Apparently one of the biggest challenges teleworkers had during a week devoted to the practice was remembering to bring power cords to their workspaces.
The common snag was indicative of what GSA Administrator Martha Johnson said remains the main challenge when it comes to transforming federal workers into a mobile workforce. But ironing out these issues, Johnson said, are what Telework Week is all about. Keep reading →
Government Executive magazine’s cover story, “A Thousand Cuts,” by Joseph Marks, paints a graphic picture of what it is like to be in government today. Here’s a list of the various directives that direct many of these cuts.
President Obama’s Campaign to Cut Waste was launched in June 2011, but it started earlier than that. It was presaged in his 2011 State of the Union address, when he said the government needed to be reorganized. While that hasn’t happened yet, there are a number of initiatives federal managers have been inundated with to develop plans and implement. Keep reading →
The General Services Administration instituted a new governmentwide telework policy Monday that essentially flips the managerial presumption that employees cannot telecommute to one that presumes they can. It also sets a new benchmark in detailing the government’s mobility and telework guidelines for federal employees and supervisors.
“Work is what we do, not where we are,” the GSA policy states, and a phrase that GSA Administrator Martha Johnson often repeats in her public remarks. Keep reading →
The battle between the public and private sectors to attract top talent often boils down to workplace intangibles such as work/life balance. And few efforts to improve that balance have attracted more attention within the federal government than telework.
Permitting more federal employees to skip the commute and work from home isn’t just an act of good will to attract and retain employees. It also boils down to smart economics. The General Services Administration estimates that if federal workers telecommuted at least one day per week, federal agencies could increase productivity by more than $2.3 billion annually. Agencies could also save potentially billions more on office space, electricity and supplies. Keep reading →