Background

In July, as part of the Telework Transformation Project, WSDOT adopted a goal of 30-40% telework for all employees once it is safe to return to the office.

In September, a telework transformation initiative team conducted a Future of Telework survey from September 16 - 25 (Survey PDF). The main purposes of this survey were to 1) quantify employee interest in post-COVID telework, 2) determine if sustained telework can be successful for meeting the agency’s business need, and 3) to determine if any significant barriers to telework exist to help prioritize efforts to resolve them.

This report summarizes the findings of the survey, including providing a link to further breakdowns at the regional, divisional, and programmatic levels.

For more information, please contact Michael Wandler at .

Who Took the Survey?

More than 2,600 of WSDOT’s 6,600 employees took the Future of Telework survey (a 40% response rate). If the 2,600 responses were a completely random sample, the data would be statistically valid and representative of all WSDOT employees. However, there was a strong self-selection bias in this survey towards employees in job classes capable of telework. 1

The results below apply to and represent WSDOT employees who can telework at least occasionally, and mostly to WSDOT employees who can telework up to full time (i.e., approximately 50% of the total positions at WSDOT). The results are not representative of WSDOT employees who have limited ability to telework (e.g., Washington State Ferries fleet, highway maintenance workers).

While participation in this survey was not compulsory for non-teleworking staff, there are additional efforts underway to better understand the effect on those employees of having coworkers who are regularly teleworking, so WSDOT can be thoughtful about how to best support all agency staff as widespread telework continues.

Key Takeaway

Respondents can achieve a high level of sustained, successful telework that will meet the agency’s benchmark.

Key Success Metrics

Respondents are interested in continuing to telework.

  • Based on the amount of desired telework expressed in the survey, WSDOT employees want to telework almost 35% of the time on average.

Respondents are satisfied teleworking.

  • Most respondents (81%) continue to be satisfied or very satisfied with their telework experience.

Supervisor respondents feel that their teams are as or more productive now than before mandatory telework.

  • Supervisors of telework-eligible positions estimated that 29% of their teams were somewhat or much more productive while teleworking, compared to 19% who estimated their teams were somewhat or much less productive (of this group, only 2% fell into the much less productive category).

Supervisor respondents support telework and staff feel supported.

  • Most supervisor respondents (93%) are supportive of approving their teams to telework up to full time.
  • Most respondents (76%) feel they have the support they need to telework as much as they want, while only 6% feel they do not.

There are limited and solvable challenges for sustained telework.

  • Respondents identified barriers, but most have a minimal effect on overall employee satisfaction or may naturally lessen once employees can mix in-office and remote work.

The report examines each of these metrics in more detail below.

Future Amounts of Telework

Potential Telework

Main takeaway:

  • The majority of respondents (82%) can successfully do most (60% or more) of their work from home.

Notes:

  • To explore work schedules and electronic equipment used, click the arrow to the left or right of the chart below.
  • To the bottom-right of each chart there is an “n=” and a number. This number is the total amount of people who answered the question.

Desired Telework

Main takeaway:

  • The responses indicate that WSDOT should see a high level of sustained telework even after it is safe to return to the office. 2

Fast facts:

  • One-third of respondents are interested in teleworking full time.
  • Over two-thirds of respondents are interested in teleworking at least three days a week.
  • Only 4% of respondents with telework-eligible positions indicated they do not want to telework at all.

Bar graph of best estimate for how ofen you are interested in teleworking

Benchmark Comparisons

Background:

  • The post-COVID, agency-wide telework benchmark is between 30-40%.3

Main takeaway:

  • The survey data indicated WSDOT should be in position to achieve the agency’s benchmark for success.

Fast facts:

  • By allowing respondents to telework the amount they want, WSDOT could reach about 67% average telework across telework-eligible positions (approximately 33.5% across all positions).4
  • This is before WSDOT develops any other policies to sustain telework post-COVID. Developing such policies could push that number closer to the 81% of potential telework estimated by survey respondents.
Measure Percent
Potential Telework Percent 81
Desired Telework Percent 67

Glossary of terms in the table below:

  • Response Count: Number of respondents who selected the job category
  • Response Rate Percent: Number of respondents divided by total estimated employees in the job category
  • Potential Telework Percent: Average percent of work that respondents identified can be done from home for the job category
  • Desired Telework Percent: Average percent of time respondents indicated they would like to telework for the job category 5
  • Goal Telework Percent: Percent of employees in the job classification who need to telework in order to reach WSDOT’s overall high-end benchmark of 40% telework
Job Response Count Response Rate Percent Potential Telework Percent Desired Telework Percent Goal Telework Percent
Bridge Engineer 48 42 78 66 80
Communications Consultant 50 100 94 81 80
Financial Services 100 76 90 78 80
Highway Maintenance Supervisor 26 35 48 36 60
HR Consultant 41 68 93 78 80
IT Positions 174 62 90 79 80
Property & Acquisition Specialist 58 74 85 75 70
Technical Engineer 111 100 83 67 80
Transportation Engineer - Construction 247 100 72 62 40
Transportation Engineer - Design 413 47 89 69 80
Transportation Planning Specialist 209 64 90 78 80
WMS 335 55 86 66 80

Telework Experience

Satisfaction

Main takeaway:

  • The majority of respondents (81%) are satisfied with their telework experience.

Fast facts:

  • For the respondents who were teleworking, 55% said they were very satisfied and 26% said they were satisfied.6
  • Overall, most respondents (81%) continue to enjoy their telework experience. This is a 10 percentage point increase from the spring survey, where 71% of respondents said they were at least somewhat satisfied with teleworking.
  • Using information from the open-ended comments, potential factors that increased satisfaction from spring to fall are:
    • Decrease in connectivity and electronic equipment issues: WSDOT’s IT groups and others have worked to expand network capacity, increased remote connection options, and rolled out new software (e.g., Microsoft Teams).
    • Increase in support for employees’ well being: HR, WSDOT executives, and initiative teams have worked to provide more options, including flexible work-life integration options and the ability to take home work chairs and electronic equipment.
    • Resiliency and adaptability of WSDOT’s staff: employees found ways to make telework more enjoyable and productive.
    • Slightly different composition of people who took the survey: most employees who work in the field have been able to return to their normal job duties.

Bar graph of satisfaction with telework experience

The comments below represent the overall themes.

Satisfied respondents

“It became clear how much I can do from home”
— Respondent Comment
“I have found GREAT life/work balance”
— Respondent Comment

Unsatisfied respondents

“There are people who do not have access to broadband internet”
— Respondent Comment
“Get us back in the office”
— Respondent Comment

Productivity

Main takeaway:

  • While some teams did better or worse, overall, respondents who supervise telework-eligible positions said their teams were more productive during mandatory telework.

Fast facts:

  • Almost one-third of supervisor respondents felt their teams were more productive while teleworking.
  • Less than one-fifth of supervisor respondents felt their teams were less productive while teleworking.
  • About half of supervisor respondents felt their teams were performing at the same level.7

Bar graph of how productive is your team since mandatory telework

Supervisor Support

According to Supervisors

Main takeaway:

  • Most respondents who supervise telework-eligible positions said they were supportive of the employees they supervise teleworking up to full time.

Fast facts:

  • Of supervisors who oversee telework-eligible positions, 93% are supportive or very supportive of allowing employees to telework as much as they want post-COVID.
  • In total, 860 supervisors responded to the survey (35% of all respondents).
  • Of those 860, 60 supervisors (7%) were unsupportive of allowing the employees they supervise to telework, and only 8 (1%) were very unsupportive.

Bar graph of how supportive of telework

“Teleworking isn’t just equipment we need to work from home, it’s also the personal connections we need to make and maintain in order to do our jobs and feel productive. We need to provide support and training on how to build and maintain work relationships remotely.”
— Supervisor Comment

According to Employees

Main takeaway:

  • In addition to supervisors voicing their overwhelming support for telework, most respondents also report feeling supported by their supervisors in their decision to telework in the future.

Fast facts:

  • Only 6% of respondents (128 people) feel they will not have the necessary support to telework as much as they want.
  • Another one-fifth of respondents are not sure about the support they will receive.

Bar graph of necessary support to telework as much as you want

Anticipated Concerns

  • For the Telework Transformation initiative teams to develop training, outreach, and additional support for potential challenges, the survey asked respondents what types of challenges they were anticipating to their ability to telework in the future. This question was only asked of 518 respondents who responded “No” or “I don’t know” to the question: “Do you feel you will have the necessary support to telework as much as you want once it is safe to return to the office?”

Main takeaway:

  • Lack of supervisor support and ergonomic/equipment issues were the top potential barriers for those respondents that felt they would not or were not sure if they had support to telework as much as they wanted one it was safe to return to the office.

Fast facts:

  • For respondents (242) who said that they did not feel or did not know if they had support to telework as much as they want, the main challenge they anticipated was a lack of supervisor support.
  • About half as many respondents (116) were concerned about ergonomic and equipment challenges.
  • It is important to remember that these are very small percentages of overall respondents.

Bar graph of anticipated barriers

Advanced Analysis

  • We looked at how supervisors’ feelings about productivity influenced their support for telework post-COVID.

Main takeaway:

  • Almost all supervisor respondents who felt the employees they supervise were at least as productive as before were supportive of telework post-COVID.

Fast facts:

  • Supervisor respondents who felt productivity was down preferred the idea of limiting telework in the future.
  • It is possible that the duties overseen by unsupportive supervisors are a poor fit for remote work.
    • Alternatively, a supervisor’s feelings about lowered productivity might change. Training to supervise based on deliverables (especially instead of the line-of-sight supervisory method) might boost support by showing employees are more productive than a supervisor originally thought.

Bar graph of team productivity opinion by supervisor support for telework

Challenges

Current Challenges

Main takeaways:

  • Over 25% of respondents did not feel they had any challenges with teleworking.
  • For those who did, social connection and functional furniture were the biggest challenges.
    • These challenges may largely be related to mandated, full-time telework. A mix of telework and in-office work post-COVID may address these challenges.

Fast facts:

  • Nearly 28% (721) of respondents said they were not facing any challenges with telework.
  • For the 72% (1,897) of respondents who said they were facing challenges with telework, the top three were:
    • Lack of or diminished social connection to coworkers (e.g., miss the banter, need short conversations to recharge)
    • Workstation furniture (e.g., chair, desk) is not as functional
    • Lack of or diminished work-related access to coworkers (e.g., questions, discussions)

Bar graph of telework challenges

Keeping Connected

Main takeaway:

  • Most respondents (86%) felt that their teams have been good at keeping connected.

Bar graph of my coworkers are good at keeping connected

Open Response Comments

General comments

Main takeaway:

  • Most respondents are still happy with their ability to telework.

Fast fact:

  • The survey received almost 800 comments, most of them positive.

Bar graph of percentage of attitude towards teleworking

Main takeaway:

  • There were ten categories that captured a theme for most of the comments the survey received.

Fast fact:

  • Most of the comments were either pro-telework or focused on resources.

Bar graph of percentage of categories in comments

The comments below represent the overall themes.

Telework saves employees time and money:

“I had never teleworked before the pandemic. But now that I’m in and used to it…forget having good work/life balance I have found GREAT life/work balance and I don’t ever want to go back. I can’t believe how much time in my life was wasted the old way. Time is precious; I’m not wasting anymore!”
— Respondent Comment

With mandatory telework, flexibility is boosting morale among WSDOT employees:

“One of my favorite things about WSDOT is the flexible work schedules and options to help accommodate for other things happening in our lives!”
— Respondent Comment
“The ability to create a flexible schedule on the fly has been invaluable. E.g., if my son has a meltdown and needs help during the school day, I can simply work an extra hour at the end of the day or beginning of the next. I have this flexibility and appreciate it.”
— Respondent Comment
“Very fortunate for supervisor support and grace as I have a 4th grader at home and trying to keep him on task is quite the chore. I end up working into the later evening to catch up during quiet time.”
— Respondent Comment

WSDOT should modernize its approach in some areas:

“We may need to look at updating some of our older drawings, manuals that are currently only in hard copy. We need to look at updating the scanned copies, the old scans are not always legible.”
— Respondent Comment
“WSDOT User account at a FedEx or UPS center where one can print and mail documents if needed.”
— Respondent Comment

Challenges comments

Background:

  • After the survey asked employees to name challenges, a text box was provided to crowd source solutions to those challenges.

Main takeaway:

  • The comments and suggestions focused mainly on equipment (40% of comments), stipends (15%), and flexibility (8%).

Fast facts:

  • This section of the survey received almost 600 comments.
  • Some employees left comments about needing more guidance. A good first step is for WSDOT to make sure employees know about the large collection of telework resources and information on the agency’s Telework Transformation intranet page.
  • Many comments focused on the need for more equipment such as computers, printers, and phones.
  • There were a substantial number of comments thanking WSDOT for the flexibility employees have had to integrate work into the overall demands of their lives, especially during such uncertain and difficult times.

Bar graph of attitudes in challenges comments

The comments below represent the overall themes.

More guidance and training can help WSDOT avoid pitfalls and be even more efficient:

“WSDOT needs to recognize that teleworking isn’t just equipment we need to work from home, its also the personal connections we need to make and maintain in order to do our jobs and feel productive. We need to provide support and training on how to build and maintain work relationships remotely. We also need support and direction on functioning effectively in a electronic work environment. [Microsoft] Teams and Skype are nice tools but we need to learn how to use them more effectively. The most common issue of I’ve heard is on line meeting fatigue. I’ve also seen frustration as people feel their message isn’t being heard in an electronic meeting.”
— Respondent Comment

Having the right equipment boosts productivity:

“While teleworking, I have discovered how I can do most of my work at home…Once WSDOT provided me with the tools I needed like a laptop and printer, it became clear how much I can do from home.”
— Respondent Comment
“It has been a transformation teleworking as a Highway Maintenance Supervisor. I have been able to continue to accomplish and perform my duties teleworking. My staff are out there performing their duties keeping the roadway opened and the safety rest areas operational for the traveling public. Our communication in keeping informed both ways between my staff has been functional…[A]s a highway maintenance supervisor having a vehicle assigned for me to take home so I could respond [would help]; my ability to deploy from home is more direct to and from incidents.”
— Respondent Comment
“I feel like the laptop is not as conducive to my work as my desktop station. I often have issues with the remote desktop connection. I am hoping that taking my desktop station home becomes an option for maximized work efficacy.”
— Respondent Comment
“If this is long term after COVID19; WSDOT should provide all the technology necessary to mimic the work station at home. Specifically, I need a docking station capable of supporting dual monitors, and 2 monitors. Also needed is office furniture: IE a desk chair that is ergonomic for a full days work and potentially a desk specific for my WSDOT work station. Lastly; I am a design team lead; I have to coordinate with project stakeholders, consultants and members of the public. It would be nice to have a WSDOT provided cell phone so that I am not in the position of using my personal phone to coordinate with these groups.”
— Respondent Comment

Thoughts and questions about Internet connectivity:

“What is WSDOT’s role vs employee’s role in getting internet connectivity, telephone calls with the general public - most of my team doesn’t have a work phone, and we can’t call citizens through MS Teams or Skype, so their only option is to use their personal cell phone. As organization manager, am I required to budget phones for every team member? Is it the larger WSDOT agency responsibility? What about their internet connection or hot spots? Most of my team lives in rural locations with poor internet - where is the line between their responsibility, mine as their org supervisor, or greater WSDOT? Please keep in mind that my team is eligible for telework for most of their job duties, and will continue to telework in the future.”
— Respondent Comment
“Live in an area where Century Link DSL is the best internet available. Going to put another line in so that I don’t hog all the bandwidth from the family all day (tough with homeschooling), but that will cost another $45 per month. I remote into my desktop computer at the office and utilize that fast connection a LOT for downloads, PDF Pro, etc. Am concerned that if you someday allow for a Internet cost reimbursement, I will be required to give up that office and lose my remote connection to a desktop that I rely on now.”
— Respondent Comment

Comments about stipends and incentives:

“Stipend to cover expenses related to internet, phone, furniture, electronic equipment (printer, webcam, headphones, etc.). It is disheartening to hear that some folks in WSDOT are getting stipends and others are not. But, having said that, we would prefer not to get a stipend if that means that layoffs don’t occur.”
— Respondent Comment
“I would be willing to commit to teleworking most or all of my time if there were a stipend I could get to buy a work desk.”
— Respondent Comment

Spring Survey Comparison

Background:

  • Most of the questions asked on the spring and fall surveys were different. However, where possible, we compared answers received to the fall survey with responses to similar questions from the April Telework Survey.

Main takeaway:

  • Respondents are even more satisfied with telework.

Fast facts:

  • Satisfaction with telework increased from 71% to 81% between the spring and fall surveys.
  • The majority of growth was in the “very satisfied” category.
  • There were a few people in the “very unsatisfied” category as telework is not preferred by everyone.

Bar graph of satisfaction with telework

Main takeaways:

  • The biggest shift in productivity was away from “somewhat less productive” and “much less productive” to “about the same.”
  • This implies that respondents who were struggling with productivity under the new circumstances of mandatory telework in spring have found ways to be more successful over time.
  • It is also likely that some of the respondents who were less productive in spring have returned to jobs in the field.

Bar graph of productivity with telework

Main takeaways:

  • The top challenges have changed between spring and fall.
  • The main commonality for challenges across surveys are workstations at home that are not as functional as the ones in the office.

Fast facts:

  • In the spring, the top three barriers were all related to equipment: work station is not as functional (34%), lack of access to work systems (30%), and connectivity issues (29%).
  • In the fall, the barriers focused more on interaction, with the top three being social connection (55%), workstation furniture (49%), and work access to coworkers (43%).

Additional Analysis

Background:

  • This section discusses some cross-tabulation analyses on the following combination of data:
    • Telework satisfaction and coworker access
    • Telework satisfaction and workstation furniture
    • Telework satisfaction and desire to telework post-COVID
    • Positions with potential to telework and desire to telework post-COVID
    • Desire to telework post-COVID and coworker access
    • Desire to telework post-COVID and social connection
    • Desire to telework post-COVID and workstation furniture

Main takeaway:

  • Helping people strengthen work-related access to coworkers has great potential to improve overall satisfaction with telework. Less than 20% of people who were very satisfied with telework said they were struggling with work-related access to their colleagues, while over 80% of people who were unsatisfied said this was a challenge. 8

Bar graph of telework satisfaction by work connection

Main takeaway:

  • Of the top three barriers, not having functional furniture had the smallest effect on overall satisfaction. The percentage of people who indicated workstation furniture was a challenge were approximately equal for the “Satisfied,” “Neutral,” and “Unsatisfied” groups.

Bar graph of telework satisfaction by work furniture

Main takeaway:

  • There is a strong positive relationship between satisfaction with teleworking and the desire to telework more post-COVID.

Fast fact:

  • Respondents who expressed interest in teleworking three or more days a week had close to a 90% rate or higher of satisfaction with telework.

Bar graph of best estimate for how ofen you are interested in teleworking by satisfaction

Main takeaway:

  • There is a strong positive relationship between positions with more potential to telework and the desire to telework more post-COVID.

Fast facts:

  • Most respondents selected an amount of future telework that was within their estimated potential.
  • Over 100 respondents indicated a desire to telework more often than the estimated potential for their jobs.

Bar graph of best estimate for how ofen you are interested in teleworking by telework potential

Main takeaways:

  • Respondents who felt only a small lack of work-related connection are more likely to want to telework full-time.
  • Respondents who said that a lack of work-related connection was a barrier expressed a desire to telework post-COVID that barely differed from all respondents.

Bar graph of best estimate for how ofen you are interested in teleworking by work connection barrier

Main takeaway:

  • Respondents who felt a lack of social connection followed a similar pattern, with the relationship between the variables being even less pronounced.

Bar graph of best estimate for how ofen you are interested in teleworking by social connection barrier

Main takeaways:

  • Similar to telework satisfaction, the furniture functionality barrier had the smallest effect on desired telework of any of the three top barriers.
  • In other words, while many respondents selected furniture as a challenge, it did not lower the desire to telework for most respondent. This could be because some respondents have some of their workstation furniture at home during mandatory telework.

Bar graph of best estimate for how ofen you are interested in teleworking by furniture functionality barrier

More Information

We have prepared many of these same charts broken down by three designations:

  • Job classes (with over 100 responses)
  • Regions (i.e., the six regions around the state and HQ, WSF, mega projects, and urban mobility & access)
  • Appointing authority (to capture individual divisions and programs)

The breakdowns are here.

For custom breakdowns, please contact Michael Wandler at with the org code(s) for which you are interested in seeing results.

  1. Estimates for participation are: 
    Regular Teleworkers - Of the approximately 3,000 positions at WSDOT that are capable of up to full-time telework, approximately 1,950 employees responded, for a response rate of 65%. This is statistically valid and representative for all of those ~3,000 positions. 
    Occasional Teleworkers - Of the approximately 600 positions at WSDOT that are capable of occasional telework, approximately 470 employees responded, for a response rate of 80%. This is statistically valid and representative for all of those ~600 positions. 
    Non-Teleworkers - Of the approximately 3,000 positions at WSDOT that are not well suited for telework (e.g., Washington State Ferries fleet employees, highway maintenance workers), approximately 200 employees responded, for a response rate of 7%. This is not statistically valid or representative for those positions.↩

  2. Note that the respondents only represent the 50% of WSDOT employees with telework-eligible positions. The other 50% of employees do not have telework-eligible positions. Therefore, the overall percent of WSDOT employees interested in teleworking full time is around 16.5% (i.e., 50% of 33%), with approximately 33.5% (i.e., 50% of 67%) desirous of teleworking at least three days a week.↩

  3. As almost all of the survey respondents were in the 50% of WSDOT’s positions that are telework-eligible, their desired telework amount would need to be between 60-80% to meet that benchmark. This is because the other 50% of WSDOT employees will not be teleworking. The math looks like this: [50% teleworkers x 60% telework] + [50% non-teleworkers x 0% telework] = [30%] + [0%] = 30%↩

  4. As the respondents only represent the 50% of WSDOT employees with telework eligible positions, when the 50% of non-teleworking staff is used to average the overall amounts of telework, the agency-wide numbers are 33.5% for desired telework and 40.5% for potential telework.↩

  5. Desired telework was calculated by dividing those answers by a person’s schedule to determine a percentage. For example, a person working 4/10s who indicated they wanted to telework 3 days a week was assigned a desired percentage of 75% (3 telework days divided by 4 workdays), while a person working 5/8s who indicated they wanted to telework 3 days a week was assigned a desired percentage of 60% (3 telework days divided by 5 workdays).↩

  6. The chart does not show the 7% of respondents who were not teleworking. This standardizes the percentages compared to the spring survey, as the spring survey did not include a “did not telework” category, as non-teleworkers skipped past the question.↩

  7. For the spring survey, the survey asked employees to estimate their own productivity. To help remove any potential bias in the answers, this survey asked supervisors to evaluate their teams’ productivity. Whereas employee respondents estimated their productivity to be the same overall, the supervisor respondents, who track deliverables and should have a good strong grasp on what is being accomplished, indicated an overall increase in productivity. This is a promising trend and also speaks to the adaptability of WSDOT’s workforce in their ability to find ways to do their jobs more efficiently while working from home.↩

  8. For the very unsatisfied group in each chart, the percentage of people struggling with any of the top three challenges is often most similar to the very satisfied group. This shows that the very unsatisfied group finds telework generally challenging, not because of any specific external reason. For these respondents, ending mandated telework when it is safe to do so may be the best solution.↩