The idea of flexible employment is nothing new. Current workplace trends are promoting more flexibility for employees and for tailoring jobs to individuals. The image of the workplace as a specific location where somewhere "goes to work" is fading. This image is being replaced with employees working where they can be most efficient and productive, whether on a plane, on the road, at home, or at a telework center.

When telework is being advocated as a work option for persons with disabilities, it is important to make the distinction between transitioning current employees with disabilities into telework capacities compared to hiring new employees with disabilities into telework.

Telework can be a viable option for persons with disabilities, dealing with chronic and changing medical or physical conditions, who are already employed. Disabilities include multiple sclerosis, lupus, HIV/AIDS, cancer complications, arthritis, stroke, heart or respiratory disease, chronic back injury, chronic pain, progressive visual or hearing loss, and mental health conditions. Job retention can pose challenges as employees can experience fatigue, mobility, pain, stress or stamina issues that require some flexibility in work schedules or locations.

MITE and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs completed a national telework employer survey in 2006. The survey, STRIDE – Strategic Telework Research In Disability Employment, reported telework practices of employers that had either offered telework and/or had hired persons with disabilities. Employers had implemented telework, either on a formal or on an as-needed basis. Results indicated the majority of telework-friendly employers had offered telework to current employees with disabilities who needed to better manage their conditions. (Note: As the sample was composed of 432 employers that offered telework, we cannot generalize to the entire US employer population.) Results are summarized below:

Most prevalent job types for teleworkers with disabilities who had prior employment with an employer were:

• Office functions (52.5%)
• Administrative jobs (49.1%)
• Research and analysis (45.9%)
• Technician (36.1%)
• Customer service (26.2%)
• Claims review (24.6%)

Major challenges for employers in offering telework included:

• Identification of jobs that appropriately fit telework tasks (47.7%)
• Difficulty in measuring performance (41.5%)
• Lack of priority placed on telework by management (33.5%)
• Supervisor resistance/uncertainty (32.3%)

Many businesses want to keep employees with chronic disabilities on the job and have the following incentives to do so:

• Increased ability to respond to a particular employee’s needs
• Retain valued employees
• Reduce employee turnover and recruitment costs
• Control the rising cost of disability benefits

As an employee with a disability considers telework, it is important to ensure the employer’s business needs are met. It may be beneficial to start with telework one day per week and evaluate its effectiveness after one to two months. A useful tool to help conduct an initial assessment can be found at:  Telework Application.  (If you would like to receive a Micrososft Word version of this document so you can increase the font size or make other changes, send an email to:  janderson@resource-mn.org.)

Link to Teleworker Discussion Application. This tool can be completed by the potential teleworker and then discussed with the supervisor. It helps the employee with a disability to put a positive spin on trying telework and also to present the advantages to the employer.

Telework can assist employers in meeting the requirements of the ADA. While its benefits are not limited to people with disabilities, telework provides companies with the opportunity to successfully integrate workers with disabilities for whom the traditional workplace presents obstacles.

Of all employers across all industries, ADA compliance was not reported as one of the top three reasons for starting telework in organizations. However, 59% of those that had previously implemented telework listed compliance with the ADA as a major benefit. Employers tended to realize this benefit after implementing telework.

Over the years, MITE has been instrumental in helping persons with disabilities to obtain telework jobs. Examples include:

• An individual who was sensitive to sound was unable to work in an office environment due to the noise. Even the background noises of a normal office were intolerable to him. He tried everything to make the office environment work, even stuffing his ears with cotton and wearing earmuffs. Because of MITE, he now works successfully out of his home as a dispatcher and is able to sustain a quiet environment.
• MITE found telework to be a good option for employees with chronic fatigue or limited stamina. Employees who dealt with fatigue issues often worked at home on Wednesdays, as it provided them mid-week relief from a taxing commute to work.
• Telework can be useful to companies with employees on extended medical leave who are able to perform all or part of their job at home long before they are physically capable of returning to the workplace. With telework, these employees can be productive months before they otherwise could. Not only does this benefit employer productivity, but it also cuts down on long-term disability costs.

Companies must guard against using telework to avoid face-to-face contact with people with disabilities. Forcing isolation through telework could be counterproductive for integrating people with disabilities into the company. It might even be considered a violation of the ADA if other reasonable accommodations could be made.

Care should be taken to ensure that telework is not the only employment option made available to these employees. Part-time telecommuting or flexwork options can be considered too. In addition, supervisors must be sure that teleworkers with disabilities are not denied opportunities for promotion. (In some cases, such promotions may, of course, require the employee to give up telework.)

Even if an individual is in a job that lends itself to telework some may not have the qualities and attitudes required for offsite work. A desire to work at home does not qualify an employee for telework. Successful telecommuters are self-starters who have proven their ability to do their job well with minimal supervision. They know how to organize their work and manage their time. They have learned how their organization works and have solid relationships with their managers.

If these precautions are taken, telework can be a valuable tool for opening up the workplace to people with a wide range of disabilities and chronic medical conditions and for complying with ADA requirements.

Approximately 10% of all responding telework-friendly organizations in the STRIDE study reported they had directly hired new persons with disabilities to telework, while 48% said they have not, and 40% said they did not know.

The study also uncovered that there were more opportunities for newly hired teleworkers with disabilities in companies with fewer than 500 employees. Other STRIDE findings:

• Job functions included research and analysis (62%); office functions (55%); administrative (52%); customer service (48%); and call centers (47%).
• A higher percentage of for-profit and non-profit respondents had hired new teleworkers with disabilities than respondents from the government sector.
• Of employers who said they had hired persons with disabilities specifically for telework, most (16 of 23) said they would encourage other divisions or groups within the company to consider telework for new employees with a disability. .
• When asked about their decision to hire a new teleworker, 66% of employers indicated the decision would depend upon the job tasks; 53% said it would depend upon employee skill levels; and 40% said it would depend on the individual’s disability.

Challenges in hiring new teleworkers with disabilities included:

• Difficulty in assessment of teleworker skills and work habits (53.6%)
• Difficulties in training and monitoring performance of employees they can’t see (49.1%)
• Perception that new employees need to work in-house before teleworking (45.5%)

Employers suggested specific supports that would enable them to more easily hire new employees with disabilities into telework:

• 66% wanted to ensure job supports were in place to assist teleworker to succeed
• 45.3% would conduct a prior assessment and training in order for teleworkers to gain skills before hire
• 45.4% would implement training or work experiences to ensure teleworker is job ready
• 42% would conduct telework job try-out experiences on a temporary basis before hire
• 23% of employers indicated they would consider combining specific repetitive functions in several jobs to one job the teleworker could perform
• 31% of respondents were optimistic that all challenges with telework can be overcome

Some specific companies that offer customer service telework jobs include SERVICE800; Arise; Alpine Access; Workplace Solutions; and 1-800 Flowers. Examples of employers, with less than 500 employees, which hired new teleworkers with disabilities, are listed below:

Precision Tune – Customer Service. Precision Tune hired three contractual workers to perform customer service follow-up calls for several of their locations in the Twin Cities. Persons worked out of their homes between 20 to 30 hours per week. The Minnesota Resource Center acted as the employer and hired individuals as temporary employees, as the company did not have occupancy space for the three employees. After six months, Precision Tune hired the employees as permanent because it did not want to lose this employee skill base and knowledge of the customers.

ChimneySweeps – Scheduler/Secretary. This sole proprietor who provided furnace and air conditioning maintenance services hired an individual with arthritis to schedule his appointments and handle customer phone calls. The employer would forward his office line to the teleworker’s home from 9:00 am to 5:00 p.m. each workday. The teleworker also handled some of the weekend calls on a regular basis. This was the perfect solution for the employer because he was not able to take calls while he was working on other projects – and, the teleworker could easily inform him of emergency calls and provide full call coverage to maintain his business customers.

Law Firm – Customer Service. A firm in Duluth, Minnesota hired an individual to take calls from 5-10:00 p.m. in the evenings, forwarding calls to the teleworker from their offices. This arrangement was especially important when the law firm was running advertisements on television and received many calls at night.

RESOURCE, Inc. – Secretary. This large, nonprofit organization has a home-based teleworking secretary who splits her time between two programs. Telecommuting helps her cope with disability-related fatigue and pain, and better manage and maintain her health. She is responsible for database management, mailings, and handling customer calls and orders. She also attends regular staff meetings and maintains daily contact via email and voice mail. RESOURCE provides all equipment and pays for an additional phone line and voice mail. If this employee worked in-house, her daily commute time would be almost two hours.

SERVICE 800 – Customer Service Representatives. This company has 200+-customer service teleworkers working from their homes, many of the teleworkers deal with chronic or changing disabilities. The telecommuters conduct customer satisfaction calls for contracts the company has with large technology service vendors. They conduct their work during business hours and bill the long distance calls back to the company. They also send customer response feedback back to the company on a regular basis.