We were just discussing this whole issue in one of our meetings today - and we mentioned we've been teleworking since 2015.
It had absolutely nothing to do with COVID - it was a space saving decision, since we were adding new agencies to an already overcrowded building.
My sister has been working at the same job for over twenty years - from the privacy of her home office. It's a small company and their "product" is electronic - so wasting money on an brick and mortar office would be stupid.
Most of the numbers cited by people like Joni Ernst are at best distortions - but otherwise - just wrong. The overwhelming majority of most federal workers are ineligible for telework - ever. For example, the 6% figure cited comes from an ONLINE SURVEY at Federal News Network where self-selecting respondents described their situation and they got 6338 responses. A survey made up of people clicking on a website. I don't need to tell you - that kind of statistic is less than worthless.
Critics of Ernst’s report are quick to point to a report on telework published by the White House Office of Management and Budget in August. According to this report, roughly half of the federal workforce is not even eligible for telework or remote work and therefore must report to work in person.
The OMB report states, “As of May 2024, approximately 50 percent of federal workers worked every day in roles that are not eligible for telework, including those who work onsite providing healthcare to our veterans, inspecting our food supply, and managing Federal natural resources. At the same time, telework-eligible personnel spent approximately 60 percent of regular, working hours in-person, at agency-assigned job sites.”
So - anything else? Yeah
The OMB report also includes these figures:
The federal government employed 2.28 million civilian personnel.
- Of these 2.28 million personnel, the majority – 1.2 million or 54% – worked fully on-site,
as their jobs require them to be physically present during all working hours. - The remaining 1.1 million or 46.4% of civilian personnel were telework-eligible.
- Of the total 2.28 million personnel, 228 thousand or 10% of civilian personnel were in
remote positions where there was no expectation that they worked in-person on any
regular or recurring basis. - Among all federal employees, excluding remote workers that do not have a work-site to
report to, 79.4% of regular, working hours were spent in-person. - Among the subset of federal workers that are telework-eligible, excluding remote
workers, 61.2% of regular, working hours were spent in-person.
Bear in mind - "teleworking" is distinctly DIFFERENT from "remote working". Remote work means, away from the office, at all times. Teleworking means a hybrid of in person and at home work. A fraction telework - meaning they do report in person at least part of their pay period if not most.
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My thoughts are THIS -
If the problem IS - that you have slacking employees not doing their work - if you DON'T HAVE THE MEANS - or the will - to deal with them when they are full time in person, bringing them all back into the office won't do you any good. I've been with the federal government since the 80's - there have been people who are lazy and don't work hard before we even had computers or the Internet. And they got away with it, because no one ever did anything about it. If your objection is that people are being non-productive by being at home - well the ones who WORK are - but there will always be those who don't AS LONG AS the agency lacks to will to DO something.
on these numbers...
Regardless, at least this will free up some positions that others can advance in to.
