It can be difficult to change 222 years of military heritage and tradition. Just ask Jesse Rangle, team lead and senior planner for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Exercise Support Division, which designs rigorous all-hazard and contingency preparedness exercises nationally for Coast Guard field units and helps execute and support those events.
Even though the Coast Guard established a telework policy in 2005, Rangle ran up against a cultural brick wall every time he tried to acquire the senior management support and endorsement he needed for his division to telework on a regular basis. Keep reading →
With the savings on real estate, energy costs and travel expenses along with improved productivity and worker satisfaction, some might think managers and employees would embrace the transition to a telework culture. But that hasn’t been the case for many in the federal workforce.
Citing a near tripling in the number of malicious software programs aimed at mobile devices in less than a year, a Congressional report is recommending the FCC and other federal agencies take a greater role urging private industry to develop stronger mobile security safeguards.
Keeping track of telework is about to get a lot easier for telework managing officers (TMOs) – and a lot more valuable.
Trying to measure the real return on investment for allowing federal employees to telework has inevitably involved a bit more art than science. Intuitively and anecdotally, it seems obvious that giving federal workers more flexibility to work remotely makes smart economic sense; and it goes a long way toward improving employee productivity and satisfaction too.