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Telework centers get mixed reviews

Part 2 of a two-part series.

By Jeff Zbar
Net.Worker, 07/23/01

For the 47 tenant workers who make the Bowie Community Network Telecommuting Center their office, it's better than home.

The telework center provides 30 private workstations, 23 of which provide both T-1 Internet connections and dial-up modems to access employer networks. There's remote access voicemail, printers, scanners and photocopiers, and corporate tenant Electronic Data Systems installed video conferencing for use by all tenants.

"We even serve coffee," says Joyce Larrick, the center's director.

Part 1: Another way to cut the commute

But overall, telework centers have received mixed reviews from the telework community.

Like most in the Washington, D.C. area, the Bowie center hosts a mix of private industry and government tenants. Funded in part by the General Services Administration, 80% of its tenants work for a dozen government departments, including the GSA, the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Customs, the Department of Justice and the Department of Transportation. Each pays $50 per day in rent and works there anywhere from two days per month to full time, Larrick says.

Located at Bowie State University in Bowie, Md., the Bowie Center is part of the GSA-funded Washington Metro Telework Association. While the GSA has discussed closure of such centers for lack of use, Larrick scoffs. Her facility delivers benefits few other centers provide, which often are located in office buildings or storefront locations. Being on the university campus, users can conduct research in the library, mingle in a university setting or use the athletic facilities. A student has been hired for part-time tech support for the center's users. Some tenants take classes, and others teach. "And we're hitting about 85% capacity," Larrick brags.

Originally envisioned as providing alternative offices closer to an otherwise long-commuting employee's home, "they are potentially a duplication of overhead unless the employer seriously commits to a hoteling scenario with flexible officing," argues John Edwards, president of consultancy Telework Network, Inc.

Moreover, some managers are no less wary of a telework center than they are of employees working from home. And costing upward of $500 per week in rent per employee, such centers can present no real cost savings to corporations or government, Edwards adds.

But Larrick counters that for first-time teleworkers, the centers provide a professional setting that can help them stay motivated and focused on work. Eventually, teleworkers with bona fide home offices can migrate home once they've developed remote officing work skills, Edwards admits.

"Ultimately it has an impact on their own personal lifestyle, and you're putting people back in their own communities," Larrick says. "The benefits are far-reaching."