It’s National Telework Week!
National Telework Week (12 – 16 November) will highlight the importance of telework in the anywhere working world.
The premier event for National Telework Week will be the Telework Congress: Unlocking Productivity, where the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and Minister Senator Stephen Conroy will give opening addresses, held at Melbourne University on 12 November www.teleworkcongress.com.au .
It’s not too late to get involved, visit www.telework.gov.au and check out how to join, use the Return on Investment tools, learn about our Telework Partners and the events they are organising, and discover information about the benefits of telework for employers and employees, how to get started with telework in your organisation, and the benefits the NBN will bring to your telework experience.
Following the Minister’s invitation for organisations to become our Telework Partners, between March and October 140 organisations, including some of Australia’s leading companies and many small and medium enterprises, regional organisations, research organisations, not for profit organisations and government agencies at the commonwealth, state and local level, have become Telework Partners with the Department. Many of our Partners are holding events to celebrate National Telework Week, as well as registering their own employees to participate through www.telework.gov.au , and promoting the benefits of telework through different media. They are also creating landing pages on their own websites to drive traffic back to www.telework.gov.au , using the digital badge we have provided.
Our Research Organisation Partners have formed the Australia Anywhere Working Research Network to focus the research effort on supporting evidence based policy for organisations, individual employer and employees and wider public policy, especially in urban planning, transport and workforce participation, including people living in regional areas and those with a disability. This will be launched by the Centre for Workforce Futures, Macquarie University, at an event in Sydney on 15 November. Another exciting event is the Teleworkforce Conference being hosted by the Melbourne-based Infoxchange that will highlight the benefits of telework and digital productivity for the community sector www.infoxchange.net.au/teleworkforce
Other telework promotion events include a Digital Expo in Brisbane www.clickdigitalexpo.com.au/ , Working Part-time and at Home seminars by Oak Telecom and Shave HR in Melbourne, the Ways to Work Conference at the ANU and the APS Telework in Action Workshop in Canberra, and the Telework and Wellbeing seminar at the University of Sydney. Coffs Harbour City Council, RDA NSW Central Coast and City of Mandurah in WA are all running events to highlight the importance of telework for regional and peri-urban commuter areas into our major cities. Adelaide is hosting two events, one by the Adelaide City Council and one by the Office of the Chief Information Office, South Australian Government. The Digital Communities group in the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy have worked with their digital service providers to organise events in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Cisco and the Australian Human Resource Institute are providing free virtual briefings at Cisco Telepresence centres in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane on the people and culture issues of a mobile workforce www.cisco.com/web/ANZ/workyourway.html . Citrix Online are promoting a special 90 day trial for team of up to 10 people across of their products through www.mobilework.com.au/trial . They will also promote ‘Work Anywhere: Trends in Mobility, Collaboration and the Future of Work’ featuring Chris Brogan a New York Times author and leading US voice on telework and mobile working. http://learn.gotomeeting.com/110112-ANZ-G2MC-WBR-S?ID=70150000000YVyN . Citrix also provide a range of white papers and other resources through their services to support organisations seeking to implement telework policies Download https://news.citrixonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/10-Ways-to-Transform-Your-Business-by-Embracing-Flexible-Work.pdf
Visit www.telework.gov.au for more information.
