Feds strike a blow for teleworking

According to the last report from the Office of Personnel Management, just under 9% of eligible Federal workers are teleworking at least one day a week, and just over half of all Federal agencies have included teleworking in their "continuity of operations" plans.

Yesterday, a local group whose mission includes trying to promote the cause of teleworking held a fun lunch-time event in the heart of the Federal Triangle in downtown DC.

On a brick pathway leading to Woodrow Wilson Plaza from 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, and sandwiched between the Reagan Trade Center and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters, federal workers took turns swatting a broomstick at a series of pinatas shaped like cars, trucks and construction cranes.

The idea of the "Great Commuter Stress Out", as it was billed: give them an opportunity to de-stress from the morning commute.

The Telework Exchange provided music, and refreshments, and prizes. Occasionally, a Fed would swat the pinata hard enough to liberate a spray of coins and candy and other treats stuffed inside each pinata.

One of the feds who took a wack at it: Karen Robinson of Fairfax, who says she'd consider telework if only she knew if her EPA bosses would let her.

EPA's telework program is called Flexiplace.

It's not clear what the requirements are. Some managers support it and some don't. And I think there should be more equity in how it's given out to people. When you get to have Flexiplace, you save money in commuting, you save time. I don't understand. My managers don't understand that if you have a good employee, they're going to work just as hard at home.

Robinson says she'd take advantage of the opportunity to telework at least once or twice a week.

The problem of getting agency mid-level managers to buy into teleworking is widely recognized as one of the biggest impediment to more wide-scale adoption of teleworking in the Federal Government.

Josh Sawislak is senior advisor to the Administrator of the General Services Administration, recognized as one of the leading agencies when it comes to teleworking.

"We try to lead by example," he told Federal News Radio. "We have great support from the top of the agency all the way down. Our acting administrator, our heads of services and staff, are all committed to this, because they know it's an important part of making the Federal government the greatest place to work."

Sawislak says an important key to a successful telework program in a federal agency is support by those managers.

"You've got to show the managers that telework is a positive thing for them, that they can manage by productivity, instead of by attendance. That's a positive thing for government."

Danette Campbell is a special advisor for telework with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. Like the GSA, PTO also enjoys a reputation as another government leader in the realm of teleworking.

We currently have 5,176 employees teleworking, and that translates to over 50% of our entire workforce. We currently have over 1,800 patent positions teleworking four days a week, and 326 trademark positions teleworking four days a week. We call those individuals "hotelers". They reserve office space when they do travel to the office, but they've completely relinquished their office space on our Alexandria campus.

Campbell, who has been involved in teleworking for more than 13 years, says one of the keys to agency success is being comprehensive and flexible.

"We have an umbrella telework policy," she explained, "it is an enterprise-wide policy for the entire agency. Each business unit, from that telework policy, designs and implements its own telework guidelines, specific to the needs of that business unit. I think that's one of the reasons why teleworking at our agency is so successful, because it is not a one-size-fits-all initiative."

Another long-time telework champion, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D.-Va.) is co-sponsoring legislation to jumpstart federal teleworking.

We need uniform standards (for teleworking) in our human resource manuals, so managers and employees know what's expected of them. And we can manage it and evaluate it. That's number one. Number two, we've got to have a mindset change in management, which still clings to this idea that "If I can't see you, you're not working, you're watching soap operas". And every study about teleworking shows the opposite, that when people are teleworking, they have more concentrated time on the job, they're easily reachable with technology, they're more productive, and their morale is better.

The Northern Virginia Democrat believes that teleworking is part of developing the Federal workforce of the future.

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On the Web:

Federal News Radio - Two top feds say it might be time for a change in telework policy

Federal News Radio - FederalTeleworking: A look at the numbers

Federal News Radio - Telework for Government (CISCO Executive Panel Discussion Series)

Telework Exchange - teleworkexchange.com

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