IT DEPARTMENT Telecommuting at the UAL IT Department

IT DEPARTMENT Telecommuting at the UAL IT Department (2011 – 2016) Portada Universidad de Almería

Telecommuting Project Goals: Facilitate the reconciliation of work and family Increase the commitment and motivation of employees Improve the Telecommuting culture through flexibility, autonomy and personal responsability Monitor work through the achievement of objetives and not only through work attendance 2

As of today 12 IT technicians telecommute They work from home 3 or 4 days a week and they work on site 1 or 2 days a week. They have flexible schedule, but need to work at least 3 hours in between 8: 00 and 15: 00 (UAL working time) Monitor work is basically based on the achievement of the objetives 3

Who can’t do telecommuting Technicians offering public services Technicias working on ICT infrastructures (network, servers, computers classrooms, etc) 4

Tools Communication: Adobe connect, skype, hangout, telefonos IP telephones, … VPN to ensure communications OTRS: Helpdesk Software … 5

What do End Users think? Faculty and Staff users were surveyed to check wether Telecommuting affected the quality of the offered Services: The 65, 00% of the users reply saying the quality offered has been “the same”. The 10, 00% indicate the quality offered has been “a little bit better” with Telecommuting. The 25, 00% indicate the quality offered has been “much better” with Telecommuting. The results indicate that the Service provided is not worse when the technician is working from 6

What do teleworkers think? Pros: Saving on gas. Saving time. Less dependet on work schedule, it helps to combine family and professional life. It enhances quality life. More focused on work. Higher work perfomance. Less stress. Less fatigue. Higher flexibility when it comes to managing those tasks that do not require of connected users; these are tasks that must be performed after normal working hours 7

What do teleworkers think? Cons: Decreased personal interactions with colleagues & Similar professional interactions with colleagues. “Accumulation of tasks for the Onsite presence days. There are still many colleagues and users that do not realized we are available EVERY DAY”. Some teleworkers may have occasionally experienced network problems. 8

Personal experiences My benefits living abroad are unquestionable. I go to the University two months per year and telecommute the rest of the months Best part, I can accomodate my schedule to my kids school time. I have a meeting with my boss every Monday, so I know my work for the rest of the week. Usually our goals are clear, and I can organize my work. My interactions with users are the same independently on the place where I work. 9

Other benefits Saved average number of kilometers person per day: 55. As a whole, the 12 teleworkers are avoiding driving up to 200. 000 km a year, which corresponds to 5 trips around the world in a single year. Average time driven by a person per day: 1 hour. As a whole, the 12 teleworkers are avoiding driving up to around 4. 000 hours. Approximate gas savings per year: 14. 000 liters. CO 2 emission per year that is saved: 25. 000 kg. 10

Upcoming future of Telecommuting The IT Department will continue to encourage telecommuting, as it has brought a number of benefits to programmers, users and the University, without any significant drawbacks. The Univeristy is evaluating extending telecommuting to other areas of its administrative and finance system. 11

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