Telework to be Focus of Joint Congressional Hearing

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Judiciary Committee will hold a joint hearing Nov. 18 to examine what has been described as "systemic abuses and mismanagement"of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) telework program.

ACT Government Relations Specialist Jason Pavluchuk is preparing a letter to send to the committees urging lawmakers to understand that whatever problems they might find with the USPTO program are isolated and do not reflect telework practices among employers in general -or even practices among most federal employees. The issue is not telework itself but rather, in the case of USPTO, a potential lack of managerial oversight of performance-based results.

"It's vital for members of Congress to realize telework itself is a proven, dependable, and highly effective commute alternative," said ACT Telework/Alternative Work Arrangements Council Co-Chair Elham Shirazi. "In fact, teleworking is the fastest growing commute mode."

Shirazi added, "More than half of U.S. employers offer telecommuting ranging from either on an ad-hoc basis to one day per week. The data compiled on case studies shows that when a program is implemented correctly, the return on investment can be huge. Employees are more productive than their office counterparts when working at home.  Telecommuting is common among best workplaces."

Award Winner Spotlight

ACT Connections spotlights a 2014 award winner in each issue.

Marketing & Outreach - University Award: Stanford University

When the Stanford Commute Club, which rewards eligible commuters for using alternative transportation instead of purchasing a long-term parking permit, reached a milestone of 10 years, it realized persuading even more people to opt out of solo driving would be a challenge. The university had already reduced drive-alone rates from 72 percent in 2001 to 47 percent in 2013.

The program's 10-year anniversary offered a special opportunity to leverage the milestone and build even greater visibility, enhance recruitment, and increase participation. The university decided to work on rewarding and retaining Commute Club members while making the club highly visible and attractive to drive-alone commuters to inspire them to try, and hopefully switch to, alternative transportation for their commutes.

The university developed a marketing plan and logo to leverage the 10-year celebration to further the goals of the program. The total population for outreach was approximately 10,500 commuters who were eligible for the Commute Club.

A number of program enhancements were made as part of the celebration, including an increase in Clean Air Cash and Carpool Credit from $282 to $300 per year for each member of the Commute Club (8,000+ members), and an increase in Stanford's vanpool subsidy from $200 to $300 per month per vanpool.

Special 10-year Commute Club gifts were offered to make the Commute Club logo visible around campus, raise awareness of the Commute Club, build a sense of community, convey the large number of Commute Club members (8,000+), and make the membership gift attractive as a recruitment incentive. Enhanced gifts included Timbuk2 laptop bag, Sigma TRILED bike light, fleece blanket, $10 Good Card, and others.

The university developed a "We Want You Back" promotion to encourage previous Commute Club members to return. If they scheduled a commute consultation with TDM staff or posted a ride offer or request on the Club's free ridematching services, they were entered into a prize drawing for a Breezer Downtown 5 bicycle or one of six $100 gift cards.

The university launched a "Tell Us Your Story" promotion and invited club members to share their stories about why they were members and why they chose alternative transportation. Winners were featured in outreach messages, ads, and on the Club's website. Each valid story submitted provided one prize entry to win one of five $50 gift cards. Each commuter whose story was selected also received a $50 gift card of his or her choice.

A wide array of additional marketing tactics were used, including an interactive online photo montage, a Tell-A-Friend promotion, one month of free Caltrain parking for targeted drive-alone commuters who were also eligible for free transit passes, Commute Club membership weekly prize drawings of $3,500 grand prize, $1,000 second prize, iPads, Kindles, $50 gift cards and more as incentives to join, and much more.

The university used a range of communications vehicles and messages to build awareness and encourage participation, including direct email outreach, posters and banners, articles and photos for other campus publications, and others.

The university spent approximately $117,000 over two years on the initiative, not including staff time. Results included Commute Club membership increase from 8,306 in 2011-12 to 9,064 in 2012-13; parking permit purchase increase from 19,925 permits in 2011-12 to 19,977 in 2013-14; and part-time pledge participation increased from 197 in 2012-13 to 335 in 2013-14, among others.