Telecommuting Centers Are Off to a Slow Start

Pilot programs at Moorpark and Ventura colleges that aim to place workers in on-campus telecommuting centers--and that have cost more than $230,000 so far--have attracted a total of one user.

Supporters say it takes six months to a year to fully market the centers, which have been on-line since early January, and that coming years will see more and more people using such facilities.

But some critics are concerned about the cost of the centers, which offer personal computers, phone and facsimile lines, copy machines and teleconferencing services to employees as incentives to avoid commuting.

Even Edward Tennen, the Moorpark College dean administering the program at his campus, acknowledges the center has been less than successful so far.

“The program has problems,” he said. “We hope to identify clientele that are an appropriate fit for what we have to offer. But unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.”

Last fall, the two colleges each were awarded $117,000 grants to launch the centers under a plan by the state Department of Transportation to reduce highway commuting.

Since November, college officials have been installing the equipment and marketing the program to area employers as an alternative to driving to work. Currently, there is no charge for using the facilities, though any extended use would probably lead to a monthly fee.

Tom Lewis, a purchasing agent who works in San Francisco, spent a month working at Ventura College when he needed to visit his sick father in Camarillo.

He was forced to either telecommute or take four weeks of unpaid leave from work, he said.

“I’ve got everything here but the hassle,” Lewis said last week, before moving back to the Bay Area. “There are certain meetings I can’t really participate in, but I don’t really miss those.”

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Beyond telecommuting, college officials say, the centers will one day offer teleconferencing and distance learning--teaching classes to students at multiple sites.

Despite some criticism, program supporters say they are tapping into future work trends.

“The purpose of the grant was to provide a research study to determine if telecommuting is a viable . . . strategy,” Ventura College Dean Kay Faulconer said. “Eventually, telecommuting will keep people off the roads, which would have an impact on the need for more highways.”

Under terms of the award, college officials are sending their findings to UC Davis researchers who study commuter trends.

“It’s understandable that people want very quick results,” said Carol Buckinger, the UC Davis program manager. “But I think those two centers are going to be very successful. It’s a matter of people getting used to the idea.”

The Ventura and Moorpark campuses are the only two community colleges in California participating in the experiment, but the program is scheduled to expand to six more community colleges later this year.

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UC Davis “has indicated that they’re really pleased with the project,” Faulconer said of the centers, each of which offers five workstations. “The information we’re providing them, they say, is very valuable for their purposes.”

But local taxpayer advocates said spending $234,000 so one person can take advantage of a pilot telecommuting program does not appear worthwhile.

“It sounds like this is a program that’s looking to the future,” said Michael Saliba, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. “However, any time you’re looking at expenditures of funds, you need to look at the cost-benefit analysis.

“Although this program has only been going a few months, now would be a good time to look at why there has not been more response,” Saliba said.

H. Jere Robings of the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers agreed.

“The cost-benefit ratio does not look good for a program that’s costing that kind of money,” Robings said. “I know people that telecommute, but primarily they do it from home, with their own computers.

“I hesitate to say it’s going to be a total failure, because I don’t think enough is known about it,” he said. “But they might better have spent the money on doing a needs assessment.”

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What’s more, the district has yet to receive any reimbursements for the money it has spent up front.

“I’m fairly comfortable that we have the guarantee we need to be reimbursed for the funds we’ve expended so far,” said Sue Johnson, the district’s comptroller.

Consultant Lois Phillips has spent much of the past few months pitching the centers to public and private employers, writing a brochure marketing the program and planning advertising campaigns to drum up more interest.

“It’s a little befuddling at first because many conventional managers wonder how to supervise employees who are not sitting under their nose,” said Phillips, who works under a $10,000 marketing contract with the three-campus district. “But research shows us it will increase productivity and morale.”

Officials at the state chancellor’s office, which selected the Moorpark and Ventura campuses in part because of their proximity to last year’s Northridge earthquake, said they are satisfied with the results so far.

“The information age is here,” said LeBaron Woodyard of the state chancellor’s office. “I have a 6-year-old kid who already knows the Internet. Pretty soon, (telecommuting) will be a way of life.”

But Steve Wright, a project manager for GTE who works from his home in Camarillo, said the most successful telecommuting centers are those established by private employers.

“There’s been a lot of good intentions here, and there have been some minor successes,” he said of publicly funded telecommuting experiments. “But it’s an idea that hasn’t seemed to catch on.

“What does work are these private telecommuting centers, where the business culture is maintained, and working at home.”

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FYI

For more information about the program at Ventura College, call 648-8980. To find out more about the Moorpark College center, call 378-1590.