Save Award 2010 Ideas

Instead of allowing Managers to hold back telecommuting (and they are) it needs to be expanded. New language needs to come down from the department level saying to use it as much as possible and enforce it. The President and previous President has signed off on this as has Congress but it's not getting down to the worker bees.

If your position is the type where a large percentage is done on the computer or phone... more »

Mandate Telecommuting and reduce in-office workdays for federal employees in metropolitan areas. Most agency policies allow but do not encourage or mandate use of this energy saving and pollution prevention practice. If an average federal employee tarvels 15 miles each dircetion to work a mandated 2 days per week telecommuting policy would eliminate and estimated 3000 miles of cummuting annually reducing carbon emissions... more »

Require Telework on Snow Days. Any Federal employee who telecommutes should be required, unless directed otherwise by management, to telework on days the office is closed for snow (or any other reason), and also automatically allowed to telecommute if there is a delayed opening or liberal leave policy in place, provided the employee properly planned for it.

I suggest you further support teleworking. Many agencies, including FEMA, provide transportation subsidies for commuting to the office. When teleworking the commute costs are eliminated and there are no transit subsidy costs. Even if an employee telecommutes 2 days a week the commute costs is reduced. Additionaly, overhead costs associated with workspace can be minimized if there are less people reporting to an office.... more »

I suggest the agency consider setting mandatory telecommuting work schedules in offices equipped with Government Laptops. Having an office entirely closed 2-3 days a week would save, at the very least, office space utilities' costs. Employees working from home 2-3 days a week also would leave the roads less traveled and congested. Meetings could be held virtually. Customers could be advised when the office is open.... more »

Eliminate employee and executive travel except where absolutely necessary. NASA has advanced teleconferencing facilities, and yet these facilities are rarely seen in use. Employees frequently travel off-site to attend meeting and functions that could be accomplished at lower cost through teleconferencing.

I suggest that you mandate telesoworking for all agencies.

Provide a secure network, and let employees stay home 4 days a week. When going to work, use a shared office space. Rotate the office space among agencies and close most of the agencies' buildings.

This would dramatically reduce the cost of maintaining office space and reduce gas consumption and other commuting costs while helping cleanup the environment.

We should do everything we can to reduce costs associated with office accommodations if a viable telecommute alternative exists. In general, more work can and is performed at home environments when secure communications and local physical security exists. With the employee bearing part of the costs associated with home office and communications and the Government able to close office space (and associated costs), it's... more »

I suggest that you increase the telecommuting privileges of government employees, conditional on the approval of their supervisors, from once a fortnight to as and when it is actually necessary for them to appear in the office for the following reasons: Most mid-level employees are involved in the production, editing and analysis of documentation so they rarely need to be in the office and their work effort is easily... more »

All federal employees should be able to work from home at any time (24/7) and when the weather or a personal situation requires it. Employees could be more productive and the government would not lose that productivity during weather-related office closures or local emergencies. All the benefits (environmental, personal, etc.) make this a smart, cost-saving move on the part of any 21st century enterprise.

Telecommuting, e-commuting, working from home.

Save on Oil Imports, Green initiative to save environment, Improve Family Lives.

Authors and telework advocates Kate Lister and
Tom Harnish, also founders of Undress4Success:
Home Based Business, Work At Home, and
Freelance Job Advice, recently published results
from their independent study of telecommuting,
its usage, and impacts. The study found that
less than 4% of... more »

I suggest a telecommunicating pilot program for up to a year. All agencies will be required to permit and encourage a liberal use of telecommunicating unless they can reasonably document that the mission of the agency IS being compromised (not "might be" compromised). See if anyone notices a difference in efficiency and effectiveness. Limit telecommuting for new employees for a reasonable period of time to enable managers... more »

Reduce greenhouse gases, increase productivity and morale, and reduce the need for dedicated office space by requiring one day a week telecommunting.

In conjunction w/telecommuting, used shared office space. Private industry identifies their workers that do not need a fixed office because of telecommuting and work-related travel. These workers use a flexible space that is shared by other similar workers. Saves on space and furniture costs. All furniture is very adjustable which improves ergonomics for everyone using it. Shared space is not cluttered with anyone's... more »

Most government contracts have two rates. One for contractors on-site and another for contractors working offsite, each is billed at a different rate. I would propose a third category requiring that contractors have a percentage of workers who Tele-commute. This could then be billed at a lower rate due to less overhead on the contractor’s part, saving the federal government a lot of money. It would also be a green solution... more »