Barriers to Work-Life Balance

While the federal government has made some progress in improving employee work-life balance, management resistance and a lack of coordinated programs often cause agencies to underutilize telework and other flexibility programs, witnesses told a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday.

At a hearing before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, witnesses testified that while most agencies have in place programs that allow employees to work offsite or follow compressed or nontraditional work schedules, the percentage of employees actually working under such arrangements remains low.

Max Stier, president of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, said that many of the barriers to fully implementing work-life programs are a result of managers who resist their use. "Many managers feel they are forced to give up some of their control, and some fear that these flexibilities will negatively impact productivity and office culture, especially if there is less face-to-face interaction," Stier said. "Other managers are simply untrained in how to effectively supervise a diverse and often remote workforce."

Jonathan Foley, senior advisor to the director at the Office of Personnel Management, said that 2008 survey data shows that 49 percent of federal agencies report management resistance as a major barrier to telework, while nearly one-third cited computer security and IT funding as significant issues.

Still, Foley noted progress in OPM's Results-Only Work Environment pilot program, which will give 400 OPM employees the freedom to decide where and when they work as long as they meet high performance standards. The program will officially kick off in June and run through the end of the year, Foley said. If successful, officials will expand the program across OPM and encourage other federal agencies to implement similar programs, he added. "Managers are expected to manage for results rather than process," Foley said. "This is a shift in culture from permission-granting to performance-guiding."