Senior officials urged to set the pace in telecommuting

Senior federal officials must be role models in telecommuting if the practice is to take root and become commonplace, telework advocates said Friday morning at an Office of Personnel Management seminar.

OPM presented the seminar, which brought together congressional leaders, private industry advocates and federal officials, to promote telework as a valuable tool in recruiting and retaining employees.

"If you felt a little stressed getting here in morning traffic today, then you understand why we're having this conference," OPM Director Kay Coles James said.

James vowed to begin telecommuting, saying she was "much more productive in my pajamas."

"It's a management imperative that we start making better use of telework," James said. "Clearly we need to be doing a better job of identifying those barriers that keep employees from telecommuting."

Earlier this year, OPM issued a report "Telework in the Federal Government," which provided a snapshot of telework initiatives. The report stemmed from an OPM request earlier this year that agencies identify positions that lend themselves to telecommuting and offer employees in them the option of working from home or at a telework center. OPM also ordered agencies to report any barriers that keep them from increasing their number of teleworkers. Those reports were due April 16.

The report's findings confirmed what many inside and outside the government already knew: While the majority of agencies have telework plans in place, few employees are actually using them.

In fact, just 2.6 percent of the federal government's 1.7 million white-collar employees telecommute at least once a week. That percentage rises only slightly when you include employees who telecommute less than once a week.

Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Connie Morella, R-Md., joined James and General Services Administration chief Stephen Perry at Friday's event at OPM. Wolf was responsible for adding telecommuting goals to the fiscal 2001 Transportation appropriations bill.

All of the officials tried to impress upon senior agency leaders the importance of providing an example when it comes to telecommuting.

"The success that we will enjoy…will depend upon how much you all buy into this," said Perry, who pledged to begin teleworking at least part of the time. "All of us have to do some more evangelical work when we go back to our workplaces in regard to changing the attitude about this measure."