Telework push fueled by Hurricane Katrina

The fuel disruptions and price increases caused by Hurricane Katrina prompted this warning from President Bush: "Don't buy gas if you don't need it." But apparently workers in the Washington area still need it. The region is expecting one of the busiest traffic ever on Tuesday -- another sign that telecommuting still has not taken firm root within the federal government.

The day after Labor Day is known as "terrible traffic Tuesday" in Washington because of commuters returning to the area after the August congressional recess and students returning to school after the summer break. Some 1.8 million vehicles are expected on the roads, according to Lon Anderson, a spokesman for the AAA's mid-Atlantic region. Local commuters also will face gas prices nearing $4 per gallon.

To help offset the rising gas prices, the federal Office of Personnel Management has renewed efforts to promote telecommuting options for federal employees. On Friday, OPM issued a memorandum to push telework, carpooling and other fuel-consumption alternatives after Bush's admonition for nationwide energy conservation.

"Telework presents agencies with significant opportunities to reduce fuel consumption and traffic congestion," OPM Director Linda Springer wrote to department and agency heads, urging them to use new technologies by letting employees work from home or telework centers closer to home.

In response, the General Services Administration (GSA) has expanded access to 14 telework centers in the Washington area. GSA is offering free use of the facilities to all federal employees through the end of the year. The centers are outfitted with computers, high-speed Internet access, telephones, printers and other resources.

"Maybe it will show managers that telecommuting works," said Dan Scandling, a spokesman in the office of Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican and longtime advocate of telework.

Wolf included in pending spending legislation for fiscal 2006 language that would require the Justice, State and Commerce departments to offer telework options to employees or lose $5 million in funding. He successfully included similar language in a fiscal 2005 spending law.

Efforts to boost telework adoption have been marginal in the past, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and industry surveys. In 2004, 22 of the 23 surveyed federal agencies had telework policies, GAO found. But only 19 percent of federal workers were telecommuting by May 2005, according to a study by CDW-G, a company that advises and sells computer and network systems to the government.

"The tools are in place" for the government to offer telework options, said Chuck Wilsker, president and co-founder of the Telework Coalition. The coalition is urging all workers to telecommute two days per week.

"Regardless of the increase in gas prices, more federal employees should be encouraged and allowed to telecommute," Scandling said.

The business sector has more readily adopted a top-down approach to telework, Wilsker added. But he said, "I don't know how long it will take to pay $50 or more to fill a gas tank" before more workers in both the private and public sectors begin looking at telework.