During the workshops, many participants stated that they used the laptop at home, mostly during after hours. Testers reported increased capability to catch-up on documentation at home. Several stated they were more productive at home due to less interruptions from their colleagues, while others stated that technical problems deemed them less effective than at the office as it took them longer to do the same amount of work. Although, the majority of caseworkers used the computer at home, attitudes and preferences varied. Some caseworkers expressed positive attitudes toward having increased flexibility to do CPS work from home, while others expressed negative attitudes citing the laptop created an intrusion in their personal life.

Testers did not agree on how the current compensation policies for overtime work at home impacted their propensity to use the device. Some caseworkers expressed a preference or willingness to use the laptop at home regardless of compensation, suggesting that “peace of mind” and “being caught-up” motivated their use. One testers said, “When I have time at home I will sometimes enter notes so that I don’t feel so overwhelmed at work. I do this on my own time to keep myself from being so stressed out about notes not being entered in a timely manner.” Those testers less willing to use the laptop at home simply stated that they should not work at all unless they are compensated, and some just wanted to make sure that if they did do work at home, that they would be fairly compensated. One caseworker stated, “The process of getting overtime approved to work on the laptop is too complicated.”

Most caseworkers experienced some problems with connectivity at home. Staten Island testers reported connectivity issues more frequently than Manhattan testers. More than half (56 %) of Staten Island caseworkers reported establishing a connection and the speed of connection as problematic, while 46 % also reported losing a connection as problematic. Understandably, the lack of privacy, physical danger, and small time blocks did not seem to present an obstacle to most Staten Island testers when using the laptop at home.

Graph 5 - Problems Using the Laptop at Home

Manhattan testers overall see technical problems at home as less problematic than their Staten Island counterparts. While about 35 % of testers reported establishing a connection as problematic, about the same proportion (36 %) perceive it as non-problematic. Similarly, 29 % of Manhattan testers reported the loss of connection as problematic, but another 22 % reported it as non-problematic. More testers in Manhattan viewed the speed of the connection to be more problematic than other technical issues, about 45 % reported it as problematic, but again, a comparable proportion (33 %) reported it as not a problem. Lack of privacy, physical danger, and small blocks of time posed no problem for most of the caseworkers when using the laptop at home.

Similarly to Staten Island, the issue of overtime compensation was mentioned frequently in connection with using the laptop at home. Caseworkers expressed concern about pay for their work at home. They also stated that although the policy of having to get a prior approval has not changed, the level of scrutiny and expectations for work at home seems to be higher. One tester stated, “The general expectation is that you have your laptop so you could take your work with you wherever you go even if you are off the clock.” Another said, “While I believe that the laptop is extremely useful, I am concerned about management's expectations for those who have them. I am a mother of two children and I sort of felt compelled to use my laptop at odd times, just so my manager would not use the phrase ‘but you have a laptop’.” Some of the caseworkers also mentioned the fact that because of the relatively small number of cases coming in during the pilot period, they could not truly evaluate the usefulness of the tool for work at home because they were caught up and did not need to use it. This perception did not match the actual number of cases during the test period, which actually increased slightly.