Logistics agency expands telework initiative
More Defense Logistics Agency employees are working away from their offices.
Working from home remains a fantasy for the majority of federal workers, and is realized by only a few employees in independent positions that allow them to remain outside the office for days at a time, yet remain productive.
Due to a commitment by senior management and the enthusiasm of employees, some agencies are seeing telework spread to an increasing percentage of the federal workforce.
At the Defense Logistics Agency, the military's source for supplies, a growing number of the agency's 22,000 employees are realizing the benefits of telework.
According to Laurie Hall, DLA's telework program coordinator, 6,717 civilian employees, or 31 percent of the agency's civilian population, have been identified as telework-eligible, as of March 2005.
When the program began in November 2002, 1,947 employees were approved to work away from the office after an orientation phase that ended in March 2003; by March 2005, 1,072 were actively telecommuting. Hall considers the program a success because many of the agency's employees work in warehouses and distribution centers and need to be on the job sites.
A 2004 survey of DLA workers found that while more than three-fourths wanted to telework more often to save money and reduce commuting time, managers were worried that telework affected productivity. They were also concerned that the quality of technology at workers' homes was not as high as at the office.
Hall credits the growth of telework at DLA to the emphasis agency leaders have placed on telework. She said DLA's director, Vice Adm. Keith Lippert, is a vocal advocate of the program and sees it as a way of increasing productivity and worker satisfaction, while meeting recruitment and retention objectives.
"If we just take telework and throw it off, we're not going to be competitive and we're not going to have the quality of people we have today," Lippert said.
Another smaller government organization that has had success with telecommuting is the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, with 35 percent of its 950 employees working away from the office at least two days a week. More than 90 percent of the agency's employees currently participate in the telework program, which was started in 2001.