Hurricanes and Telework

I know this week's posts have been a little telework-heavy, but it's worth noting that the Office of Personnel Management is reminding agency chief human capital officers that telework is an option for workers who may be affected by the 2010 hurricane season and the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. According to a letter sent to agency CHCOs on Thursday, OPM encouraged agencies to include telework in its emergency preparedness planning and discuss plans with each telework employee in advance. All expectations should be included in the employee's telework agreement, OPM said.

This past winter, a round of snowstorms in the Washington, D.C., area shut down the government for nearly one week, and many employees continued to work remotely, even if they were not participating in an agency telework program. The Office of Personnel Management estimated that the cost of lost productivity during the shutdown was $70 million, rather than $120 million, because more workers teleworked from home than was anticipated.