Full-Time Teleworkers

Of course, when we talk about teleworkers, it's important to remember that some folks are doing it full-time. Ginger, a member of the GovGab blog team, reminded us of what that's like:

I know this because I am a full-time teleworker that lives in the San Antonio area and I am still carrying out my duties for my DC office. All of my work duties are carried out across the internet, so when the DC area is affected by something and I am not, I continue my own work. I also can take over most of the duties from the members on my team. For instance, my office runs www.pueblo.gsa.gov, a web site that allows citizens to order government publications. Every business day, someone from my team runs processes and gets orders out to our distribution facility in Pueblo, Colorado. This week, I have been sharing those duties with my DC team members.

Also this week, while the government was officially closed in DC, I finished database updates and prepared reports that will be used to make decisions during a meeting next week. My coworkers are able to access those reports via the internet so they can be prepared for the meeting next week. As a member of the blog team, I am expected to meet my deadlines and have my blog posts up during holidays and during those times when mother nature decides to drop record-breaking amounts of snow.

I don't know that the office will ever die. I like my coworkers, and really enjoy getting to interact with them. No method of electronic communications has yet replaced batting around ideas in person. But I do think decentralization means resilience, and the federal government's had a striking demonstration of that fact this week.