Transportation Research Related to COVID-19. Telecommuting, Remote Work, and Hybrid Schedules: Managing the Shift to a Flexible Work Future

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on day-to-day workplace operations at state departments of transportation (DOTs). Quarantine orders and requirements for physical distancing required shifts in business processes, including  modifications of telework policies that allow more employees to work remotely and allow employees with existing telework agreements to increase their remote work. This helped maintain business continuity through the pandemic disruption and may prove to be an effective way to respond to future disruptions.  In the wake of the COVID-19 experience, the increased use of flexible work arrangements is becoming a permanent feature of the future of work. Flexible work arrangements allow employees to work all or part of the workweek remotely from alternative locations (e.g., home office, co-working space, or satellite office), and/or on an alternative schedule. While often viewed as a reward offered to strong performers, flexible work arrangements can be a strategy to improve the performance of employees who thrive on a schedule and situation different from the typical, 9-to-5 office setting.  As agency leadership, managers, and employees consider longer-term and wider adoption of flexible working environments, they must consider the benefits and risks for the agency as well as for individual employees and their supervisors.  The objectives of this research were to (1) conduct a rapid review of the recent experience of state DOTs in increased use of flexible work environments; (2) synthesize the recent experience to identify successful practices and key considerations; and (3) develop a template for managers and employees to assess their suitability for a flexible work environment. The template is designed to inform decisions about remote work and modified work schedules for a wide range of state DOT job types. The information collected using the template can support the aggregation of assessments for reporting to agency leadership.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5089

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $150000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 23-13(01)

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Hartell, Ann

• Performing Organizations:

  ICF Incorporated

  ,    
• Principal Investigators:

  Heinen, Beth

• Start Date: 20220505
• Expected Completion Date: 20230604
• Actual Completion Date: 20230604

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Communicable diseases; COVID-19; Employees; Lessons learned; Personnel performance; Productivity; State of the practice; Telecommuting
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01767992
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 23-13(01)
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Mar 24 2021 6:10PM