Backtracking on Teleworking

It’s easier, and faster, to fill a bathtub (or jacuzzi) if you first make sure the plug is in place. Ditto for the high-minded federal effort to empty government agency parking lots of gas-guzzling cars.

Efforts to get more federal agencies to get more employees off the road, and working from home, are moving (for an election year Congress) at break-neck speed. All eyes are on a House-passed bill. It would require agencies to set up programs whereby more staffers would be able to work at least one day a week – or two days per pay period – from home or telework center.

So far, so good. Even if it doesn’t become law this year, agencies are on notice that teleworking isn’t going away. Or is it…

While politicians-who-care are pushing teleworking, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) says somebody should be watching the back door. Wolf says he’s had “numerous reports” from current and former employees at both the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration that the agencies have taken “recent actions” to suspend or end teleworking for some employees. In a letter to OPM Director Linda Springer, the northern Virginia congressman said that “in at least one case, this suspension prompted a skilled, dedicated, and career OPM employee to retire rather than resume commuting without a justifiable explanation for the suspension of his telework opportunity.”

In a similar letter to GSA Acting Director David Bibb, Wolf cited “concerns regarding telework suspension at GSA expressed by several of my constituents.”

Wolf reminded both agencies that some federal agencies can now be fined, in the form of appropriations denied, up to $5 million for failing to meet teleworking goals.

FederalNewsRadio has learned that at least one other member of the House is checking to see if pending IT changes in Defense agencies might might it difficult, if not impossible, for employees to work from their home computers. Several employees have complained that upgrades or changes in the system will make it impossible if they work at home, to communicate or interface with their agency computers.

So is this an example of one step forward and two steps back?

Not necessarily, according to some telework trackers.

A GSA spokesperson said the agency has “worked hard to dramatically increase the number of agency staff who telework. Our goal was to have 20 percent of eligible employees teleworking at least one day a week by the end of calendar year 2008. GSA hit that target eight months early. At our current rate, the agency should reach 30 percent by the end of this calendar year, and be well positioned to readily achieve the next scheduled benchmark of 40 percent by the end of calendar year 2009.”

OPM said it had just received the letter and was developing a response.

A federal worker involved with her agency’s telework program said this could be a case of “a couple of disgruntled constituents” who either wanted to telework and weren’t allowed to do so, or whose teleworking was cut back or ended. Not every job is suitable for teleworking… and this is a management call.”

Nearly Useless Factoid

Scientists have figured out why your dog doesn’t understand sarcasm. Your cat probably understands it, but just doesn’t care.

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

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