GAO: Agencies must define 'eligible teleworkers'

To increase the number of teleworkers in federal agencies, Congress should promote a consistent definition governing which employees are qualified to work away from the office, the Government Accountability Office recently recommended.

In a report to Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., GAO found that certain categories of employees at the departments of Commerce, Justice and State were not eligible to work away from the office because of the positions they held. But GAO auditors found that all positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Small Business Administration were eligible for telework.

The review (GAO-05-1055R) is the result of a provision in the fiscal 2005 appropriations bill for the departments of Commerce, Justice and State, the federal judiciary and its related agencies to make telework available to 100 percent of the eligible workforce.

GAO recommended that the Office of Personal Management and the Chief Human Capital Officers Council develop a set of terms and measurements that could determine agencies' progress in allowing employees to work away from the office.

Wolf, the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees those agencies, is a longtime telework advocate, and according to his spokesman Dan Scandling, is looking into developing a standard definition for who can telework.

All five agencies passed the GAO audit, but face further scrutiny from Congress as key members expand teleworking opportunities in the government.

Employees at State, Justice and Commerce were excluded from telework for job-related reasons--such as the fact that they handle classified information--while SEC decided each telework request on a case-by-case basis because of resistance from managers. SBA does not exclude any positions from teleworking, but will rule out employees for situational reasons.

Employees at every agency in the GAO review were excluded from telework if they worked face-to-face with clients or for performance reasons.

None of the agencies GAO reviewed was able to declare how many employees were barred from teleworking based on these criteria. The agencies also failed to fully implement a tracking system to determine who was teleworking and how often. Commerce and Justice are planning to implement systems for those purposes.

Commerce and the SBA require potential teleworkers to undergo training and officials at the SEC and Justice said they dealing with resistance to telework expressed by the agencies' managers.

GAO found that only 7 percent of all employees were eligible to telework at State and 82 percent of those employees actually worked away from the office. According to the review, only State employees living in the District of Columbia area were eligible for telework and the agency interpreted the legislation regarding telework to apply only in the Washington area.

Fifty-four percent of the employees at Justice are considered eligible for telework, but only 18 percent work away from the office.

Nearly three-fourths of Commerce's employees are eligible for telework, and 40 percent of them actually telework. GAO found that if employees at Commerce met certain criteria and demonstrated that they were self-starters and had time management skills, they were considered eligible.

Commerce was inconsistent in excluding employees from telework based on performance, GAO found. Under the agency's two-point rating system, employees could qualify if their average rating was at "meets or exceeds expectations," while under its five-point rating system, employees qualified if their rating was "outstanding" or "commendable," but not if it was "fully successful." Agency officials told GAO that "meets expectations" and "fully successful" were basically the same ratings and represented the mid-point of the rating systems.

All SEC employees were deemed eligible to work away from the office, but only 20 percent actually telework.

Of the 18 percent of SBA employees who work away from the office, 65 percent take advantage of the opportunity.

Source: Government Accountability Office