What should agencies consider for their remote work plans?

With remote work continuing to play a role in the future of work, the Office of Personnel Management offered federal agency leaders a checklist of criteria to consider when setting up their policies for the practice. 

Acting director OPM Robert Shriver said in an Aug. 7 memo that because remote work has become a more conventional business practice following the pandemic, the federal government’s HR agency has sought to identify best practices to help agency leaders capitalize on its potential advantages. 

“When thoughtfully and intentionally implemented, remote work can be a significant benefit to employers for certain types of roles in certain circumstances. Further, remote work has the potential to broaden access to remote-appropriate federal roles for some workers,” he said. “At the same time, remote work is not suitable for all types of roles. Striking the right balance of in-person work and use of workplace flexibilities such as remote work is critical to support the long-term organizational health of federal agencies.”

OPM defines remote work as an arrangement where an employee works at an alternative worksite on a regular and recurring basis without the expectation of performing work at an agency location, whereas telework is defined as an agreement that the employee may work from a site other than the location they would normally work. 

Shriver added that the builds on policies OPM laid out three years ago in its updated guidance for remote work and telework, emphasizing the need for agencies to develop current and clear policies that outline their specific use of remote work, supervisors’ roles in ensuring accountability and performance measures to track productivity.

To that end, the memo calls on agencies to consider factors like what remote work arrangements look like for senior executives, how to balance new employee development with remote work, defining local commuting areas in which employees should be able to reach a workplace, determining when to form teams that are largely or fully remote and what equitable determinations should be made in establishing remote work policies. 

Other factors Shriver said that agency leaders should address should include developing a formal cost-benefit analysis of the remote work policy, including potential recruitment and retention benefits; reasonable accommodations for employees; how agencies will deploy data collection for performance measures; and how they develop mobile work policies for employees at alternative worksites not covered by remote work agreements. 

 “Certain flexible work arrangements may not make sense for every agency, function or team, or be appropriate for every position or individual,” Shriver said. “Agencies need to ensure that all work arrangements, including remote work arrangements, facilitate, rather than impede, the accomplishment of work and long-term success of an agency’s mission. This memo provides agencies with additional considerations for evaluating and determining their current and future remote work postures.”