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© Beep Knowledge System and case owners, 2002-2003

Cases in Work and Skills.

Alcatel

Ayuda Urbana

BT Options 2000

EU Telework Pilot

KPMG K World

Muncipality of Roma

Telework-Poland

WINIT - Belgium

Executive summary of the case:
Timing of case
Options 2000 is the teleworking initiative launched on July 1st 1999.

Geographic setting
This initiative has been rolled out to BT offices throughout the UK.

Type and use of ICT
Laptops, with ISDN connection, are the primary choice. Also in use are fax, scanners and printers in one unit, together with mobile phones integrated with e-mail.

Main contributors
Large organisation
- in technology sector
- with modern management philosophy

Main beneficiaries
Any organisation with basic ICT skills and flexible management style.

Background
Options 2000, also known as O2K, was launched in July 1999 to deliver the benefits of flexible working to the British Telecom workforce. As a company with a large office based population, the potential for working smarter utilising the best of BT’s communications technology was an obvious target.

In the external market place BT markets the business and personal benefits of initiatives such as Homebased working, or varieties of remote working, delivering both significant costs savings to the employer, but perhaps more importantly, offering an improved work-life balance to the individual. Benefits in terms of recruitment and retention of staff – and a reduction on the environment of endless, perhaps unnecessary, commuting journeys were also an added attraction of this style of working. The Options 2000 programme was launched to offer the same benefits to BT and its office-based workforce.

Jobs and functions traditionally requiring an office based presence are changing, yet apart from Engineering and field sales teams, a relatively small number of the workforce were benefiting from the advantages to be achieved by managing their working day from anywhere other than their corporate office. Advances in communications technology – both in the fields of voice and data means that people can respond to customer queries, handle work and liase with a team as effectively and efficiently from a remote location. As traditional working styles of manager-team co-location had been replaced in BT some years ago by more virtual team working, the need to be co-located with a team has disappeared in some job areas.

Objectives
The objectives of this initiative are broadly covered by the following:

1. To provide a live demonstration of the technology offered to BT customers, through an in-house flexible working programme which companies could benchmark against.
2. To maximise the utilisation of the BT office estate – and rationalise where accommodation was no longer required, through increased use of flexible working alternatives.
3. To recruit and retain key staff, especially in scarce skills areas or remote geographical locations.
4. To offer a better work: life balance for BT employees.
5. To support BT’s award of the prestigious ISO14001 Environmental award through offering alternatives to the need to commute daily into a corporate office.

Resources (apart from ICT)
BT internal resources.

Activities
A specially designed website was created in order to launch the opportunity for employees to register their interest in working at home, something which existed as an option in the business, but which was not at that stage formally administered or supported.

At the same time BT launched a series of supporting flexible working products across the BT estate which would enable the transition from office-based to remote to be gradual or total – depending on what best suited the individual – and the organisation.

Outputs and results
To date 4,500 people have moved their headquarters to their home, many operating out of what was their spare bedroom.

Furniture suppliers have helped to identify a diverse range of furniture to suit most room sizes and styles, and each home office is different.

A key IT support network has been developed, ensuring that individuals receive comparable support to their corporate office based colleagues.

The Options 2000 programme has also presented a perfect marketing proposition - the opportunity for all participants in this scheme to be involved in creating the ultimate reference site for sales people to demonstrate BT's flexible working technology in action.

Of significant interest are the financial savings, which are now starting to be realised. The set up and running costs of a homebased worker compare very favourably against costs incurred in accommodating people in a corporate office environment. Annual costs, after set up, for a homebased worker are around only 27% of the costs, which would be incurred in an office building.

Lessons and conclusions
The biggest impact of the teleworking initiative in British Telecom has been changing the organisation from supporting buildings to supporting people.

Through this programme, BT is able to offer a range of flexible working solutions which are fully supported by a detailed Intranet site offering advice and information.

Unique to the Options 2000 programme is a web based training package for individuals who are considering or have made the move to work at home. The training site also includes information for managers on managing people working this way. An interactive package, it also includes a ‘café’ site where flexible workers can exchange messages and information.

To date individuals and facilities have featured in media interest in the approach BT is taking to flexible working, and in key skill areas the company promotes the ability to work flexibly as a recruitment tool.

Case description:
Background
Options 2000 is a teleworking intiative whose target is consistent with the company's policy to double the number of teleworkers each year. The company plans to have about 4,000 people teleworking as a result of this initiative, aiming primarily at the white-collar workforce.
The programme team comprises IT and Human Resource specialists and has full backing from the company's board.
The launch was preceded by a well-organised promotion campaign aimed at creating and further raising awareness about teleworking.
Initial response from employees has been very enthusiastic, and it could be envisaged that the target number of 4,000 could even be higher. However, the company wishes to follow a previously tested route, doing trials in business units and then rolling out each individual teleworking scheme in order not to overstrain the effort required in setting up logistics and organisational arrangements, which is not inconsiderable.

Objectives
The objectives of this initiative are broadly covered by the following:
1)To provide a live demonstration of the technology offered to BT customers, through an in-house flexible working programme which companies could benchmark against.
2)To maximise the utilisation of the BT office estate – and rationalise where accommodation was no longer required, through increased use of flexible working alternatives.
3)To recruit and retain key staff, especially in scarce skills areas or remote geographical locations.
4)To offer a better work: life balance for BT employees.
5)To support BT’s award of the prestigious ISO14001 Environmental award through offering alternatives to the need to commute daily into a corporate office.

Resources
BT internal resources.

Activities
Options 2000 is giving every white collar worker in British Telecom the option to ask to telework. There is an onus on line managers to consider their requests, and the emphasis is on facilitating them where both the job and the person are considered to be suitable for teleworking.

The intiative benefits from the existing ICT infrastructure, with the emphasis being on providing laptops as these can be shared amongst teleworkers as well as accomodating mobile working, or working from the client's premises. Depending on the type of task performed by the teleworker, software design, for example, some people would need more powerful PCs at home and are accomodated accordingly.

One of the most important aspects of this infrastructure is the availability of the company's Internet. All data in British Telecom is managed through the internet and both group messaging and e-mail communications rely on the availability of remote access to the BT network.

Organisational solutions are also offered. a virtual furniture store enables teleworkers to choose, order and receive delivery of furniture for their home office, and a virtual stationary store offers the same arrangements for ordering on-line.
The evaluation of the teleworking initiative entails regular questionaires, focus group interviews and productivity measures.

Output and Results
Teleworkers' web scenes and news groups are available on the company's Intranet, which increases interaction between them.

There is also a business TV channel delivered over the Intranet, which can be accessed using BSL technology giving high-speed access from remote locations.

It has been estimated that work productivity has been increased by 20%, and as a result of this programme the speed at which products reach the market has been enhanced.

Development teams often comprise workers in more than one location, and they are able to work together more easily and quickly by teleworking.

Lessons and conclusions
Many of the innovative aspects of teleworking in British Telecom relate to the network support.

Due to the importance of the availability of the company's Internet site to support this initiative, effort has been invested into making this faster and more reliable, and teleworking has seen the problems of peak-time usage decrease significantly.