Actually do something about it. Encouragement, guidance and talk do not overcome "old school" opposition. If one is telework eligible, mandate that mgt accept a telework agreement (and then hold us accountable for our work). I would merely like the opportunity.

OPM should set specific telework regulations rather then leaving it to each Agency. The IRS is not one of the most friendly telework locations and the union contract is constantly being violated causing grievances, arbitration hearings, council reviews...what a waste of valuable resourses, time and money. With one CONSISTANT policy in place a lot of time, money, and guessing what positions are eligible can be eliminated and there would be consistant fair treatment for those of us who WANT to telework. My position is listed in the union contract as eligible...here I sit at my desk and have been doing so since my laptop was refreshed with a desktop. Most of the denials come from managerial barriers/denials..."contingent upon a loaner laptop being available" is the most common however, there are the usual "you need to be in the office". If question, you are now labeled "difficult". One across the board CONSISTANT policy for all. It would be so easy to classify positions through OPM that are identified as telework positions and have each agency pony up the IT funding so we have the equipment we need to do our jobs.

- Provide Teleworker awards to employees similar to President's Challenge and President's Volunteer Service awards based on the number of days teleworked. - Share stories of agency leaders who are teleworking. - Have the President issue an EO advocating telework and requesting that each agency set a goal for participation among eligible employees. - OPM should publish guidance/policy on telework based on the EO.

Managerial Support * This has been the most difficult hurdle to overcome. Despite immediate supervisor support, a successful record of accomplishment and performance ratings of "exceeding expectations," my supervisors are required to constantly justify the arrangement and answer charges of unfair advantage or favoritism, which is exacerbated by the high turnover rate of senior managers at my agency. * The present office deputy strongly opposes the arrangement and my position is in jeopardy. Many teleworkers are in the GS 12 - 14 range and job insecurity is especially stressful during these economic times and when many of us are facing college and/or elder care costs and retirement. I would trade being a 'trailblazer' for the job security of a non-telework arrangement in a heartbeat. But I really do love my job and believe I have something to contribute. * To my knowledge, there has been no formal or informal training on telework best practices for management at my agency. This should be mandatory, either as an online learning course or as part of management training programs. * Some agency directives on telework are incomplete and vague on many important aspects of the program, which exacerbates managerial resistance. Telework Agreements * The telework agreement format should be standardized throughout the federal government and include mandatory components. Many forms are insufficient to cover the most critical issues, such as grounds for approving or ending the arrangement, how often they should be renewed, appeals processes, etc. My office is only required to cite "business reasons" to end my arrangement and that vagueness can offer cover for any motive, including bias against the program in general. * It is also within a manager's discretion to determine how much time to give an individual to seek other employment should management end the arrangement. Telework Coordinators and Administrative Support * The telework coordinators in my agency and sub-agency have other primary HR roles. I have often asked for advice and guidance with not much response. My impression is they are appointed to meet legislative requirements but are not empowered to promote or advocate for the program or its participants. The manager in my office who opposes the program is able to direct the administrative staff to follow his lead and policies on telework despite clear executive and legislative support for the program. * The search function for telework positions on USAJOBS needs improvement. Currently, some positions are designated as "telework eligible" but do not indicate if the hiring agency would actually consider an applicant who needs a telework arrangement. Private industry can serve as a model. Many positions advertised will say something to the effect that the location of the employee is not an issue or that the office is a "virtual" one allowing for telework arrangements. COOP Planning * Federal offices were recently required to test telework arrangements and COOP planning. In my office, this was a bureaucratic exercise and ended as soon as the boxes were checked. Without real support for the program, COOP planning using telework as a component will not be effective. Those essential personnel should telework consistently over a period of time in order to work out the kinks before a real emergency situation takes place.

We've had a law to increase telework participation across Government in place for several years. But, the law appears to have no teeth. We now need and an Executive Order to enforce the law! We could use a much stronger law too. Any Executive Order or law needs to clarify employee eligibility, establish clear and trackable agency participation goals with independent oversight, and require regular and recurring telework at least one day each week.

When job requirements permit, the goals of telecommuting would be further advanced by allowing workers to spend an hour or two working from home before commuting in to work on the days they are expected at the office. This would lead to two positive outcomes: less commuting time for the individual when commuting while traffic is light; plus less congestion on the road for the rest of the world. This is a different concept that allowing flexible hours (e.g., working 6:30 to 3:00) and could even be expanded to workers who might be needed five days per week, depending on circumstances and manager trust and approval. Or modifications to time keeping systems might be put in place to allow logging of several part-day segments. Another benefit would be the mental break afforded by breaking up the day.

1. make TW a mandatory agency action, and hold each agency accountable (I like the idea of Presidential EO) 2. track and document and publish agency TW activities (who doesn't love a good competitive challenge?) 3. train resistant old-school managers 4. make TW management part of a manager's job description

I agree with Lorraine Kearn's statement of OPM setting specific telework regulations. I believe everyone can understand that not each position may be eligible to telework, even the employee has to show the ability to do so. The decision really should not be with each state, but one program, one policy, one rule. Each of us is an employee of an Agency regardless of our position or City or State. Telework has been shown to work in other Agencies, private sector businesses, even a recent article stated the Navy was implementing a policy. If telework can work for an employee in my agency in another area (such as Washington), it should be good enough to show it can work for an employee of my same agency in another City and State. Besides funding usage goals set for Agency Directors, State Directors, Area Directors, etc., how about adding a Telework Goal. If the goal is 40% teleworking employees in order for the Agency/State/Area Director to achieve a successful rating, I would bet there would be a lot more employees teleworking!! And implement an accurate way (even if it's surveying each employee) to measure the amount of employees teleworking - don't just rely on a number on a report.

Combine telework with reasonable accommodation. If you can build a program that provides disabled individuals with work opportunities, you will win awards.

Too many telework decisions are based on the supervisor's fear that employees won't telework responsibly or on the supervisor's preference for actually seeing employees in the workplace. Telework should be a function of the POSITION, not the individual, and the decision that a position is suitable for telework should not be up to the supervisor. Instead, each position should be individually assessed for telework by an independent team of telework "experts" (from outside that agency or service) who can impartially evaluate the requirements of the position and how it fits into the organization to determine whether telework is a viable option for that position. If the position is determined to be suitable for telework, it needs to be permanently classified as such unless the position changes. (Of course anyone who does not telework responsibly should not be allowed to continue teleworking, but that should not change the classification of the position as a telework position, just the incumbent's authorization to telework.)

I agree with above comments about needing a law with some teeth that would make having a telework program mandatory instead of being left to the agency. Then supervisors and agency heads should have meeting telework goals as part of their performance appraisals. In all of today's push and talk about Lean Six Sigma, the government (and the Army) is often "unlean" and archaic in its thinking.

I agree with above comments about needing a law with some teeth that would make having a telework program mandatory instead of being left to the agency. Then supervisors and agency heads should have meeting telework goals as part of their performance appraisals. In all of today's push and talk about Lean Six Sigma, the government (and the Army) is often "unlean" and archaic in its thinking.

Efforts and actions need to be taken to change the mindset of supervisors and management regarding telework. No employee who is eligible for telework and has consistently produced for his or her employer should feel intimidated by supervisors when seeking to participate in telework. OPM and each federal department/agency need to be proactive in promoting telework rather than negatively reactive when an employee dares request to do it. Employers should be required to encourage telework rather than discourage it. The assumption should be that an employee can be trusted to perform while teleworking and not distrusted that he or she will simply goof off while teleworking. There must be an entire 180 degree reversal of the current views, beliefs, and mindset of supervisors and management or this will never succeed.

Expand the requirement put in place several years ago by the IT Committee headed by Congressman Wolf which decreases Depts.' budgets by a million dollars of a specified percentage of their work force is not teleworking. Expand the OPM required annual telework reporting by Depts./Agencies to include justification if a significant increase in teleworking employees is not reflected annually. Require Depts./Agencies to set aside funds from each year's budget for increased telework support/purchases.

It does not matter whether one is following the OPM guidelines or your organisations teleworking rules. Unless there are clear cut deliverables that are expected from the employee to provide at the end of the teleworking period the employee might as well just take the day off. Because I provide services to the Chief Information Officer, Strategic Planning Division, and the Chief Technical Officer the day before I telework I provide a work/day schedule and a list of deliverables that I am to provide. While teleworking it should be transparent to the organisation whether you are at your desk or at home. At the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) we have access to the Defense Connect Online (DCO). I have set up a virtual office within DCO. Using the video and audio, file transfer, chat, and other capabilities of DCO I can work as if I were actually sitting at my desk at headquarters. With my government furnished laptop and CAC I am able to log onto the DISA VPN and access all of the network and access files and systems needed to complete my work. I also have my work phone transferred to my mobile phone so that if someone calls my work phone it is automatically transferred to my mobile and the caller does not know that I am not sitting at my desk creating a transparent work enviorment.

A two part suggestion, both required for this to work. First, negotiate a contract(s) with national cellphone carriers for 3g/4g data services with an open quantity so each command can utilize the amount they need. These accounts could be activated through the local cellphone office or through a central facility. This could be funded using the moneys currently being paid to reimburse employees for use of their home connection. Second, acquire 3g/4g wireless cards for the employees laptops that can replace the existing wireless LAN cards in their laptop. These could be acquired and installed on an as-needed basis and new purchases of laptops could include these cards as a requirement. These could be treated just like the current wireless cards, disabled when docked and active when undocked. From a security standpoint, as long as the employee is using an encrypted VPN it should be just as secure as the current wireless to LAN connection. With this combination, employees would be able to utilize the 3g/4g cell networks for their connectivity and would no longer have to file for reimbursement. This also has the added advantage of making their connection portable, so it would work while traveling or when teleworking from home. Just think, no more negotiating with the motel/hotel for an internet connection, and you would be able to work at the airport while waiting for your flight! Some people may actually get a better connection this way!

Teleworkers should be allowed to utilize computer monitors currently sitting unused as surplus government property. Currently, many (most? all?) teleworkers perform their duties without the benefit of additional monitors, i.e., limited to the 10-12 inch screen on their laptop, despite being provided one if not two additional 15 inch monitors at our offices, commensurate with the data processing-intensive nature that is often typical of our work. In the meantime, at the NIH and perhaps other agencies, there are shelves and shelves of perfectly good monitors sitting in a warehouse of surplus equipment, monitors no longer adequate for pursuits such as biomedical imaging but still perfectly suitable for data processing work. There is no obvious reason why these monitors couldn't be re-activated in this manner (upper management where I work has yet to provide concrete reasons why they resist this idea) and doing so would yield substantial economic, environmental, and ergonomic benefits that synergize in a manner that effectively multiplies their value.

I personally am confused regarding local income tax issues. I live outside the City where I work, and when I am TDY I can complete a form and get my city income tax refunded for that period of time. Does/should the same hold true for telework? I know there have been some court cases in NY addressing this issue. If I claim a refund for taxes when working outside the city where I am assigned, shouldn't I be paying local taxes to the location where I am TDY or teleworking from? My agency says that's a question for the local taxing authority, but I think there should be some clear polciy or law addressing this. Or at least a stated policy that individuals who telework need to look into this.

There are many great ideas here! We obviously need teeth to force management to do the right thing for the right reasons. Managers need training and performance measurables. We need appeal rights and a process. One idea is to have full-time TW coordinator per (say) 500 employees for training and appeals. I am disappointed that TW was not the winner in the President's Green Challenge.