GSA offers feds a free trial at telecommuting centers

Federal employees who have yet to jump on the telecommuting bandwagon now have a 60-day window of opportunity to try working from a telecommuting center, courtesy of the General Services Administration.

In a March 6 letter to Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James and the heads of all agencies and departments, GSA Administrator Stephen Perry offered a free 60-day trial period for employees approved to work at a telecommuting center for the first time. The offer is good until June 30.

Though telecommuting has long been recognized as a recruitment and retention tool, a means of boosting employee morale and productivity, and a way of reducing absenteeism, the idea has been slow to catch on in the federal government. As of November, 4.2 percent of federal workers participated in telecommuting programs.

Resistance from managers, budget restrictions, concerns about computer security, technology hurdles and fears by employees that they'll become out of touch with the regular workplace have kept telecommuting numbers low in the federal workplace.

But a movement is afoot to expand federal telecommuting. For example, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., added language to the fiscal 2001 Transportation Department appropriations act that requires agencies to establish policies allowing eligible employees to telecommute. The law also appointed OPM to ensure that 25 percent of the federal workforce was participating in telecommuting programs at least part of the time by April 2001.

To kick start the program, James said she would telecommute at least once a month and spent part of her workday recently at the Bowie, Md., Community Network Telecommuting Center, one of 15 telework centers operated by GSA in the Washington area. The centers are set up with work stations so that federal employees can use them as an alternative to traveling to their main offices. Monthly costs for full-time use range from $240 to $980. Costs are paid out of the agency's budget.

"These centers are an effective tool to facilitate telework and help agencies achieve the mandated telework goals," Perry wrote. "Additionally, these centers may provide agencies with an effective means for distributing their workforces to enhance homeland security and continue government operations during emergency situations."

Aldridge said that if an employee's trial period works out, agencies should review their budgets and assess whether they can afford to continue the arrangement. According to Perry, the fiscal 1999 omnibus spending bill requires agencies to set aside at least $50,000 of their payroll budget to pay for telework center costs.

Employees and managers interested in taking advantage of the 60-day free trial period should click here for more information or go to www.telework.gov.