HD13 - The Potential Benefits of Telecommuting

  • Published: 1991
  • Author: Virginia Employment Commission
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 77 (Regular Session, 1990)

Executive Summary:
The Virginia Employment Commission was given the responsibility under House Joint Resolution 77, passed by the 1990 General Assembly, to study the feasibility and desirability of implementing a telecommuting program in Virginia. To carry out this responsibility, the Commission formed and chaired an Interagency Work Group involving nine other state agencies and institutions considered to have responsibilities or interests in a potential telecommuting program. The work group reviewed the extensive literature on telecommuting, examined the experiences of California and other states as well as the federal government, regional and local governments and the private sector with telecommuting programs, and analyzed the programmatic and operational issues inherent in implementing a telecommuting program in Virginia.

As a result of these efforts, the work group found the benefits of telecommuting--traffic congestion relief, environmental and societal--would justify a program for Virginia and recommended its implementation.

The work group recommendations envisioned a two-part program with the first part involving strictly Virginia state government agencies and institutions and their employees which would be administered and funded through the existing resources of participating agencies. The recommended second part of the program would involve a coordinative and marketing effort to aid in the development and implementation of telecommuting programs in other levels of government and the private sector. To a large extent, this second part would utilize the existing resources of participating agencies but would require a modest General Fund appropriation in the next biennium. The two parts of the recommended program are not meant to be mutually exclusive and should operate concurrently to better achieve the benefits of telecommuting. However, the second part of the program will require a more coordinated effort and some additional funding to carry out its activities, as envisioned.