Above: Jack Nilles, the “Father of Telework,” reclines in his Los Angeles home during a 2024 interview for the film “Work Different,” which examines the promise and pushback that surround teleworking. Screengrab is from the National Film Board of Canada documentary, available for viewing here.

By Erik Skindrud, InfoWise.org

As Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks to undo California’s state worker telework plan, it’s an interesting moment to review the movement’s history. As with so many innovations, the concept was born and proven in the progressive state of California.

Aerospace contractor and physicist Jack Nilles launched the world’s first telework experiment in 1972 at USC. Nilles coined the terms “telecommuting” and “telework” during this period.

The experiment had a set of employees for a national insurance company work from home, connecting via telephone and early computers. It was a dramatic success. If implemented company-wide, the team estimated it would save the company $5 million a year — more than $37 million in 2025 dollars.

The response will be familiar to telework proponents today.

“The company said, no, we’re not going to do that,” Nilles recalled in a 2020 interview. “From every direction, we got resistance. That was my early lesson that this was going to be hard to sell.”

Unfazed, Nilles sought a wider trial for his promising concept. He approached California’s Department of General Services to include a swathe of the state’s departments — including Caltrans, the state energy commission, the public utility commission, and the air resources board. All told, 16 agencies took part. Looking back, Nilles recalls that reducing pollution and traffic congestion were primary aims of his thinking.

The year 1984 saw several landmarks. Teleworking was implemented as part of the traffic-reduction plan for the 1984 Olympic Games at Los Angeles — where it proved its efficacy.

Also launched in 1984, the California Telecommute Pilot Project is lesser-known today.

“I went to the state because, in our research with private companies, they didn’t want to be identified as participants,” Nilles told InfoWise.org. “The state had no problem with publication of the results.”

The project “involved more than 400 state employees from various departments,” a 1990 paper publishing the results related. “The analysis offers strong empirical support for telecommuting as a means to mitigate traffic congestion and improve air quality.”

Though not widely-known, the 1980s pilot project resulted in California state legislation that encourages state agencies and departments to widely authorize telework for state employees. Republican Gov. George Deukmejian signed it into law in 1990 — where it remains today.

Above: California’s state legislature endorsed expanded teleworking for employees in 1990. The legislative code has been updated several times since — including in 2010.

The state government pilot project gained nationwide notice at the time.

“The most widespread use of telecommuting appears to be in California,” a 1992 report published for Hawaii’s state legislature notes. “Encouraged by the success of the state’s program and the recent regulation, county and city governments are (now) offering telecommuting options to their employees.”

For a variety of reasons, including powerful perceptions around the notion of ‘working from home,’ telework would not be implemented on a widespread basis until the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We are still living in the era where its benefits butt against those perceptions.

Facts remain, however. Teleworking is a proven policy for reducing traffic congestion, pollution, CO2 emissions, and vehicle miles travelled — while supporting employee morale, worker retention, and profitability.

Experts have digested the evidence. Some of today’s politicians, on the other hand, have learned that telework is an effective ‘dog whistle’ that can animate part of the electorate.

Patricia Mokhtarian is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Tech University. In 1984 she joined the Southern California Association of Governments to evaluate whether teleworking might reduce L.A.’s traffic congestion ahead of the 1984 Games — among other questions.

Above: Telework was part of a strategy that reduced peak traffic congestion during the 1984 Olympic Games. Image: @FreewaysLA on X.

Telework is a win-win — for employees and employers, she still believes.

“There are many excellent reasons to promote teleworking,” Mokhtarian told InfoWise.org in 2022. “From the employee’s perspective, these include potentially better work-life balance, lower stress, higher productivity, and broader job opportunities. From the employer’s perspective, advantages include a broader talent pool, potentially greater productivity, and potential real estate savings, etc.”