Why don't more feds telecommute?

Congress questions agencies on telecommuting participation

Date published: 5/20/2007

SINCE 2000, when Congress required federal agencies to ensure that eligible employees may participate in telecommuting, there has been a steady increase in workers taking advantage of this time- and energy-saving option.

But despite the mandate, it is estimated that only 19 percent of eligible employees participated in federal telework programs in 2004.

To see what federal agencies are doing to encourage telecommuting, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform just sent a survey to 25 federal agencies and departments.

Answers to the 18 survey questions will tell the committee how agencies define telework, determine eligibility, notify eligible employees and identify roadblocks to telecommuting.

Citing the need to continue government operations in the event of an outbreak of disease or an attack on Washington, the committee also wants to see the role telecommuting has in an agency's crisis planning.

The survey is bipartisan, having been endorsed by the Democratic chairmen and ranking Republicans on the main committee and the new subcommittee on the federal work force.

All 15 Cabinet-level departments received the survey, as did NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, National Science Foundation, Agency for International Development, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Personnel Management, and Small Business and Social Security administrations. The committee requested a response by May 29.

With gasoline at $3 a gallon and rising, I am anxious to see how the agencies respond. Telecommuting offers savings for workers and the federal government.

When the results are publicized, I'll let you know.

As part of the 2008 Defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services Committee included a 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase for the military.

As in years past, there is growing momentum in the Washington-area congressional delegation to provide an equal increase for civil service employees.

Maryland's Steny Hoyer, the new House majority leader, and Virginia Reps. Tom Davis and Frank Wolf are leading this bipartisan effort. This is a good omen for federal civilian workers, because for the past two decades the increases have almost always been identical. I'll keep you posted.

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Date published: 5/20/2007