Don't Oversell Telework?

While establishing telework programs at federal agencies will no doubt help recruit the next generation of federal employees, it's also important that agencies do not "oversell" the benefit to federal applicants, two agency representatives said Thursday.

At a briefing at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, David Kappos, director of the Patent and Trademark Office, and Jim McDermott, human resources director at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, both noted that as the government moves to a "nationwide workforce" that attracts and retains even more capable workers, it also will be important for agencies to communicate to applicants and new hires that trust must first be built before telework is an option.

"When new people come in, you have to have a sense there; they have to get to know their manager and trust has to be built," Kappos said. "Training has to occur, and that tends to require some onsite work for some period of time."

The briefing was held to release the results of the new Partnership and Booz Allen Hamilton report, "On Demand Government," which calls on federal agencies to set more aggressive goals for telework and work to more effectively train managers and employees that flexible schedules are ways to save money, provide better services and ensure continuity of operations. Representatives from the Partnership and Booz Allen said the study is the first of a series on federal telework that will be released over the next one or two years.

Kappos and McDermott both agreed that the greatest challenge to implementing telework is ensuring managers buy into and are comfortable with the program, particularly with such details as calling employees at their homes. McDermott said he put the bulk of responsibility on the first-line supervisors to manage items such as the hours an employee would choose to work. "You can't manage the implementation from the heights of Olympus," he said. "You have to let your first-level supervisor do it."