With the end of the federal shutdown, furloughed agency staff members are finally returning to work.

The option for employees to work from home is becoming a widely-accepted model in businesses that have the necessary structural capabilities.

In order to inspire growth in a company, more businesses are looking at telework as an option for expansion.

As telework continues to advance as a viable workplace model, questions of speed and employee productivity become less concerning to employers.

Advancements in collaborative technology has made telework a growing standard in the workplace model.

Integrating a telework option into a company’s workplace model can improve productivity and morale if employers are dedicated to optimizing their policies.

The tenor of the workplace model has shifted with the introduction of telework options.

Federal agencies are using teleworking solutions as an alternative to in-office work as part of a larger initiative to reduce the natural carbon footprint and optimize the use of tax dollars, under the guidance of the General Services Administration (GSA).

Federal agency IT managers are working to establish a stronger telepresence in the workplace.

Teleworking is encouraged as locations in major metropolitan areas face increasing levels of difficulty commuting due to traffic and, in some cases, complete gridlock.

Teleworking was cited as a major contributing factor in the naming of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as one of the U.S. Federal Government’s Best Places to Work, according to the USPTO 2012 Telework Annual Report.

The Telework ROI Calculator measures commonly used telework and mobility factors, such as transit subsidies, environmental factors, continuity of operations, productivity, employee retention and real estate and utility costs, to create measured statistics that estimate savings and returns in those areas.

The advantages of telecommuting are becoming increasingly well known, and employees who want to save time and money that would be spent traveling to the office are now considering how they could benefit from a remote work program.

As video conferencing solutions, instant messaging programs, cloud-hosted email and collaboration software, and other unified communication (UC) services make it easier than ever for employees to stay connected when they aren’t in the office, more businesses are implementing telework programs.