Surveys can be used to gauge whether or not employees are interested in teleworking and can help inform the policies, programs, and resources needed to implement a telework program. Surveys are also a great tool to check-in with employees and managers on satisfaction levels while teleworking. Below is a list of resources with sample surveys.    

Example Surveys: 

City of Fort Collins Survey  

The City of Fort Collins recently administered a survey to all employees in order to gauge general interest from employees and gain an understanding of the capacity for teleworking and flexible work schedules (pre & post Coronavirus). The survey will help inform the City’s policies on teleworking in the future. Take a look at the City of Fort Collins Example Survey for Employees and the City of Fort Collins Example Survey for Managers. 

Denver Regional Council of Governments  

The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) designed a basic toolkit for getting started with establishing a telework program. The toolkit includes surveys for employees and supervisors, a sample telework agreement, a sample telework program policy,  as well as supporting documents from OSHA. Check out the Telework Kit here.

Survey Monkey 

Survey Monkey offers survey templates employers can easily customize. An example is the Working from Home Check-in Survey designed to help individual managers understand how their teams are coping with working from home, as well as how to better support their employees during the Coronavirus pandemic. 

How is the decision made to implement a telework program? A teleworking policy is sometimes implemented in response to employee demand, as part of an effort to improve services and reduce costs for the employer and employee, or in response to a pandemic or other large-scale emergency. Informal telework programs are common at many companies, so an official policy may formalize and support existing practices.  

The Online TDM Encyclopedia (developed by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute) provides a detailed description of the travel impacts, benefits and costs as well as the equity impacts of teleworking. View the full report here.      

Considerations when Implementing Teleworking Programs 

• Surveying employees and managers is a good starting point for determining the feasibility of teleworking. Not everyone wants to telework and not every job function allows for teleworking. Some people lack suitable home conditions, value social interactions, are unproductive without direct supervision, or require use of special equipment that cannot be replicated at home. See the Survey section above for example surveys.  
• Determine if flexible schedules or reduced hours/compressed work weeks are an option. Employees with caregiving responsibilities may need flexible schedules to maintain a work/life balance. 
• Provide training on how to effectively manage employees virtually.
• Determine if customers’ needs will be met or enhanced with employees teleworking.  
• Periodically review the teleworking arrangement and adjust as needed.  
• General overarching policies should be consistent across all departments. However, allow some flexibility in policies to accommodate different work groups and job functions.  

Example Policies: 

• Global Workplace Analytics Sample Telework/Work at Home Policy 
• City of Thornton Policy on Remote Work
• City of Fort Collins Temporary Telework Policy

The National Law Review recommends formalizing everything in writing when documenting work arrangements. They suggest differentiating between remote work arrangements and telecommuting arrangements because the legal issues associated with each differ.  

Example Agreements:  

• Example Agreement form for Employees from ICMA.org
• Better Workplaces Better World: Short Term Teleworking Agreement example  
• Global Work Place Analytics Example Agreement  
• Think HR Sample Teleworking Agreement

Below is a list of best practices when offering flexible work schedules, supporting employees with new tools and technology that enable telework and remote work, and implementing policies.  

• In a post-Coronavirus world, employers are learning that employees can be trusted to work from home and countries are gaining an understanding of the digital frameworks needed to support remote work. This article highlights teleworking in the Netherlands and best practices they’ve learned.  
• This article from Fortune Magazine discusses all-in remote work as opposed to partial remote work and highlights that remote work increases employee productivity by as much as 50 percent. It also talks about cost savings and an expanded hiring pool.  
• When implementing telework, the company must change its processes. It must “not mimic the way you worked before by trying to recreate all the great interactions and brainstorming sessions because it isn’t the same”, but instead rely on “deep thinking.” Also, a telework model must operate on communicating without the expectation of an immediate response. Read the full article from Twin Cities Business here: Revenge Of The Remote-Worker Nerds: Pandemic reveals why employers need to embrace telework, instead of simply tolerating it., USA, June 26, 2020   
• Techwire stresses that for a telework policy to be effective, it must be used regularly. Simply writing a policy doesn’t mean staff will use it or that your organization will be any better prepared for an unexpected prolonged office closure.  Companies should regularly measure the success of the policy, report it automatically and act on it strategically. Find out more: Using Telework Metrics to Shape Strategy  
• Siemens Remote Work Policy focuses on trusting one’s employees and empowering them to shape their work themselves so that they can achieve the best possible result. This resource includes guidance for employers on how to follow this philosophy.