Teleworking: Opportunities for recruitment and retention of the future workforce while promoting environmentally sustainable practices

Teleworking has been shown to directly impact work-life balance, job retention, and improved well-being of employees. Currently, there is a gap in the literature related to the effects of teleworking in the County of Los Angeles, including impacts on employee recruitment/retention, success within particular public administration fields, and environmental sustainability. This research proposal recommends a mixed-method approach (with elements of qualitative and quantitative research) using inductive reasoning as part of exploratory and explanatory research that will look at past implementation of telework strategies in order to make observations and measurements to be learned from for future implementation of such strategies in the local context. This proposal aims to fill a gap in the literature on County of Los Angeles teleworking to determine best practices in recruitment and retention strategies for developing a more effective workforce and reducing the environmental impacts of commuting. Should this study be conducted, a survey tool will be used to gather data from County of Los Angeles employees engaged in teleworking, as well as other direct or indirect research within the case study organization and other public and private sector employers. Potential results from the proposed research may be used to find some level of correlation between teleworking and job satisfaction within certain public administration job sectors, which could inform policy making to encourage teleworking in targeted sectors to attract and retain the best workforce and improve service delivery, as well as possibly improve environmental sustainability.