T he P ortland O bserver • O ctober 5, 1994
P age B5
AT&T Employees Failed To Show Up At Work
AT&T Telecommuting Day: AT&T Public Relations Director Marvin Wamble works from his home in
Fort Washington, MD. Wamble telecommutes at least four times a week using a variety of AT&T
products, including an AT&T laptop computer: AT&T 1545 digital telephone/answering machine; and an
AT&T PPF-100plain paper fax.
About 13 percent of AT& T’s
U.S. employees did not show up at
the office last Tuesday — and the
company was glad.
T uesday (S ept. 20) was
“Telecommuting Day” at AT&T.
More than 30,000 employees from
three dozen states, including nearly
500 workers in the Washington D.
C./Baltimore area, participated as
AT&T marked its first massive work-
at-home workday.
Telecommuting is a work ar
rangement where selected employ
ees perform their normal job duties
away from their traditional work lo
cation by substituting computer and
telecommunications technology for
the job related daily commute. AT&T
believes telecommuting will allow
employees to balance work and per
sonal life; help the company comply
with Clean Air Act laws and attract
and retain a diverse and talented
workforce.
There are other advantages. “I
find that I am more productive sim
ply because I don’t have to brave the
rush hour traffic to Downtown D.C.,”
says Marvin Wamble, an African
American public relations executive
for AT&T. Wamble of Fort Wash
ington, MD telecommutes at least
four days a week. “My commute to
the District can take from 30 to 90
minutes, depending on what’s hap
pening on the highway. When I work
from home the commute is cut to
milliseconds.”
Trainings Offered To Enable Childcare
Providers To Serve Disabled Children
The Arc of Multnomah has an
nounced that it has been joined by
Oregon Health Sciences University
in offering their innovative KICS
training to childcare providers
throughout the state of Oregon. As
part of this unique partnership and
for a limited time, the trainings will
be offered at no charge, with the cost
to participants absorbed by OHSU.
KICS, or Kids in Community
Settings, is acomprehensive training
which enables childcare providers to
acquire skills needed to include chil
dren with developmental Disabili
ties in childcare programs already in
place. The training, which was de
veloped by The Arc of Multnomah
under a grant from the Oregon De
velopmental Disabilities Council, is
equally adaptable for childcare cen
ter staff including those in work-site
facilities, and family childcare pro
viders.
Presented in two half-day ses
sions, the eight hours of training of
fer valuable, comprehensive infor
mation addressing types of disabili
ties and general child development,
and provide ideas for adapting ac
tivities to include all children. The
training also assists childcare pro
viders in complying with the ADA
(Americans with Disabilities Act).
Noting that 600,000 families
nationally have young children with
developmental disabilities, OHSU
has incorporated KICS to enhance
its “Raccoon Project” which is also a
training program on how to include
children with special needs in
childcare programs. With the guid
AT&T believes employees who
work at home have reduced stress
levels, balanced their work demands
and personal obligations and in
creased both their morale and loyalty
to the com pany. A num ber of
teleworkers also say they are more
productive because of fewer time-
wasters such as long-winded meet
ings and water cooler gossiping.
Some AT&T m anagers say
“teleworkers” spend more time with
customers and are absent less often
than traditional employees.
Phyllis Mayo, Ph. D. a Washing
ton D C. clinical psychologist, says
telecommuting can also heighten cre
ativity. “For many people who don’t
perform well in the mornings, and 8
to 5 workday restricts creativity,”
-say Mayo, a consultant at Howard
University, where she received her
graduate and undergraduate degrees.
“But if you have the option to work
from home, you might do your best
work from seven to midnight. That
will make you more productive and
you will feel better about your job.”
M ayo
also
says
that
telecommuting can “enhance the fam
ily situation” because even if the
parent is working, he or she will be at
home when the child returns from
school. That helps reduce latch-key
kid guilt many parents feel in their
current working environment. Mayo
says the telecommuting concept could
be advantageous in African Ameri
can homes because of the high num
ber of single parent households.
On Tuesday, some 8,000 AT&T
managers were on the road, many
equipped with “virtual offices” -
six-pound attache’ cases that often
contain cellular phones, portable
Ballot Measure
15
Alternatives
computers, modems and scanners -
connected to customized communi
cations systems. Other participants,
like Wamble, were at home, using an
array of telephones, answering ma
chines, PCs, fax machines, modems
and printers.
AT&T estimates that for every
dollar a company spends on virtual-
office technology, it can avoid $2 in
real estate taxes, maintenance and
operating costs. Productivity, in some
cases, can be boosted by 40-45 per
cent a year.
“The
d rive
tow ard
telecommuting is the opportunity to
improve production, improve cus
tomer service and cut real estate
costs," says Larry Barrett, executive
d ire c to r
of
the
N ational
Telecommuting and Telework Asso
ciation in McLean, VA. “To reap
these benefits, companies need to
start making the cultural change from
acentralizedcontrolled environment
to a mobile, decentralized environ
ment. It is not surprising that a com
pany like AT&T is a leader in this
type of workplace re-engineering.”
B arrett estim ates that by the
turn o f the century 50 percent of
all w orkers will be involved in
some kind of work at hom e of
m obile work concept. AT& T ex
pects about half of its 12,000
U.S. m anagers to telew ork reg u
larly by the end of the century.
From 1992-1993, the number of
AT&T people working with formal
virtual offices or telecommuting ar
rangements increased 50 percent to
22,000.
AT&T has 247,000 people
worldwide, including 53,000 outside
the United States.
On S u n d a y , S e p te m b e r
25th at 7:00 PM, a public fo
rum will be held to discuss the
topic: W inning Tax Payer S up
port for Public E ducation and
Hum an Services: A lternatives
to B allot M easure 15. The fo
rum w ill tak e p lace at the
Lutheran Inner-C ity M inistries
C om m unity C enter, 4219 NE
M .L.K. Jr. Blvd. in P ortland
and will open with b rief sta te
m ents by the follow ing sp eak
ers:
Jan Haaken, P.S.U. professor
and member of Portland Solidar
ity Cecil Prescod, Pastor of High
land United Church of Christ,
Ivonne Rivero, Editor of El His
panic News, DyLynn Robertson,
member of the Portland Metro
Worthy Wage Campaign, Joel
Shapiro, Portland school teacher
and member ofOrganizing for Edu
cation.
The purpose of this forum
will be to discuss the im por
tance of developing long-term
stable funding for human re
sources, public education, and
public safety in the state of
O regon. The discussion will
not be lim ited to the m erits and
shortcom ings o f B allot M ea
sure 15. We will focus on co a
lition building am ong all state-
funded program s for the p u r
pose o f w orking to g eth er to
ward lasting solutions.
For more information, please
contact John Grueschow at 282-
4115 or Jan Haaken at 284-4414.
Cellular Phones Used For Crime Watch
ance of OHSU professionals, addi
tional emphasis will be placed on
creating teamwork between the pro
vider, schools and other profession
als involved in a child’s life, and on
updating training materials. The
“Raccoon Project” is part of a com
prehensive interdisciplinary program
funded by the federal government
which was started by OHSU in 1992.
The KICS trainings are offered
in a variety of sites throughout the tri
county area, and in other communi
ties upon request. A nominal charge
for the training manual will be asked
of those participants who live out
side of Multnomah County.
Providers interested in taking
the trainings are asked to call Mary
Magee, KICS Coordinator, at The
Arc office, 223-7279.
People in and around Lloyd
Center will have another num
ber to call in the fight against
crime.
But instead o f getting the
police on the other end, phoners
will be connected to a private
security officer.
It’s a crim e prevention tool
called 70 W -A -T-C -H or 709-
2824, a phone hotline num ber
being hailed by the Lloyd Dis-
trictC om m unity A ssociation as
the latest innovation o f co m
munity policing.
The program is the first o f
its kind in Portland and is be
ing introduced in conjunction
with the M ultnom ah C ounty
D istrict A tto rn ey ’s O ffice, the
Portland Police and C ellu lar
One.
The hotline is not intended
to serve as an alternative to 9 - 1 -
1 em ergency calls. I t ’s designed
to report any unusual activity and
add to an existing public safety
netw ork in the Lloyd D istrict.
“Every resid en t, em ployee
and shopper in the Lloyd D istrict
has a genuine interest in m ain
taining the livability and v iab il
ity o f the d istric t,” said Virgil
O vall, association chair.
A ccording to Bruce Prunk,
c o m m a n d e r o f the N o rth e a st
P o rtlan d P o lice P rec in c t, the
num ber would be useful for re
porting activity that is not crim e-
related, but seems slightly un
usual or out o f place.
“We applaud the com m unity
for their spirit and innovation
and we are pleased to play any
role we ca n ,” Prunk said.
The 70 W -A -T-C -H calls
are answ ered 24 hours-a-day
by a Lloyd D istrict private se
curity o fficer carrying a c e llu
lar phone donated by C ellular
One.
The in fo rm atio n is then
distrib u ted to a private secu
rity provider, or in some cases
a business ow ner for fo llo w
up. If the inform ation is deemed
a crim e in progress, Portland
Police will be called im m edi
ately.
Any activ ity requiring im
m ediate police, fire or m edical
assistan ce should be reported
to 9-1 -1. Unusual activity, such
as som eone peering into parked
cars, can be rep o rted to 70
W -A -T-C -H .
Safeway Low Pri ces
Prices effective Oct. 5 through October 11, 1994 at Safeway.
Snow Star Half Gallon
Ice Cream
• Assorted varieties
• FIRST 1
• SAVE UP TO
91 c, additional
at regular price
9 9 '
Fancy Golden
R ipe Bananas
28
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