Telework-related Services

JALA International is the only firm in the world providing all of the services enumerated below. We have been doing it for more than 20 years. JALA's primary interests are in the development of programs that involve telework as a central change agent for satisfying major strategic goals.

Key Benefits

Elimination of expensive "Wheel Reinvention." We've been there. We know how to do it right. Why waste time and money discovering things we've known for more than 20 years?

Versatility. We have been involved in all sorts of successful telework projects, in several languages. We have, or have easy access to, all the types of expertise required.

Comprehensiveness. We cover the entire spectrum of telework services, as shown below.

Strategy Development

Corporate

Telework must be an integral part of any organization's management strategy in the 21st Century. We will show you how telework can be used as a major strategic tool in your organization. A variety of corporate strategies can have telework components, from making most effective use of office space, to optimizing access to personnel skills, to minimizing environmental impacts. For example, are you planning a major site move or expansion? Such moves often cause prolonged negative effects on costs, productivity, turnover rates and employee morale. Perhaps teleworking can provide a better solution. In cooperation with your senior executives, we will help develop long term strategic plans for using telework to enhance organizational effectiveness and improve competitiveness.

Government

Telework can provide answers to major local, regional and national problems, including traffic congestion, jobs-housing balance, energy conservation, environmental pollution, urban renewal and rural economic development, to name a few. JALA has public policy development experience in all of these areas. We have also worked with government agencies and elected representatives at all levels of jurisdiction from city councils to members of the European Community parliament. To see an example of the consequences of one of our groundbreaking projects, view the Executive Summary of our final report (1990) on the California Telecommuting Pilot Project.

Planning

We will meet with your senior executives and mid-level managers, brief them on the concepts of telework and telecommuting, and jointly develop implementation plans that are tailored to your organization. The written plans will identify the organizational units to be involved, specify added technology requirements (if any), estimate costs and benefits, specify evaluation criteria and establish selection and implementation schedules.

Teleworker, Telecommuter, and Telework Site Selection

Most of your staff can be more effective teleworkers. Many, but not all, of your staff will be able to telecommute effectively. We will help you define who can benefit from telework training. Where telecommuting will be useful, our formal selection methods and questionnaires will help you and your telecommuting project manager identify prospective telecommuter-supervisor pairs. Using our selection system, we will recommend both the individual telecommuters/telemanagers and the form-and extent-of telecommuting that is most appropriate for their work. We can also evaluate and recommend sites for regional/satellite telework offices and will help you select computer and other information technology for use by your telecommuters.

Training

We can provide both "why-to" and "how-to" manuals and will train your teleworkers, telecommuters, their direct supervisors and your organization's upper management. In fact, we insist on at least some level of formal telecommuting management training for organizations that are new to telecommuting, or for organizations that are developing some of the more sophisticated teleworking techniques, such as video teleconferencing. The extent of training required depends on how current your employees are in "office automation" techniques and in the practice of results- rather than process-oriented management. We will also train your own trainers and customize the manuals so as to smooth expansion of telecommuting to other units or locations of your organization.

Evaluation And Fine-Tuning

We will help you evaluate the success of your telecommuting program, including measuring changes in performance and developing detailed cost and benefit data. The cost-benefit analysis includes effectiveness/productivity change estimates as well as a variety of other factors not ordinarily included in such analyses. We will also recommend changes in your telecommuting methods and system, based on the performance data and on focus group sessions with your telecommuters. Typically this is in the form of an annual or semi-annual checkup. One key service in urban areas is our program for assessing the impact of all your transportation demand management efforts-including telecommuting-on reducing air pollution. Finally, we will help you develop an agenda, plan, and procedures for broad-scale implementation of teleworking or telecommuting in your organization.

Managing Telework Workshops

We also produce a variety of telework- and telecommuting-related one-day workshops led by Jack Nilles. A typical agenda includes:

	an overview of telework and telecommuting
	planning a telecommuting demonstration project or implementation program
	the impact on—and of—company policy and procedures
	selecting teleworkers and telemanagers and structuring jobs
	analyzing office information flows
	how does it all work? the technology factors
	establishing performance measures and evaluating results
	how are we doing? cost-benefit analysis
	success! planning the rollout

The time allocation and detailing of the workshop elements can be adjusted to fit the requirements of the company and attendees. For more details, including scheduling and costs, contact us by email.