Tax commissioner hails Telework Day as success

WASHINGTON - Virginia Telework Day is being hailed as a success, at least by one state agency. Virginia Tax Commissioner Janie E. Bowen says 525 of the agency's 644 employees worked at home Monday -- a one day record.

By doing so, they saved taxpayers about $130,000 in rent, parking and utility costs. The tax department has been using some form of telework since 2001.

"Employees view it as a perk and it's been a great business decision for us," Bowen says.

"We're not only saving money, we're also seeing higher productivity, better morale and we are much more prepared to handle a disaster because we have so many employees all over the state who could still access our systems, the Internet and provide service to taxpayers."

She also says productivity in customer service has increased by about 12 percent, while the department has used fewer temporary employees.

"Turnover has dropped in our Customer Contact Center from 57 percent in 2007 to only 4.8 percent so far this year," she says.

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