Federal employee telework programs will receive a boost of congressional support March 5, as Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., John Sarbanes, D-Md., and Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., plan to reintroduce legislation that would prohibit mass cuts to federal telework and encourage agencies to instead expand their programs.
The Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act would prohibit across-the-board cuts to telework availability, require agencies to notify Congress of any plans to reduce telework, require agencies to set annual goals for telework participation, and direct the Office of Personnel Management to establish uniform guidance for how agencies measure telework and its cost savings.
According to Connolly, now is an ideal time to remind agencies and the public of why telework is such an essential tool.
“The coronavirus is just a critical reminder that part of that necessary infrastructure in that kind of pandemic — for the federal government and for the private sector, for that matter — is the continuity of operations [plan],” Connolly told Federal Times.
“You do not have a COOP without a robust, vigorous telework program in place.”
Agencies have been encouraged to include telework in their COOP plans, which supersede normal telework policy at an agency in the event of an emergency.
Though OPM has been outspoken about the benefits that telework can offer an agency, both during emergency situations and normal operations, several agencies, such as the Department of Education and Social Security Administration, have moved to severely curtail telework programs in the name of increased efficiency.
“The attitude of the administration with respect to telework is antediluvian. They’re culturally bound with this notion that ‘if I can’t see you, you’re not working.’ And that’s just not true,” said Connolly.
“We know that, from studies, telework improved productivity and, as long as it’s structured, it can be extremely effective. It also is necessary for the next generation of federal workers. If they don’t have a telework program, they can go somewhere else.”
The legislation was first introduced in the latter part of 2018, but did not make it past committee in a Republican-controlled House.
As for the infrastructure to support mass telework in case agencies have to send employees home, Connolly said that earlier legislation, like the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act of 2014, should have already set agencies on a path to having the necessary capabilities.
Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.
