Telework joy: it all comes from the top

Increasingly, feds and their bosses are getting on the telework bandwagon. Success stories are pointing the way for other agencies trying to integrate telework into their department's mission.

During last week's Telework Exchange's Town Hall at the Reagan Trade Center, Steve McPeek, director of Human Capital Management at the General Services Administration, said it all started with his former boss, Lurita Doan, a little under two years ago.

It was in 2007, at this same Telework Town Hall meeting, where Administrator Doan issued this telework challenge to the world, and to GSA employees. As of December 31st, 2008, GSA has participation level of 43%, and that is regular teleworkers participating one or more days a week. Just to put that in perspective, we had been at 11% in 2007, so that means we went from 11% to 43% in just one year.

GSA enabled 50% of eligible employees to telework one or more days per week by 2010.

Wade Hanum, director for Performance and Work-life Policy in the Chief Human Capital Office at the GSA, says another plank to success is that telework has become a keystone to the agency's mission.

One, we want to deliver the agency's mission under all circumstances, any where, any time, and any way. Sometimes that's not in the office, sometimes that's not even during the workday. Sometimes, yes, that's even a weekend. We do move that way. It's continuity of operations, sustainability of the organization, the people, the work-life balance, and the recruitment and retention.

Of course, what makes this all possible is the technology. Casey Coleman is the Chief Information Officer with the GSA. She says one thing that helped was the fortuitous timing of a comprehensive upgrade of the agency's digital infrastructure.

In 2007, GSA undertook a consolidation of all of its common infrastructure into one program, and that brought together the common management of all the wide-area and local-area networks, laptops, desktop PCs, BlackBerrys and cell phones, e-mail, wireless services, all of those services. So having all those under one management program gave us the opportunity to create a modern, standardized platform that was secure, and allowed us to support this challenge.

In addition, Coleman says GSA:

• Requires all eligible teleworkers to use a government-owned laptop;
• Does not reimburse employees for the use of home broadband connections;
• Encrypts all communications to and from the agency laptops;
• Equips each laptop with special tracking software, allowing GSA to disable a stolen laptop, and also allowing it to wipe the hard drive in the event of theft.
• Is moving ahead with plans to implement "two-factor" security on GSA laptops, and integrating HSPD-12 card readers with laptops.

Coleman also views training as an important part of helping staffers telework safely and securely.

One of the most often cited roadblocks to more teleworking in the federal government is the resistance of mid-level managers. Steve McPeek says at GSA, "we actually put language in each senior executive's performance plans related to telework, and supporting telework, that they meet the goals of telework. We gained buy-in through the employee training, focus groups and workshops."

What really sealed the deal, says Casey Coleman, was leadership by example.

Our administrator required that all of her direct reports sign telework agreements and participate in telework themselves. I think it did two things: it proved that anyone can telework, and if you're a leader in the organization, you can still be productive.

Coleman concludes that by creating some empathy for what it took to telework, managers were able to get a better feel for the advantages of the program.

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On the Web:
GSA - Doan Issues Bold GSA Telework Challenge (9/12/2007)
Federal News Radio: Spreading the good news about telework
Telework Exchange - www.teleworkexchange.com

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