In this age of G-Chat, Skype, and GoToMeeting, we currently have more opportunities to engage our peers electronically than we have ever had before. These technological developments have lead to developments in employees’ expectations about their need to be in the office to complete the tasks that fall under their professional purview. Review the following alternative work arrangement resources to ensure that your office is keeping speed with others in the industry.

• Alliance for Innovation offers examples of policies in place in local governments that provide new solutions to address employee morale, energy savings, improved customer service and more efficient use of transportation corridors in their report, “Alternative Work Week Innovations.”
• Chyleen A. Arbon, Rex L. Facer II, and Lori L. Wadsworth review the implications of compressed 40-hour work weeks in their article “Alternative Work Schedules: Recent Research & Practice.”
• A user-generated question solicited a request for copies of performance measurement results after governments implementing a compressed workweek/alternative work schedule. Review the question and responses here.
• Be sure to read through Peter Dunn’s post to the In the Know blog for all the info on how to celebrate the alternative work week in National Work From Home Week, the first week of each October.
• A user-generated question, “Supervisors Attending Meetings Remotely,” spawned a discussion about policies for remote attendance to committee meetings for County Board Supervisors.

To learn more about how you can implement and correct alternative work week policies in your community, browse through the Knowledge Network’s Career Resources, Professional and Personal Development, Personnel Matters, and Telecommuting topic pages.  If you have any resources that highlight how your government has recently made changes to your work week policies, please share them with your peers on the Documents page.

Aloha,

James Davidson

ICMA Knowledge Network Intern

jdavidson@icma.org