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The right ambiance can elevate a mediocre restaurant, but it doesn't do much for poor job performance, according to federal managers during a Monday discussion on telework.

It's no secret that supervisors are skittish about their employees working outside the office. But convincing them that productivity isn't tied to physical setting is key to boosting the reputation of telecommuting in government, said participants in the Telework Exchange's town hall meeting earlier this week in Washington. The group is a public-private partnership focused on promoting the benefits of telework.

"Somehow I think we have to get away from this view that you have a different way of measuring people when they're teleworking than when they're at a work site," said Jack Penkoske, director of manpower, personnel and security at the Defense Information Systems Agency. "Your superstars are going to be superstars no matter what environment you put them in."

Lurita A. Doan, head of the General Services Administration, agreed. "Telework gives government a chance to prove that performance matters, and it's not the physical presence of an employee in the workplace that matters," she said.

According to Penkoske, managers have to shift their focus from demanding an employee's physical presence to the more important task of ensuring accountability. "In a lot of cases, [managers] say they don't feel comfortable not knowing what the employee is doing," he said. "So we say, how do you know what they're doing in their office all day? It really focuses on, what are the responsibilities of holding people accountable."

Vice Adm. Thomas Barrett, deputy secretary of the Transportation Department, said he puts the onus on managers to make the practice more accessible and to justify why an employee isn't eligible to telework.

Penkoske, however, said managers shouldn't be blamed for being skeptical of telework. It's important for agencies to train their employees to understand what's expected of them whether they work at home or at telework centers, he noted.

Danette Campbell, senior adviser for telework at the Patent and Trademark Office, reminded participants that telework was not the solution for all employees or all jobs, and agencies should set realistic goals.

"While I think telework is the greatest thing since sliced bread, it's not for everybody," she said. "To establish a goal of 100 percent telework -- that's unrealistic."

COMMENTS

• Ask Ms Doan why Reg 7 discourages telework. If an employee works four ten hour days, they are excluded from telework because managers think that would be too disruptive to be out of the office two days a week. At the same time, they insist that each Project Manger visit their customers in the customers office at least once a month. Each PM is equipped with a Blackberry/cell phone. How does being out of the office on customer visit differ from being out of the office at home while teleworking. I see not difference. Why doesn't productivity be used as a measuring tool. Can Mgmt not develop a tool to measure this? Each PM is required to submit a weekly report on their activities, what they are working on, what developments they have made on certain projects. When the number of orders and the number of projects fall (other than time of the year events) look at that for a why. If the reasonable is viable, no problem. When the numbers consistently fall while working teleworking, then and only then, look at changing the schedule for those individuals, not the entire group. jerry allen Posted April 29, 2008 8:09 AM
• How can you be a super star and work at home? You can't brown nose and suckup from home. Superstars Posted April 28, 2008 6:55 PM
• My neighbor, who works for DISA is not very bright and probably not employable in the private sector. He teleworks every other Friday and does "compressed" work schedule on the other one. I would guess that his supervisor wants this guy out of the office as much as possible so that he doesn't have to look at him goofing off all day. Government Expert Posted April 28, 2008 8:30 AM