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Despite years of coaxing and education, federal managers continue to have reservations about telework, a recent study revealed.

A fear of losing control over employees is the top inhibitor to promoting work from off-site locations, according to the unscientific survey of 214 federal managers. Concerns about productivity and security are also high on the list.

Funding is not as much of a worry, the survey results indicated. But only 35 percent of respondents said they believed their agencies support telework.

The Telework Exchange, an Alexandria, Va., private-public partnership, and the Federal Managers Association, a 200,000-member organization representing the interests of federal supervisors, conducted the study. It was underwritten by Tandberg, a provider of video communications services.

The survey found that managers' attitudes toward telework were more favorable if they supervised employees using the arrangement, and even more positive if they were teleworkers themselves.

A lack of face-to-face contact with workers was rated as the top communications challenge for managers in offices using the alternate arrangement. More than 60 percent of respondents said they have misinterpreted their workers by e-mail, and 43 percent have misinterpreted employees over the phone, the study revealed.

"The study highlights the disconnect between the perception of telework and the practicality of telework," said Darryl Perkinson, national president of the Federal Managers Association. "While funding seems to be the least impediment, managers must find a balance between performance output and employee supervision before agencies can fully realize the benefits of telework."

A report produced nearly seven years ago found that most federal managers were "totally disinterested" in the concept of telework. In 2001, the Office of Personnel Management started reaching out to managers in an effort to change their minds, and the Government Accountability Office found that private sector managers were as reluctant to embrace teleworking practices as their private sector counterparts.

In an attempt to overcome cultural barriers, the Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a contract to a private sector professional services firm to train managers on how to handle the thousands of examiners expected to work from their homes.

The Defense Information Systems Agency, which recently expanded its telework program to help retain employees as it relocates from Northern Virginia to a military base south of Baltimore, has always allowed managers and supervisors to telework, according to an agency spokeswoman.

But other agencies have policies that restrict or forbid their managers from working remotely, including the Housing and Urban Development Department. HUD maintains that managers are needed in the office to perform their supervisory duties.

COMMENTS

• Here is another case of the government being a day late and a dollar short. Civilian enterprize has already determined that in most cases telework is inefficient and have greatly reduced their numbers of teleworkers. Government has to realize that only a small percentage of employees are trustworthy enough, and have the "self-starting" abilities requred for efficient telework job performance. It can work with the right employees, but not the majority. GovExec.com reader Posted January 30, 2007 11:39 AM
• I fully support teleworking and have found it to be very successful if managers do their homework. Prepare a formal agreement as to what days, what times, and what is to be accomplished, availability for phone calls and/or email, potential for being called into the office if needed, and the right to terminate the agreement if needed, and follow-up on it. I had a previous employee who telecomuted two days a week for a total of 16 work hours. There was never any question of whether she was working during those times or not. I have no doubt that I not only got those 16 hours in productive work but many more in addition. I have found that many managers don't trust their employees to work when not in the office where they can be watched. I wonder if it's because they (the managers) can't be trusted to do their jobs if they aren't being watched and assume their employees are the same? GovExec.com reader Posted January 29, 2007 9:39 AM
• Telework is an issue that has been on the table for years now. It has managers scared to death. What happens when some federal employee can prove that their management has little to do with getting the work done? In some cases, telework may prove beyond a doubt that some bosses cause more harm than good. Telework weakens the chains of bureaucracy that shields managers from accountability. The more a manager resists telework, the more likely it is that they should receive some outside attention to determine if they are trying to conceal something. Robert M. Posted January 29, 2007 7:57 AM