GSA official says telecommuting is about work, not location

There is no such thing as telecommuting, Glenn Woodley, senior program analyst for the General Services Administration, told a group of federal employees Wednesday afternoon.

"Managers in the federal government are not concerned about whether or not you drive 30 miles to work," Woodley said during a session about telecommuting initiatives in the federal workplace at the Office of Personnel Management's annual Strategic Compensation Conference. "Managers are concerned about whether or not you are working."

Based on that argument, telework is the best definition for what should be happening in the federal workplace, according to Woodley.

According to OPM, 4.2 percent of the federal workforce participated in telework programs as of January. Both OPM and GSA have taken several measures to increase telecommuting in the federal workplace. In March, GSA Administrator Stephen Perry offered to let agencies use telework centers for free for 60 days. OPM Director Kay Coles James vowed to telework at least once a month last fall, encouraging federal employees to follow her lead.

Woodley took a different tack to spark interest in telecommuting programs, emphasizing that telework should be incorporated into job descriptions and performance plans as the federal government shifts to include mobile or portable careers.

"All telework really does is connect people," Woodley said. "Where you are should not have anything to with how well you carry out your work."

To illustrate his point, Woodley pointed to the Defense Department, which has half of the federal government's telecommuting population, a number that rose after the Sept. 11 attacks. Defense Department officials used telecommuting temporarily after the attacks and found that it worked well for the agency, Woodley said.

"Once they went out they said, 'Why do we need them all back here, they function well where they are,'" he said.

Woodley and Mallie Burruss, a work/life program specialist at OPM, said that some jobs and employees may not be suited to telework. "If people can't work independently in your office, why would you want to send them home [to work]?" Woodley asked.

But, Burruss said, management needs to approach every position assuming that there is a portion of every job that can be done at home, or at a telework center. "You have to really be creative and think outside the box," she said.

Burruss gave aspiring teleworkers a tip for broaching a conversation with their managers and supervisors about starting a telecommuting program. "Look at the benefits that the agency and the federal government will get," she said. "Sell it on the business end."