Citation[]
Government Accountability Office, Federal Telework: Office of Personnel Management's 2012 Telework Report Shows Opportunities for Improvement (GAO-13-298R) (June 28, 2013) (full-text).
Overview[]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) partially reported on two of the seven reporting requirements of the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, but did not report agency information for the five remaining requirements. This was because insufficient time had elapsed for all requirements of the act to be fully implemented and because agencies appeared to face challenges in measuring outcomes for some nonparticipation goals, according to the OPM.
OPM recognized weaknesses in agency sources for telework participation and frequency data, but has not taken adequate steps to establish a completion date by which agencies will produce reliable data from employee time and attendance tracking systems, which OPM defined as the most reliable tracking method.
The small agency discussion group reported telework challenges similar to those expressed by officials from larger agencies. These challenges include management resistance and technology limitations. In addition, officials from small agencies expressed particular concerns about office impacts when a teleworking employee has no backup in the workplace and about the limited funding available for information technology to support telework.
The Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 requires OPM to submit an annual report to Congress addressing the telework program of each executive agency. The act also required the GAO to review OPM's first report and submit a report to Congress on the progress each executive agency has made towards the goals established under the Act.
The GAO recommends that the OPM (1) in preparation for the 2014 telework report should provide goal setting assistance for agencies not yet able to report telework goals, including agencies which intend to establish non-participation goals but are not yet able to report on these goals. The OPM should request in its data call that each of these agencies report by what year the agency will be able to report its goals, including each agency's timetable for complete reporting and the status of action steps and milestones they established to gauge progress; (2) include in its 2014 report to Congress the amount of cost savings resulting from the impacts of telework each agency may have identified, and the method the agency used to assess or verify the savings; and (3) improve the reliability of data collection by working with the Chief Human Capital Officers Council and its leadership to develop documented agreements and a timetable to complete an automated tracking system or other reliable data gathering method that can be validated by the OPM.