1 Workplace Accommodations for Teleworkers with Disabilities
Co-sponsored by the Southeast DBTAC and RERC on Workplace
Accommodations February 8, 2007
Slide 2
2 Presenter Karen Milchus, Co-Director RERC on Workplace
Accommodations Funding Nat. Institute on Disability &
Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Dept. of Education
Slide 3
3 Online Meeting Tips Exit all background programs on your
computer (e.g., Outlook, Word) to improve performance. Identify
yourself each time you speak. Press and hold the Control Key (CTRL)
to talk. Release the Control Key (CTRL) after you have finished
speaking. Questions may be typed in if you do not have a working
microphone.
Slide 4
4 Agenda Telework as an Employment Option Case Study - Jane
Telework Accommodations Implementation & Resources
Slide 5
5 Telecommuting & Telework A situation where an employee is
working anywhere but in their traditional office Telework =
telecommuting = remote work New Freedom Initiative uses term
telework
Slide 6
6 Types of Teleworkers Primary office in home / Full-time
teleworkers Shared office / Mobile professionals Dual offices:
Occasional teleworkers or day extenders (evening and weekend)
Slide 7
7 Agenda Telework as an Employment Option National Trends
Telework as an Accommodation Who Teleworks? Case Study - Jane
Telework Accommodations Implementation & Resources
Slide 8
8 Telework: National Trends 1877 first teleworker was a bank
president with phone line to his home 1974 - Telecommuting coined
in a transportation thesis by Jack Nilles New technologies (e.g.,
computers, fax) begin to open new possibilities for working
remotely 1990s - Early adopters | 2000s - Rapid growth
Slide 9
9 Telework: National Trends 17% of Americans telework full-time
while 30% telework at least one day a week. (DOL 2003) One estimate
that 7% of employed persons with disabilities work from home 20+
hours. (Tahmincioglu)
Slide 10
10 Telework: National Trends By the year 2010, more than half
of American wage earners will spend more than two days a week
working outside the office. (Sulzer Infrastructure Services,
London)
Slide 11
11 What is job accommodation? Strategies, environmental
modifications or assistive technology that help a person perform
work- related tasks that he or she might not be able to perform
otherwise, or might not be able to perform as efficiently
Slide 12
12 Telework: A Reasonable Accommodation? U.S. EEOC recognizes
telework as a reasonable accommodation New Freedom Initiative (NFI
2001) has a focus on Telework Telework may mitigate barriers
associated with transportation and the physical characteristics of
the workplace
Slide 13
13 Home-Based Employment Some of the issues related to
teleworkers also apply to people who run their own home-based
business.
Slide 14
14 Who Wants to Telework? Work RERC conducted a retrospective
study of VR accommodation referrals for Georgia At the time of the
assessment, 23.7% intended to work from home Among those who could
be reached for followup interviews, 27% worked from home
Slide 15
15 Potential Teleworkers: Occupations HomeWorksite %Rank%
Office & Admin. Support26.1%136.6%1 Computer & Mathematical
Science17.4%2 6.1%4 Sales & Related13.0%3 7.3%2 Business &
Financial Operations13.0%4 2.4%5 Arts, Design, Entertain., Sports,
Media 8.7%5 1.2%6 Production 4.3%6 7.3%2 Data from retrospective
study of GA DRS assessments. Numbers in bold are statistically
significant (X2