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Return to Article: Telework becomes more attractive as quality-of-life concerns spike

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  I find it terribly insulting that managers and administration would not support telework because they are afraid employees will "goof off". I worked telework for several years before it was reduced for my position because of an electronic environment. I was extremely productive and spent my time at home working, not goofing off. I was able to save money on gas, maintenance on my car and frankly, stress on my body. I was certainly a lot happier federal employee then, than I am now. There are procedures in place in the agreements for management to use to reprimand employees who use telework to goof off. Managers and agencies should enforce these rules instead of punishing employees who were productive for the public by stripping them of a valuable benefit.

  Sarah Posted August 21, 2008 9:28 PM
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  One of the arguments against telework is that employees will goof off. The alternative is the employee can come to the office and not be given anything to do (be paid just for showing up). This happens a lot in my department, despite many of us asking for more work.

  I see this as two issues: 1. Managers need to provide opportunities for workers to telework if the job does not require constant face-to-face customer interaction or physical infrastructure support. 2. The other is managers need to learn how to manage the workload of their employees, regardless of where they are working.

  Both should be the performance plan of the managers (after all they get paid more, they should be able to handle the responsibility).

  LT Posted August 20, 2008 3:36 PM
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  I supervise two hearing officers who telecommute. They hold their hearings by telephone. The quality and quantity of their work is easily measured. To telecommute, their productivity must be greater than it would be if they were in the office, and so far it has worked well. Both know that if their productivity or the quality of their work diminishes, they'll be required to return, and they are required to return every fifth week to work in the office. A lot of the success or failure of telecommuting depends upon the quality of those allowed to telecommute.

  Ed Posted August 19, 2008 9:42 AM
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  Some of you just don't get it...there are some jobs that lend themselves to telework conditions, most don't. I happen to work in a 13 person admin office where at any point in the day, people from another office will walk in and need help with something, need a question answered, or we'll get a call to ask if we can go to that person's office to help them. That doesn't include calls from our field office with questions. We have one person who teleworks 2 days a week, so of course, they can't get involved with any of this on those days. And what about the work itself...technical writers are perfect candidates for telework, but people who rely on minute to minute interaction with their fellow staff members should be in the office. And children...our telework agreement states that telework requires you to have childcare, however our employee has children and has never had childcare for after school or "snow days". Are we to believe she has no interaction with her children throughout the day? It's a wonderful thing to think that you can work while in your fuzzy slippers but the bottom line is productivity and I know that despite all the hoopla about how productive teleworkers are, it CAN'T replace the on-site productivity of being IN work, IN an office with your office mates, available to supervisors. That's another thing, when an emergency situation comes up that needs attention, to whom does a supervisor need to turn for immediate problem solving? That's right, it's NOT the teleworker, it's the person sitting in the cubicle.

  Marie Posted August 18, 2008 8:26 AM
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  With NMCI kicking in at all the Government Agencies, unless you are fortunite enough to have an NMCI Seat that gives you a Lab Top Computer Vs a Desk Top Computer you will not be able to Telework at home. In a time where our pay goes up on the low single digits and the price of everything else is rising to high double digits if not higher, how can the average income government employee continue down this road of disaster? With the economy and expense of everything the way it is, are we seeing the end of the "Middle Class"?

  John Ternullo Posted August 18, 2008 7:51 AM
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  DFAS-CL has already stated we will not be allowed to telework no matter what happens, but I have noticed some managers using telework for themselves.

  I will retire soon Posted August 15, 2008 11:24 PM
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  Some offices here are skeptical of telecommuting; others have embraced it. I worked from home for the first time earlier this week (just the a.m.) and I got just as much accomplished, if not more. I experienced less distractions yet remained accessible via telephone and email. As long as there are clear performance standards in place (which should be the case all around) and sensitive information is handled properly, management should encourage telecommuting.

  Misanthrope Posted August 13, 2008 3:47 PM
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  DISA has a policy that allows up to 3 days per week telework. And more individuals would take advantage of this option if they had managers backing it. There are still a lot of "old brown shoe" members of management who believe that you are not working unless in your cube.

  tmj Posted August 13, 2008 11:46 AM
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  You certainly won't see any teleworking at DFAS. DFAS management is 200% opposed to telework and will throw as many obstacles at teleworking as they can.

  DFAS Employee Posted August 13, 2008 10:18 AM
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  In almost 16 years of living in the DC area, I have only worked at 1 DOD organization that allowed teleworking. Military leaadership at all the other organizations were convinced that the civilians would sit on their buts at home and eat bon-bons!Somebody needs to bring DOD into the 21st century.

  Suzanne Posted August 12, 2008 8:28 PM
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  As you read the posts its obvious that most people misunderstand the concept. Telework still has the word "WORK" in it and that's a problem for most CS. Its tough to get 8 hours a day out of them so unless the job can be structured so that the taxpayers get their money's worth this is doomed to fail. The system will only work with mature folks that understand the concept. Its the same people that right now keep the offices running. As these people are offered the opportunity the slackers will stick out like a sore thumb

  Dan ketter Posted August 12, 2008 11:53 AM
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  "'At the National Science Foundation, American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 agreed to give up its members' rights to file grievances IF THEY WERE PROHIBITED FROM TELEWORK.' ... Shouldn't it be if they WERE PERMITTED to telework?"

  I just read this in my new Gov Exec print issue this morning. Ooops - looks like an editorial gap there, GE!

  Contract Specialist Posted August 12, 2008 11:43 AM
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  My boss is completely against teleworking! Unfortunately a lot of managers at my agency have not required a certain amount of responsibility from the teleworkers so my boss has decided that no one in my organization can do it. Both managers and employees forget this is not an entitlement and it does need to come with some rules. As an example, for it to work well, teleworkers must be reachable which is not the case at my agency in several cases. Teleworkers phones should either transfer to their home or they should provide their home number on their work voicemail.

  Donna Posted August 12, 2008 11:30 AM
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  According to the insightful article, if 53 percent of America's white-collar employees teleworked two days a week, they would save 9.7 billion gallons of gasoline.

  Therefore, this obvious benefit would translate to an overall decline in gas prices for all Americans. You already see the current decline in prices due to lower demand as most Americans have been consolidating commuting travel recently.

  Just imagine another punch of not using 9.7 billion gallons. Although there is more recent bonafide actual increased demand from China and other countries, a common sense conservation move of teleworking will send a clear message to the "Gasoline and Speculator Industrial Complex" of a further reduced elasticitiy of demand thus indirectly lowering prices and "refueling" of our economy.

  If management and employees all have actual "counting the minutes" type jobs to accomplish various tasks with measured milestones already in place, what difference does it make if one teleworks.

  Standard milestones such as getting contracts awarded by a ceratin date automatically guarantee one standard of performance which authenticates the need for teleworking.

  Teleworking works, so it is time for original baseline common sense all American teamwork discernment and action.

  CA Posted August 12, 2008 11:05 AM
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  I can see the marketing pitch now "telecommuting -- its not just for the President anymore!"

  Looking forward to 3-day weekends Posted August 12, 2008 10:49 AM
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  This is just another way for supervisors to give perks to their favorites. I have seen here in the DON many a time!

  austin Posted August 12, 2008 10:45 AM
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  Are you sure you got this right? ... "At the National Science Foundation, American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 agreed to give up its members' rights to file grievances IF THEY WERE PROHIBITED FROM TELEWORK." ...

  Shouldn't it be if they WERE PERMITTED to telework?

  A Hobbs Posted August 12, 2008 8:36 AM
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  This is a great article. I've been a telecomuter since February 2007, when I moved from Crystal City, VA to Newnan, GA to be near my family. It has made all the difference in the world to me to be able to go upstairs to my office, and be available to go to my granddaughters activities and see my family and friends much more often.

  Telecomuting makes so much sense, and starting with 1-2 days a week makes the adjustment easier on everyone.

  Thanks for such a good article.

  Alice Gladden Posted August 12, 2008 8:21 AM
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  In order for Telecomuting to work, supervisors must be amenable to it. My wife works in an office where the supervisor doesn't trust her employees as adults and must see a warm body in the office every day. If the supervisor were to give definite work assignments, that are within reason to their employees, I could only imagine that work production would increase, while at the same time we would be helping our environment and economy. Word must get down to Government supervisors that this is a good thing!

  Bob Posted August 12, 2008 8:16 AM
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  It would be great if more managers were open to the idea of telework. Have a little faith in your employees. Set expectations up front. It saddens me that my department is writting a management directive on telework for our agency and our department head is against telework. What a cliche!!

  Skeptical Posted August 12, 2008 8:09 AM
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  As usual the dirty little secret is that the gas savings predictions are speculative and optimistically based. The unknown variable is how much driving will the at home teleworkers do on their day at home. Make no mistake teleworkers will rationalize running a few errands during their day at home will be justified because they are carrying a BlackBerry while on the run, or going out to lunch, or to the dry cleaners, etc. Even with all the tele working and incentivized commuting costs the roads are as clogged as ever.

  CPN Posted August 12, 2008 8:08 AM
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  I say let everyone telework ... I get tired of watching folks play computer games all day. Better to have them do it someplace else where I don't have to see it and it doesn't stand my hair on end!

  Art Posted August 12, 2008 8:03 AM
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  How do you measure performance when an employee may have peeks and valleys in his workload? And, should an employee have to take time from the computer to make paper work calculation analyses, how will a manager measure this effort? I believe management must eventually rely on the integrity of its employees.

  Samuel H. Cohen Posted August 12, 2008 7:35 AM
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  I agree we as an agency need to support energy conservation for the better of this country. Flexiplace is one way we can participate in this cause.

  However, I have experienced push back from my employer. It is what was mentioned in the article "Labor and management find it hard to agree on just about anything. Ensuring continuity of operations has more urgency in a post-Sept. 11 world". In my opinion, all government branches will experience trouble in the future recruiting the new working generation. Flexibility in the workplace is a big sell with the new generation and for some of us experienced older generation. I will continue educating my employer (IRS) to understand the need to move forward on this issue. Thank you for your article. Coreen Malone

  Coreen Malone Posted August 12, 2008 7:30 AM
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  my agency allow telecommuting but it is a production shop requiring 1.5 times more work than in office workers making it less attractive for employees than working in office. who wants to work twice as hard ?

  theresa Posted August 12, 2008 6:49 AM
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  Well, it's about time. I was telecommuting back in the 80's! It was fun and it was very productive and efficient for my employer (pre-gov'ment job). Forget laying out all kinds of crazy rules that can't be followed and allow people to work at home at the same time. How about letting people work from home and evaluating them on how well they're are doing their job in comparison to their peers? What a concept, huh? Geez, I'm sure glad I just retired for the DoT.

  kmp Posted August 11, 2008 10:18 PM