Telework week may save $2.5M in commuting costs

More than 28,000 workers in the WTOP listening area pledged to work at home during National Telework Week.

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Telework breaks down workspace walls

A troubled economy and mobile technology are changing the workplace landscape. Literally.

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The move to telework starts with the cloud

Before the teleworkforce can grab the iPad and go, data storage will need to hit the cloud.

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Federal Commuter Heal Thyself?

If you lived through, or observed, the blizzard of last week, how do you think Washington did? Was Uncle Sam wise to give feds a day off, then an early-release and is it up to Uncle Sam or should federal workers be more proactive? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey hears from feds.

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Tactics for your agency's move to the cloud

HP introduces Government Cloud Consulting Services to help government agencies comply with OMB's "cloud-first" policy. We get details from HP's Jeff Bergeron

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Winter In Washington: When Sex, Politics, and Football Fail

What do the director of the Office of Personnel Management, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Washington's electric power company have in common? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says all three of them are having a very tough winter and it's only going to get worse.

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OPM's Berry shares lessons learned from snowstorm

OPM Director John Berry discusses how the agency is using last week's snowstorm as a lesson in dealing with this week's bad weather.

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Causey: Telework is great, except when...

Mike Causey outlines some of the hurdles to telework.

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D.C. feds can take unscheduled leave, telework on Wednesday

With a forecast that calls for freezing rain Tuesday night, OPM has announced that feds in the D.C. area have the option to take unscheduled leave or telework on Wednesday, for the second day in a row.

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OPM: D.C. feds can take unscheduled telework, leave on Tuesday

The Office of Personnel Management is giving feds the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework on Tuesday due to an approaching storm. OPM says federal employees should talk to their managers now and make plans. OPM also says there is a chance of a delayed arrival on Tuesday if conditions dictate. Federal News Radio will keep you updated with the latest information.

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OPM's Berry: Telework 'powerful tool' in snowstorms

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How 'Bout Now?

Teleworkers can occasionally get a leg up on getting out the door.

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Did feds' early dismissal contribute to gridlock?

WTOP's Adam Tuss and WFED's Mike Causey assess OPM's call to call an early dismissal Wednesday and a late arrival Thursday due to snow.

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POLL: How long did it take you to get home?

Following Wednesday evening's heavy snow fall, Federal News Radio is polling feds on how much the weather affected their commute.

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OPM: Thundersnow, human nature created traffic mess

The speed of Wednesday's snowstorm and the fact that some federal employees didn't heed the two-hour dismissal collided to form a "perfect storm" of gridlock on the roads, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry tells Federal News Radio. Berry says he always makes decisions on the operating status of the government by considering the safety of federal employees and how to maintain operations of the federal government to the greatest extent possible.

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Two hour delay for federal employees to dig out

Federal employees in the Washington D.C. area have some extra time, if needed, to get to work this morning. The Office of Personnel Management announced a two-hour delay for those feds after snow and ice blanketed the area last night. The Baltimore Federal Executive Board has announced that agencies under its purview are closed.

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Snowstorms Inspire Telework Talk

Every time it snows in Washington people in high places rediscover the joys of teleworking. So what are the odds you will be working from home in the next couple of years? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says don't sell your car just yet.

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Telework is about to change your agency

The recent passage of the Telework Enhancement Act substantially changes the status of telework throughout government. But how? We get details from Dr. Scott Overmyer, author of a new study.

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'What, me worry' Teleworkforce

When feds walk out the door, sometimes security goes out the window.

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VTC Opens New Hailing Channels Between Congress and Military Field Commanders

Amidst all the other turbulence on Capitol Hill last year, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) was renovating - on a scale not seen in over fifty years. That project brought two hearing rooms into the twenty-first century, replacing bare-bones 1960-vintage microphones and equipment with state-of-the-art audio and video systems. This new gear provided the Committee with greatly-improved capability to broadcast hearings and markups, and added new powerful features as well. The new setup includes multi-function touch screens for members at their places on the dais, which lets them follow Floor action, quickly access PowerPoint, memos and documents presented during hearings, get messages, and pull up additional reference materials. But the biggest change is the new video teleconferencing built into the system. "Tandberg CODEC gear with multipoint capabilities can be routed to these Committee rooms as required. The House of Representatives' Recording Studio coordinates all our inbound and outbound broadcast and teleconference requirements ," explained a senior committee staffer who spoke with us on background. "That now allows HASC Members to speak directly with forward-deployed military units or commanders as the situation might require." Staff are confident that use of this VTC capability will increase as a complement to Congressional Delegation (CODEL) field trips. "On a VTC, you can talk to a few people and a couple of field commanders. When members go on CODELS, they talk to hundreds of people, from generals to field specialists. VTC can't replace that spontaneous interaction, but it does mean that, in an urgent situation or on very short notice, the members can speak face-to-face with forward-deployed commanders who might not otherwise be easily accessible, or are too far away to travel easily and quickly to Capitol Hill." All 62 committee members can access the system at once, but it can also be used by just one or two at time. "The members are still getting used to new technologies, but with every election cycle the HASC - members as well as staff -- get more comfortable with using these new capabilities."

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