HR specialists note generation gap in telework acceptance

An amendment to pending energy legislation that would aggressively push telework options for federal employees could expose a technological generational gap if enacted, but could also provide a valuable incentive to the workforce, participants at a human resources conference said on Sunday.

Most agencies run telework on a voluntary basis, and those programs are typically subject to the discretion of individual managers.

The energy bill amendment, sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and passed by a voice vote Aug. 4, would accelerate the adoption of the alternative work arrangement by requiring agencies to appoint a telework managing officer, making training mandatory and establishing annual ratings of agencies' telework performance. The bill has not yet been scheduled for a floor debate in the Senate.

"For an older generation, [telework is] kind of like the stepsister; it's kind of not good enough," said Rita Mace Walston, executive director of the Telework Consortium, a nonprofit that consults with both public and private sector organizations. "But the younger generation has grown up with iPods and cell phones, and the idea that you can only do a certain task if you're sitting at a particular desk in a particular place at a particular time, it's like, 'Well, why?' "

The different generational approaches mean that telework is supported unevenly, even within agencies. Multiple conference participants said that the extent to which telecommuting was adopted and supported largely depended on individual managers' comfort with the technology involved and with supervising employees remotely.

"I think managers are going to have to get comfortable with the work," said Ann Firth, a business manager for workforce development with the Marine Corps.

But despite its uneven application, participants agreed that telework -- if used more widely -- can be a valuable tool in addressing many workforce challenges. For example, it can provide a powerful counterbalance to other incentives offered by the private sector.

"If you've got a lawyer who works at the Patent Office for five years, he basically knows all the ins and outs. What value do you think that worker has in the private sector?" asked Kathleen James, manager of the Commerce Department's Learning Center. "You don't want to come into D.C.? Your wife wants to move to Dallas? You can't ever match the salary in the private sector, but it's one way of sweetening the pot."