepare for increased call volumes during an emergency situation and ensure employees are aware of remote procedures.

The upshot of all this is that vendors and their channel partners need to be aware of the fact that a key obstacle in facilitating a truly mobile workforce of teleworkers is largely manager attitudes.

"The solution is to get rid of the three year old desktop, to give employees a business class laptop, a VPN, and a spare battery," Ballard said. But you have some old school middle management that is only happy when it can see heads in cubicles."