House advances spending bill with telework requirements

Language in a 2006 spending bill approved by the House on Wednesday would place a handful of agencies under increased pressure to boost telework numbers.

The version of the fiscal 2006 State-Justice-Commerce appropriations bill agreed upon by House-Senate negotiators requires five agencies to prove that numbers of employees working away from the office rose from fiscal 2005, or give up $5 million in funding. The House passed that version of the bill (H.R. 2862) by a vote of 397 - 19.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., sponsored the telework measure as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee handling the State-Justice-Commerce bill. According to Wolf's office, Senate action on the conference report is imminent. The bill will then head to President Bush's desk for his signature.

The agencies included in the legislation are the departments of Justice, Commerce and State, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Small Business Administration. These five agencies survived similar scrutiny last year.

"I do not like having to be so heavy-handed and threaten to withhold funding, but if that is what it is going to take to get more people teleworking, then that is what I will continue to do," Wolf said. "There simply is just no magic in strapping ourselves in a metal box every day and driving ourselves to the office only to sit behind a computer or talk on the phone for eight hours."

Under the 2006 requirement, the five agencies would have two months from the day the bill is enacted to confirm that teleworking opportunities have increased over levels for fiscal 2005. They would lose $5 million in appropriations if they failed to meet that deadline.

Each agency is expected to have a telework coordinator responsible for overseeing the implementation of teleworking programs. The coordinator also would serve as a point of contact for the appropriators.

The Government Accountability Office found in September that the five agencies had inconsistent methods for identifying employees eligible for telework and for reporting those numbers.

The conference report for the fiscal 2006 spending measure states that the agencies are expected "to work diligently" in addressing these issues and to convey their progress in quarterly reports with comparisons between the number of teleworkers in fiscal 2005 and 2006.

These agencies also are expected "to implement time and attendance systems that will allow more accurate reporting," the conference document states.

The five agencies are to expand the telework-eligible population, put in place telework agreements for those eligible, and actively promote telework. Agencies are expected to consider providing managers with training on the benefits of telework in order to eliminate negative perceptions of the arrangement.

Because NASA and the National Science Foundation are now under the jurisdiction of Wolf's subcommittee but were not subject to last year's requirements, both agencies would now be required to certify that teleworking opportunities are available to all eligible workers.

Wolf and other proponents of working away from the office have cited studies that show the benefits of telework. These include: happier and more productive employees, reductions in automobile pollution, a decrease in traffic in metropolitan regions and augmentation of continuity of operations plans for emergency situations.