Teleworking backers say it is a win/win deal: It will save on sick leave, reduce traffic AND air pollution. Its beneficial effect on puppies and kittens has not been assessed. Yet.

That the program is going full steam ahead is, many if not most would say, a good thing. But not necessarily for the reasons above. Especially at a time like this. That's because teleworking, the ability to work from home or a remote site, is a key component of the government's Continuity Of Operations (COOP) program.

In other words, this may be showtime. For real.

Feds who will be on the front lines know who they are. Many are already there.

But for the rest of government, the majority of feds, this may be the point when teleworking will get a real-time, this-is-not-a-drill workout. A lot depends on the speed, severity and scope of H1N1 outbreaks. Or the crisis after that.

Teleworking originally started out as an employee-friendly perk that, as a side effect, could reduce traffic jams, reduce energy use and save agencies money in office space. But since 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the SARS scare it has become a major part of COOP to allow the government to continue to function under adverse, and in some cases unimaginable, situations.

The Geneva-based World Health Organization last week raised the global alert to pandemic status. Last week Mexico had more than 300 confirmed and 2,500 suspected cases. In early April, a 22 month old Mexican boy came into the U.S. He died a couple of weeks later in Houston.

As of Friday afternoon there were confirmed cases in New York, Texas, California, South Carolina, New Jersey, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Virginia, Michigan and Massachusetts, Ohio, Minnesota, Nebraska and Nevada.

The CDC also said there was one case in Kentucky and none in Georgia, while Georgia officials report one case there - that of a sickened Kentucky resident who traveled to Georgia. It gets hard to track.

The numbers are still small, compared to traffic fatalities or the weekend murder rate in many major cities, but that could change. Fast.

There have been confirmed cases, or cases being monitored, in Spain, Great Britain, Israel, Canada, New Zealand and France.

The numbers of feds who are teleworking are impressive, but some people say it is not nearly enough. Or that some of the people who are counted as regular teleworkers aren't all that regular.

According to the Office of Personnel Management almost 103,000 white collar (nonpostal) federal workers in 78 agencies teleworked last year. That's 5.25 percent of the workforce and it is up from 94,643 the year before.

So are those numbers good, or not so good?

The government is very big, and very spread out. Teleworking programs, naturally, run from excellent (at the Patent and Trademark Office) to not-so-good at agencies where employees, and congressional investigators, say the books are cooked to meet congressional or agency targets.

Does an employee who teleworks once every six months, or once a year, deserve to be counted as part of the teleworking program? Technically, yes. Realistically, probably not.

Last week, FederalNewsRadio told you OPM's new Director, John Berry, announced a new program to step up the pace of teleworking government wide. It ranges from the usual task forces and advisory groups (which are obligatory and sometimes even useful in large organizations in or out of government), to requiring agencies to have a Telework Managing Officer. The TWO, given the right backing, could kick butt and takes names of officials or operations who drag their feet. As well as reporting on those doing a good job, not just playing numbers games.

Berry was a long-time aide to House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). When Hoyer was on the all-important Appropriations committee, Berry was his point man for civil service matters. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), the Godfather of Teleworking said last Friday that if anybody can boost teleworking, it's the new OPM director.

Berry's plan has some new ideas including strongly encouraging agencies to set up "effective and transparent appeals process" for workers whose requests to telework are ignored or denied. It also calls for training programs government-wide to "remove managerial resistance" to teleworking programs. In other words, encouraging bosses who don't trust employees they can't see to get with the program. Or step aside.

This is a lot more than a bureaucratic feel-good program. If so-called nonemergency feds are told to stay home, as has happened in Mexico already, teleworking could be a way to keep programs like Social Security going regardless of how bad things might get.

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

Nearly Useless Factoid
by Suzanne Kubota

Fish get seasick.