At Home With Uncle Sam: New Law May Give Energy To Telecommuting Trend

Posted on | August 10, 2007 | No Comments

Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md) recently introduced a telecommuting mandate that would require that all government agencies create, manage and track the progress of a telecommuting program that would allow government workers in the executive branch to telecommute “to the maximum extent possible without diminishing employee performance or agency operations.”

The mandate was introduced as an amendment and included on a voice vote in the House energy package that was approved, 241 to 172, in the hours before Congress left for an August vacation break.

The amendment would also require that the creation of a “telework management officer” to manage teleworkers, and that Government Accountability Office examine and rate telework policies and publish their findings.

Employees whose work impacts national security or intelligence, or involves special equipment would be exempted.
The goal of the House’s energy package is to ensure that the federal government is doing its part to reduce automobile emissions via reducing the nearly 120,000 federal employees who regularly drive to work.

While the amendment is a good idea, I suspect that the government’s ability to implement the policies, processes and practices therein will make the realization of a low-emissions, work-life balance-friendly government quite a ways off.

But, if the Fed can muster a hat trick and pull it off, it may be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to solving the problem of how to attract new employees to replace the 593,000 expected to retire over the next 5 years.

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