At a “virtual” press event at the newly renovated Yale Center for Teaching and Learning on Tuesday, February 7, 2017, CTrides, a program of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, launched Connecticut Telework Week in partnership with the Yale Office of Sustainability. CTrides Telework offers a free telework review for any business or organization to adopt teleworking or to improve its current teleworking system.
“CTrides Teleworking provides tools for Connecticut employers to help them start-up or formalize telework programs in order to improve business continuity, work-life balance, and reduce overhead,” said CTrides Project Manager Russell McDermott. “Teleworking also takes cars off the road and benefits the environment.
Ginger Chapman, Director of Yale’s Office of Sustainability, said that one of the objectives of the Yale Sustainability Plan 2025 is to lead the technology industry by creating replicable sustainable standards related to energy, materials, human well-being, and transportation. “Within that objective we have a goal to significantly increase teleworking at Yale,” she said. “Our partners with Yale Information Technology Systems continue to offer new and more advanced computing solutions to accomplish this.”
Yale Information Technology Systems (ITS) offers a number of technologies to help employees work efficiently and effectively while away from the office. In addition, as Susan Abramson, Manager of Work Life and Child Care Programs at Yale, mentioned during the event, the University also provides a range of resources to help employees and supervisors when considering a flexible work arrangement such as telecommuting. These include a comprehensive website, training sessions, toolkits, and additional support.
Susan noted, “Teleworking is not for every job or for every person, but having the technology in place allows for improved work flexibility.” Donnel Brown (Connecticut Water) and Deb Lindenman (Yale Organizational Effectiveness and Staff Development), participating virtually, commented on the many benefits that teleworking provides them, including saving money on gas and other commuting expenses and having uninterrupted work time to concentrate on long-term projects.
Randy Chase, Executive Director of the Connecticut Society of Human Resource Mangement (CT SHRM), added that informal or episodic teleworking can also help employees be more flexible, whether it is needed because of “an act of your boss or an act of the weather gods.” Randy also promoted the upcoming Connecticut Transportation Showcase on February 23, which will include teleworking among a variety of panel and discussion topics.
Throughout the week, CTrides Telework will partner with CT SHRM to engage employers throughout Connecticut to build and formalize their telework policies. To learn more about flexible work arrangements at Yale, visit the It’s Your Yale website.
If you missed the event, you can view the recording here.
- Brianne Mullen, Yale Office of Sustainability