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Telecommuting catching on among federal workers Date published: 4/23/2006
AS THE PRICE of gasoline This is particularly true in our area where many federal workers make the long, often costly, daily trek to Washington and its nearby suburbs. The good news is that telework and telecommuting are steadily gaining acceptance in the federal work force. By law, telecommuting is defined as "any arrangement in which an employee regularly performs officially assigned duties at home or other work sites geographically convenient to the residence of the employee." A 2005 study by the Office of Personnel Management showed that the number of teleworkers has increased by 37 percent between 2003 and 2004, with more than 140,000 employees now participating. This boost coincided with figures that show that 85 percent of all federal agencies have telework policies in place. More than 40 percent of federal employees are now eligible to work at least one day a week at an alternate site. Of the agencies that make telework available, a majority indicated that teleworkers are required to maintain minimum levels of performance, and that workers with disciplinary problems are excluded. Many agencies also require that employees serve a minimum amount of time in their jobs before being considered. OPM also reported that more than 60 percent of agencies offering telework use it to allow employees to deal with personal health issues. The direct level of agency support for telecommuting varies. OPM indicates that more than 20 percent purchased equipment for their teleworkers while more than 40 percent expected their employees to pick up the equipment costs. The remaining agencies offered a mix of cost-sharing and reimbursement. In the area of IT support, almost three-quarters of the agencies provided "help desk" assistance over the telephone for teleworkers, and over 40 percent allowed employees to bring their equipment to the office for repairs. Even though great progress has been made in removing the barriers to telework, hurdles such as the sensitive nature of some agency's work and data security remain. In addition, there is still some management resistance to the concept of workers not being at work. To overcome many of these issues, OPM and the General Services Administration are providing technical assistance and guidance.
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