THE EVOLUTION OF TELEWORK IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Wendell Joice, PhD

Office of Governmentwide Policy

US General Services Administration

February 2000

CONTENTS

[PART ONE: GENERAL EVOLUTION 1](#part-one-general-evolution)

[INTRODUCTION 1](#introduction)

[An evolution of workplace change 1](#an-evolution-of-workplace-change)

[The Semantics of 'Telework': Telework = Telecommuting = Flexiplace
1](#the-semantics-of-telework-telework-telecommuting-flexiplace)

[Overview 2](#overview)

[THE EARLY DAYS 2](#the-early-days)

[Jack Nilles: Originator of Telecommuting
2](#jack-nilles-originator-of-telecommuting)

[Frank Schiff: Originator of Flexiplace
3](#frank-schiff-originator-of-flexiplace)

[Other Early Federal Work-at-Home Activity
4](#other-early-federal-work-at-home-activity)

[An Early Example of Telework as Emergency Response
4](#an-early-example-of-telework-as-emergency-response)

[The Oldest Flexiplace Program 5](#the-oldest-flexiplace-program)

[THE GOVERNMENTWIDE FLEXIPLACE YEARS
5](#the-governmentwide-flexiplace-years)

[The Motivation for a Governmentwide Flexiplace Program
5](#the-motivation-for-a-governmentwide-flexiplace-program)

[A Fascinating Occurrence 6](#a-fascinating-occurrence)

[The PCMI Governmentwide Flexiplace Project
6](#the-pcmi-governmentwide-flexiplace-project)

[Flexiplace Implementation - Early Results
6](#flexiplace-implementation---early-results)

[The First Federal Personnel Manual Letter on Flexiplace
7](#the-first-federal-personnel-manual-letter-on-flexiplace)

[Initial White House and Congressional Support
7](#initial-white-house-and-congressional-support)

[The Telephone Bill 7](#the-telephone-bill)

[Initial Congressional Requirement To Assess Telework Impact
7](#initial-congressional-requirement-to-assess-telework-impact)

[National Performance Review 8](#national-performance-review)

[GSA/DOT LEADERSHIP ERA 8](#gsadot-leadership-era)

[The Clinton Family Friendly Workplace Memo #1
8](#the-clinton-family-friendly-workplace-memo-1)

[The National Information Infrastructure
9](#the-national-information-infrastructure)

[GSA and DOT Team Up to Lead Federal Telework
9](#gsa-and-dot-team-up-to-lead-federal-telework)

[The National Telecommuting Initiative
9](#the-national-telecommuting-initiative)

[The Clinton Family-Friendly Workplace Memo #2
10](#the-clinton-family-friendly-workplace-memo-2)

[Research From DOT 10](#research-from-dot)

[Congressional Coalition Letter 10](#congressional-coalition-letter)

[National Performance Review and the NTI
10](#national-performance-review-and-the-nti)

[OPM Publications and Teleworker Count
11](#opm-publications-and-teleworker-count)

[Congressional Hearings 11](#congressional-hearings)

[GSA/OPM Telework Policy Review 11](#gsaopm-telework-policy-review)

[The OSHA Controversy and Information Age Workplace Policy
12](#the-osha-controversy-and-information-age-workplace-policy)

[Conclusion of Part One 12](#conclusion-of-part-one)

[PART TWO: SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF FEDERAL TELEWORK
13](#part-two-special-applications-of-federal-telework)

[PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES/WORKERS COMPENSATION
13](#people-with-disabilitiesworkers-compensation)

[DOD Program for People With Disabilities
13](#dod-program-for-people-with-disabilities)

[DOD CAP Program 13](#dod-cap-program)

[Executive Memorandum on Employing People with Significant Disabilities
Utilizing Alternate Work Sites
14](#executive-memorandum-on-employing-people-with-significant-disabilities-utilizing-alternate-work-sites)

[Workers Compensation Activity 14](#workers-compensation-activity)

[THE EMERGENCE OF FEDERAL TELECOMMUTING CENTERS (TELECENTERS)
15](#the-emergence-of-federal-telecommuting-centers-telecenters)

[Congressional Support for Federal Telecenters
15](#congressional-support-for-federal-telecenters)

[Official Opening of Federal Telecenters
16](#official-opening-of-federal-telecenters)

[Emergency Response: The Northridge Earthquake
16](#emergency-response-the-northridge-earthquake)

[The Telecenter Lesson 17](#the-telecenter-lesson)

[Other California Partnerships 18](#other-california-partnerships)

[Other Special Response Telecenters: Oklahoma City and Atlanta
18](#other-special-response-telecenters-oklahoma-city-and-atlanta)

[The National Guard Bureau Distance Learning/Telecenter Initiative
18](#the-national-guard-bureau-distance-learningtelecenter-initiative)

[More Congressional Telecenter Activity
19](#more-congressional-telecenter-activity)

[ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 20](#environmental-impact)

[Climate Change Action Plan 20](#climate-change-action-plan)

[Environmental Impact Research 20](#environmental-impact-research)

[Traffic Congestion and a Proposed Executive Order
21](#traffic-congestion-and-a-proposed-executive-order)

[Congressional Environmental Credit Plan
21](#congressional-environmental-credit-plan)

[ALTERNATIVE OFFICING 21](#alternative-officing)

[The Federal Railroad Administration Alternative Officing Activity
22](#the-federal-railroad-administration-alternative-officing-activity)

[Alternative Officing at the Department of Education and Other Agencies
22](#alternative-officing-at-the-department-of-education-and-other-agencies)

[THE INTERNATIONAL TELEWORK ASSOCIATION (ITAC)
22](#the-international-telework-association-itac)

[Telecommute America! (Now called Telework America!)
23](#telecommute-america-now-called-telework-america)

[A SPECIAL PARTNER: WMCOG 23](#a-special-partner-wmcog)

[TODAY 23](#today)

THE EVOLUTION OF TELEWORK IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

# PART ONE: GENERAL EVOLUTION

## INTRODUCTION

This paper documents the evolution of the Telework movement in the
Federal government. This movement, which has spanned the last quarter
century, is still unfolding and has yet to reach its zenith.

### An evolution of workplace change

The history of Federal telework reflects the evolution of one of the
most significant and progressive changes in work conditions for Federal
employees. Beginning during the last decade of the 20th century, the
Federal telework movement reflected that period's interest in workforce
impact on family, environment, and general quality of life. It was also
one of the most important barometers of the transition from industrial
age to information age human resources and workplace management. It is a
classic study of the struggle for change in a 20th century bureaucracy.
Interestingly enough, it also shows how the efforts of a relatively few
resulted in a potential impact on the worklives of 1.8 million Federal
workers.

### The Semantics of 'Telework': Telework = Telecommuting = Flexiplace

Since the inception of telework, there has been a continuing controversy
over terminology. Terms such as telework, telecommuting, and Flexiplace
have been widely used and confused. There has been a lack of consensus
as to (1) what each of these terms means and (2) the difference between
their definitions. For ease of communication, we will sidestep this
issue as follows: for the purposes of discussion in this paper, we will
treat the terms telework, telecommuting, and Flexiplace as synonyms that
refer to the following:

A work arrangement

> A work arrangement in which an employee regularly works at an
> alternate worksite such as the employee\'s home, a telecommuting
> center (Telecenter), or other alternate worksite. A telecommuting
> *alternate worksite* is any facility, in which the employee works,
> which saves that employee a lengthier commute (distance‑wise and/or
> time‑wise) to a main worksite.
>
> A *main worksite* is any facility where the employee would normally
> perform work if there were no alternate worksite.

### Overview

The evolution of Federal telework can be viewed as occurring in several
stages. An initial spurt of activity occurred in the late 70\'s and
early 80\'s and appeared to fade out by the mid 80\'s. This activity
consisted of small scale pilots and experiments conducted separately by
individual agencies. A second stage, featuring the first governmentwide
Flexiplace pilot, began in 1989. This pilot focused on work-at-home
arrangements. A third stage introduced Federal telecommuting centers
(telecenters) and began in 1993. The activity levels of stages two and
three began to diminish somewhat and, in 1996, stage four, the National
Telecommuting Initiative (NTI), was implemented. This governmentwide
initiative contained ambitious goals (such as 60,000 Federal teleworkers
by September of 1998). NTI activity waned considerably by mid-1998 and
plans were undertaken for a reenergized NTI. The re-energized NTI, when
implemented, will represent a fifth stage. As of this writing, the
latter activity is still being defined and planned.

To provide an accurate context for this history, the reader should note
the following:

\- This paper focuses on the development of formal Federal telework
programs which are characterized by formal policies, procedures, and
regular telework work schedules. This discussion does not focus on the
continuing use of informal work-at-home practices utilized by many
agencies \[In a study conducted in 1989 (Cowley & Joice, 1989), it was
found that a substantial number of Federal agencies were already
utilizing informal, as-needed telework arrangements that were
established typically on a case-by-case (individual employee) basis\].

\- Preceding and paralleling the history of formal Federal Flexiplace is
telework activity related to employees with disabilities. Federal
agencies such as DOD, Labor, GSA, and HHS all played active roles in
this arena. The history of telework and physically challenged employees
is a saga of its own, and while it will be discussed briefly below, the
interested reader should see other sources (such as Hesse (1995) or
Joice (1991)) for more detail.

## THE EARLY DAYS

### Jack Nilles: Originator of Telecommuting 

One of the earliest governmentwide policies relating to Federal telework
was in 1957 when the Comptroller General approved payment of salaries,
on a case-by-case basis, to Federal employees for work done at home (see
historical reference in GAO, 1992). The earliest effort to generate a
Federal telework program, however, appears to have occurred in the early
60\'s when Jack Nilles, commonly considered to be the father of
telework, began teleworking from Los Angeles to Washington, DC while
working as a consulting rocket scientist to the US Air Force Space
Program. Inspired by this experience, Nilles coined both the words
"telecommuting" and "teleworking" in 1973. He began promoting the value
and importance of the concept and thus gave birth to the telework
movement.

Nilles (Nilles, 1999) suggests some irony in the fact that although he
coined 'telecommuting/telework' in conjunction with research that was
largely funded by the Federal government (National Science Foundation),
he was unable to generate Federal interest in telework. This early lack
of Federal interest enabled the state government of California to earn
the distinction of being the first major public sector entity to adopt
telework:

> "\... after completing the NSF project in 1974, I was unsuccessful in
> inducing any other federal agency to test telework or support further
> research on it (it was no one\'s \"mission\"). So I ended up talking
> the state of California into it a decade later in order to have a
> platform for making the impact results public." (Nilles, 1999)

### Frank Schiff: Originator of Flexiplace

The first person to generate Federal experimentation with telework was
Frank Schiff. At the time, Schiff was Vice President and Chief Economist
for the Committee for Economic Development. In 1979, Schiff published an
article in the Washington Post in which he challenged the Federal
Government to look at management practices, union rules, and Federal
laws and regulations in an effort to facilitate working at home as a
means of improving productivity, saving costs, and saving energy (this
was at the height of the energy crisis during that period). During that
same time, Schiff coined the term "Flexiplace" to "encompass not only
work-at-home but also such other flexible location arrangements as
satellite work centers. Flexiplace would be regarded as a natural
complement to the already existing Federal 'Flexitime' program.
Moreover, in contrast to such terms as 'telecommuting', it stressed
increased flexibility in the location of work, whether or not this is
based on the use of telecommunications equipment." (Schiff, 1993)

Schiff's coining of the term 'Flexiplace' is all the more noteworthy
since, eventually, the first governmentwide telework program would be
called Flexiplace for the reasons provided above by Schiff. In fact, as
of this writing (more than a decade after the initial implementation of
governmentwide Flexiplace), many Federal agencies still refer to their
telework programs as 'Flexiplace'.

Schiff's efforts led to a study conducted by the US Office of Personnel
Management, "Flexiplace: An Emerging Issue in Federal Employment":

> The OPM paper first described the basic rationale for Flexiplace. It
> cited a 1973 legal opinion by the Civil Service Commission (OPM) which
> stated that there were no laws which required Federal employees to
> perform their work at a particular site. The paper then described
> various existing or planned experiments with Flexiplace in the private
> sector as well as the Federal Government\....The paper did not make
> any formal recommendations but was clearly favorable to the Flexiplace
> concept. Unfortunately, the report came out just five days before the
> 1980 Presidential election and the entire effort was apparently
> discontinued when the new Administration took over.

(Schiff, 1993)

According to Schiff, the OPM report detailed a group of small-scale
Federal agency efforts: General Services Administration (individual
teleworker), Department of Labor (disabled employee), Railroad
Retirement Board (satellite work station), NASA (neighborhood office
center), and IRS (revenue agents).

### Other Early Federal Work-at-Home Activity

Two additional early work-at-home experiments were conducted at the
National Institutes of Health and the Department of the Army. The Army
experiment, conducted at an Army facility in St. Louis, was an 18 month
activity implemented in 1980 to overcome work scheduling difficulties.
Despite the fact that the program performed successfully (project
manager evaluations), an army audit team concluded that the potential
benefits were exceeded by the risks of fraud and abuse. As a result, the
project was discontinued (Schiff, 1993).

> Interestingly enough, I have learned that the Army auditors privately
> admitted they would have approved the project if it had been sponsored
> by a private firm. They were simply afraid that with all the talk
> about fraud and abuse, the Army would expose itself to too much
> criticism if it allowed people to work at home!
>
> This experience helps to illustrate why \... Flexiplace programs
> petered out by the early 1980\'s. The emphasis of the new
> Administration was on reductions in force and on eliminating waste,
> fraud and abuse, and this was not conducive to experimentation with
> Flexiplace. The lesson is that if Flexiplace is to prosper, it needs
> the active, visible, and sustained support of the people at the top.

(Schiff, 1993)

Despite the fact that the trend of single agency experimentation with
Flexiplace was fading out by the end of the 80\'s, there was still some
noteworthy activity. In July of 1989, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) implemented a six-month Flexiplace pilot study at its
Research Triangle Park facility in North Carolina. This small pilot
began with 11 participants and was eventually extended. While the final
report indicated some significant problems, it was generally positive
about the feasibility of Flexiplace arrangements. The following year,
the Department of the Air Force implemented a six-month pilot at several
of its facilities.

### An Early Example of Telework as Emergency Response

October, 17 1989 brought the Government an early experience with
telework as an emergency response strategy. At 5:04 pm that day, the
Loma Prieta earthquake severely damaged the EPA Region 9 office building
in San Francisco, displacing nearly 800 employees. EPA responded by
establishing an auxiliary command post for 80 employees and work-at-home
arrangements for the remaining 700+ workers. By March, 1990, 60% of the
displaced employees were back in traditional (temporary) workstations
while the other 40% continued in Flexiplace awaiting the opening of a
new office building. EPA conducted several studies of this experience,
learned quite a bit about the feasibility and utility of Flexiplace as
both a general workplace strategy as well as an emergency response
strategy, and continues to use Flexiplace. Following are a sample of
findings from one of the EPA studies (National Analysts, 1991):

\- One long-term effect from the earthquake experience about which there
was a great deal of agreement was that there should be some kind of
work-at-home policy.

\- Most of the interviewed managers and staff favored continuation of
the work-at-home program.

\- While noting that this unplanned and suddenly-implemented program was
not an indication of the performance of a normally implemented program,
the study pointed out problems such as getting supplies and services,
inadequate home environments/space, and psychological discomforts for
some of the workers.

### The Oldest Flexiplace Program

Finally, one agency, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA),
probably has the distinction of having the longest running formal
Federal telework program. As early as 1934 when the NCUA was the Federal
Credit Union Bureau, credit union examiners conducted their examinations
at credit union sites and then completed their reports at home. Neither
the NCUA nor its predecessor provided office space for credit union
examiners. Without much fanfare, the NCUA implemented a work-at-home
program for its auditors that is still operating successfully.

## THE GOVERNMENTWIDE FLEXIPLACE YEARS

### The Motivation for a Governmentwide Flexiplace Program

In the late 1980\'s, there was an intense public focus on an anticipated
drop in the quality of the workforce entering the 21st century. This
focus, which was especially pronounced among the nation's employers, was
in part instigated by dire predictions stemming from a Department of
Labor report entitled Work Force 2000 (Hudson, 1988). In response, the
US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published a similar report,
Civil Service 2000 (Hudson, 1988), which focused on the Federal
employment picture. The following captures the essence of this report:

> "The Federal government faces a slowly emerging crisis of competence.
> For years, many Federal agencies have been able to hire and retain
> highly educated, highly skilled workforces, even though their wages,
> incentives and working conditions have not been fully competitive with
> those offered by private employers. But as labor markets become
> tighter during the early 1990\'s, hiring qualified workers will become
> much more difficult. Unless steps are taken now to address the
> problem, the average qualifications and competence of many segments of
> the Federal workforce will deteriorate, perhaps so much as to impair
> the ability of some agencies to function." (Hudson, 1988, p. 29)

This report and increasing concerns resulted in a Federal push for
solutions, especially non-salary incentives to enhance Federal
recruiting and retention. One such solution, adopted by OPM, was to
conduct a small telework pilot based on research and recommendations on
home-based employment (Joice, 1989).

### A Fascinating Occurrence

Before OPM could implement its Flexiplace pilot, a fascinating chain of
events took place. A reporter scouring a Federal management report (over
200 pages) (OMB, 1990), discovered and became interested in the
following one-liner:

> Federal agencies will also begin pilot testing of employees "working
> at home."(p. 2-32)

This was the only mention of Flexiplace in the entire report. Pursuing
this, the reporter discovered and publicized the aforementioned OPM
plans. This publicity drew the attention of the President's Council on
Management Improvement (an umbrella group of agency associate directors
for administration)(PCMI). After some brief discussions between OPM and
the PCMI, an interagency PCMI task force led by OPM and GSA was
established to plan and implement the first governmentwide Flexiplace
project. Thus, the development of this landmark initiative was
facilitated by the aforementioned work of an enterprising reporter from
the Federal Times newspaper.

### The PCMI Governmentwide Flexiplace Project

In January of 1990, the PCMI approved and implemented its task force
plans and guidelines for a governmentwide Flexiplace pilot. The
"Guidelines for Pilot Flexible Workplace Arrangements" (PCMI, 1990) was
a comprehensive document that eventually served as the primary
boilerplate for Federal agency Flexiplace policies as well as for
numerous private sector and state/local telework programs. The basic
tenets of these guidelines are still being used today.

### Flexiplace Implementation - Early Results

Flexiplace implementation plans called for one-year pilot tests to be
conducted by participating agencies and evaluated by OPM. The tests,
which were to be conducted over an 18 month period ending in October
1991, were expected to cover between 1500 to 2000 participants.

> The First Year:
>
> Getting Flexiplace off the ground was a challenge. While 30 agencies
> initially expressed interest in participating, only six agencies
> actually implemented programs during the first year. In fact, six
> months after the official implementation, Flexiplace had no
> participants and some very worried project managers. By September of
> 1990, however, the first three agencies,
>
> \- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Department of
> Agriculture),
>
> \- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and
>
> \- Department of Interior,
>
> had implemented Flexiplace programs. Other agencies followed and by
> the end of 1990 there were about 200 total participants.

### The First Federal Personnel Manual Letter on Flexiplace

In March of 1991, OPM issued the first Federal Personnel Manual letter
(OPM, 1991) on Flexiplace. This letter, FPM letter 368-1, encouraged
agencies to participate in the pilot project and provided, as an
attachment, the initial Flexiplace FAQ's.

**[The Final Report on the Work-at-Home Component of
Flexiplace]{.smallcaps}**

In January, 1993, OPM published a final report (OPM, 1993) on the
work-at-home component of Flexiplace. At that time, approximately 700
Federal employees from 13 agencies were participating in Flexiplace. The
report was positive and recommended that the PCMI endorse Flexiplace for
use by Federal agencies. In October, 1993, OPM sent a memorandum to
Federal personnel directors confirming agency authority to utilize
Flexiplace arrangements, encouraging agencies to use Flexiplace, and
providing guidance on its use.

### Initial White House and Congressional Support

Beginning as early as 1990 and continuing throughout the evolution of
Federal telework, the program has enjoyed bi-partisan political support
from both the executive and legislative branches of government. In 1990,
President Bush endorsed telecommuting on several occasions:

"Telecommuting means saving energy, improving air quality and quality of
life. Not a bad deal". (Wheeler, 1990) During the same year, the US
Department of Transportation (DOT) included telecommuting in its
Statement of National Transportation Policy which cited the rapid
advancement of telecommunications technology as providing for a "wide
variety of options" in the way people perform their work. Moreover, the
Policy stated that such technology would allow the decentralization of
business operations and thus permit more employees to work at home.

### The Telephone Bill

The year 1990 also marked the beginning of a long and significant track
record of Federal telework support and involvement by Rep. Frank Wolf
(R, Va). Working collaboratively at that time with Senator Ted Stevens
(R, Alaska), Rep. Wolf introduced a bill that would allow Federal
agencies to pay for extra telephone lines, related equipment, and fees
needed in the homes of Federal telecommuters. This bill, which was
signed into law by President Bush in November of 1990, removed one of
the early barriers to Federal telecommuting. Initially, this legislation
was in the form of a temporary exemption that was re-issued by Congress
on an annual basis. In 1996, however, the legislation was made
permanent.

### Initial Congressional Requirement To Assess Telework Impact

In September, Congress passed an amendment (Wheeler, 1991) to the DOT
appropriations bill that required DOT and the Department of Energy to
evaluate "the economic, social, and public interest impact of the
practice of telecommuting." Senator Conrad Burns (R, Montana), the
sponsor of the amendment presented the amendment to President Bush, who
eventually signed the package into law.

### National Performance Review

In 1993, the Clinton administration began a series of actions designed
to encourage the growth of Federal telework. That year, the National
Performance Review (NPR) recommended that GSA and OPM develop a
legislative proposal to enable Flexiplace and telecommuting arrangements
for more Federal employees. It further recommended that DOT create and
evaluate telecommuting programs (NPR, 1993).

## GSA/DOT LEADERSHIP ERA

In 1994, there was a slight changing of the guard for governmentwide
telework leadership. GSA and DOT began working together to lead the
movement. Both agencies had been charged with telework development
responsibilities and realized that collaborative leadership was in their
best interests. OPM continued to play an important and supportive role.
During this period, telework drivers such as 'family friendly
workplaces' and the 'national information infrastructure' (information
highway, etc.) arrived on the scene. The chronology for this is as
follows.

### The Clinton Family Friendly Workplace Memo #1

In a July 1994 memorandum to all Federal agencies, President Clinton
adopted the National Performance Review\'s recommendation that a more
family‑friendly workplace be created by expanding opportunities for
Federal workers to participate in flexible work arrangements.

> "in order to recruit and retain a Federal work force that will provide
> the highest quality of service to the American people, the executive
> branch must implement flexible work arrangements to create a
> \"family‑friendly\" workplace."

The memo further directed that

> \- The head of each agency (1) establish a program to encourage and
> support the expansion of flexible family‑friendly work arrangements,
> including telecommuting and satellite work locations and (2) identify
> barriers and recommendations for addressing such barriers to the
> President\'s Management Council.
>
> \- OPM and GSA (1) work with agencies to support and expand
> implementation of flexible work arrangements, (2) promptly review and
> revise regulations that are barriers to such work arrangements, and
> (3) develop legislative proposals, as needed, to achieve the goals
> laid out in the memo.
>
> \- The President\'s Management Council (PMC) and the Office of
> Management and Budget provide any necessary guidance.

In response to the above memo, OPM and GSA collaborated on a Telework
Workshop for Federal managers and OPM (OPM, 1995) published a report on
Federal government progress in helping employees meet their work and
family responsibilities.

### The National Information Infrastructure

In 1994, the Clinton Administration established a priority partnership
with the private sector to develop an advanced information
infrastructure for the US: the National Information Infrastructure (NII)
(NIST, 1994). An interagency and public/private task force, led by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (US Department of
Commerce) was established to shape the vision of the NII. Participating
on that task force and focusing on how the NII could impact both work
and personal life, GSA (Master and Joice, 1994) put together a white
paper detailing how telecommuting can be an NII application that can
improve the quality of life. Along with seven other papers on NII
applications, the telecommuting paper was published with quite a bit of
fanfare by the Administration's NII task force in the fall of 1994.

This event signaled a new and stronger appreciation and utilization of
the role of technology in Federal telecommuting. Prior to this activity,
Federal telework had been, perhaps, overly cautious in stressing that
telecommuting was not technology-dependent. In fact, as mentioned above,
Federal use of the term 'Flexiplace' was based on a desire to
demonstrate the independence of telework from technology.

### GSA and DOT Team Up to Lead Federal Telework

As mentioned earlier, by 1994 it became very clear that given the
telework assignments given to DOT and GSA, the two agencies should
collaborate in leading the Federal telework movement. The implementation
of this partnership was highlighted by a jointly produced revision of
the Federal telecommuting manual (DOT, 1994). The efforts of these two
agencies led to a new governmentwide telecommuting initiative, the
National Telecommuting Initiative.

### The National Telecommuting Initiative 

In January 1996, in order to give Federal telework an apparently
much-needed boost, the President's Management Council (PMC) implemented
the National Telecommuting Initiative (NTI). The general mission of the
NTI was to boost, primarily, the number of Federal teleworkers and,
secondarily, the number of teleworkers in other sectors of the US
workforce. Led by DOT and GSA in conjunction with an interagency
taskforce, the NTI became the first governmentwide telework initiative
to set numerical goals: 60,000 Federal teleworkers by October 1998 and
160,000 by the end of 2002.

One of the initial activities of the NTI was to conduct a survey of
Federal agencies to determine the number of Federal teleworkers at the
time (NTI, 1996). Agency response to the survey was hampered by the fact
that few agencies had any established means of counting their
teleworkers. The resulting uneven and possibly inaccurate response from
the agencies indicated approximately 9,000 Federal teleworkers. In a
subsequent audit of the aforementioned survey response, the US General
Accounting Office (GAO) found numerous reporting errors. GAO concluded,
however, that since understatements and overstatements were nearly
equal, the reported total number of teleworkers could be assumed to be a
reasonable, if shaky, estimate.

Over time, however, the NTI did not fare very well (See OPM Teleworker
Count below). The expected boost in Federal teleworker numbers did not
occur and by the end of 1998, GSA and DOT were considering ways to
improve/reenergize the NTI. These planning efforts are still a work in
progress.

### The Clinton Family-Friendly Workplace Memo #2

In June 1996, following up on his 1994 Family Friendly Workplace memo to
all Federal agencies, President Clinton directed agency heads to (1)
review their personnel practices, (2) develop a plan of action to
utilize the flexible policies already in place, (3) expand their ability
to provide family friendly workplaces (including opportunities to
telecommute), and (4) where feasible, to achieve the goal of 60,000
telecommmuters by 1998 as set by the President\'s Management Council. He
further directed agencies to report their progress to the Vice President
through the National Performance Review. "The National Performance
Review, together with the Domestic Policy Council, the President\'s
Management Council Working Group on Telecommuting, the Office of
Personnel Management, and the General Services Administration will
continue to work with the executive agencies as we move forward together
to increase productivity through family friendly work environments."

### Research From DOT

Also in 1996, Congress directed DOT to examine telecommuting issues such
as the benefits and limitations of different approaches to
implementation, keys to successful programs, and potential roles of
Federal, state, and local governments in promoting telecommuting. In
1997, DOT published its research report, "Successful Telecommuting
Programs in the Public and Private Sectors: A Report To Congress" (DOT,
1997). This assignment reflected the growing Federal interest in the
development of all telework, not just Federal telework.

### Congressional Coalition Letter

In October 1996, still concerned about the lagging growth of Federal
telework, a coalition of eight members of the House of Representatives
wrote a letter to all agency heads extolling the value of telecommuting
and encouraging exploration of telecommuting options available.

### National Performance Review and the NTI

In 1997, Vice President Gore communicated, to all Federal agencies,
findings from a National Performance Review (NPR) analysis of agency
reports on family friendly workplace progress. He noted "areas of
achievement as well as areas which require a great deal more effort."
One of the latter areas was telecommuting:

> "\.... as many of you already understand, we must intensify our
> efforts to make telecommuting more readily available to our workers,
> not just in times of personal or medical emergency, but as an
> important management strategy. The accessibility of more than two
> dozen federal telecommuting centers, the advances in information
> technology, and the proven effectiveness of work‑at‑home arrangements,
> should give us the confidence that we can meet the challenge of 60,000
> federal telecommuters by the end of fiscal year 1998\....."

He urged agency heads to provide the strong leadership needed to create
a family friendly workplace culture.

### OPM Publications and Teleworker Count

That same year, OPM issued a revised version of its 1995 publication,
'Balancing Work and Family Demands Through Telecommuting' (OPM, 1997),
as well as a telework briefing tool called 'The Telework Briefing Kit'
(OPM, 1997).

In early 1998, Reps Wolf and Hoyer requested OPM to conduct a study of
Federal agency family friendly efforts and to include an update on
telecommuting progress. In October 1998, OPM published its response to
the Congressional request. A featured finding in the report was a case
of good news/bad news. The good news was that the number of Federal
teleworkers had grown to about 25,000. The bad news was that this was
less than half of the PMC goal of 60,000 expected by that time. At
approximately 1% of the Federal workforce, this finding was also
significantly lower than the various estimates (ranging from 8% to 11%)
for the percentage of teleworkers in the US workforce.

### Congressional Hearings

Beginning in late 1999, the Congressional Workforce and Education
Committee began a series of examinations and hearings into the reasons
for the continuing slow growth of telework in the Federal government as
well as in the U.S. workforce. This Congressional activity is underway
as of this writing.

### GSA/OPM Telework Policy Review

In mid-1999, GSA and OPM began telework policy examinations in two
directions. The first direction focused on existing workplace policy and
its adequacy for supporting the Federal teleworkplace. For example,
issues began to arise regarding the definition of an employee's official
duty station and its relationship to regular and travel pay. It had
become clear that numerous Federal workplace policies needed to be
revised and/or clarified in view of the advance of telework (The
importance of this activity was highlighted by a major public
controversy over employer responsibility for home worksites - see OSHA
below). The second direction focused on advancements in Federal telework
such as working anytime/anywhere, alternative officing (hotelling,
e.g.), and telework-assisted dependant care. It was clear that pilot
tests and accompanying new policy were needed to implement these
advanced aspects of telework. Currently, GSA and OPM are planning this
activity.

### The OSHA Controversy and Information Age Workplace Policy

In November, 1999, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) of the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued an interpretation
letter in response to an employer inquiry on employer responsibility for
the safety and health conditions of teleworker home worksites. In
essence, the letter implied that employers were responsible and liable
for such conditions at teleworker home worksites. In January 2000, the
OSHA letter was highlighted in a Washington Post article. This set off a
firestorm of criticism and concern based on explicit aspects of the
letter and implications drawn by the media, telework groups, Congress,
and others. Rep. Wolf and others threatened Congressional action unless
the letter was withdrawn. The DOL withdrew the letter and planned a
detailed examination to be conducted in conjunction with relevant public
and private organizations and experts. Prior to the examination,
however, at a subsequent Congressional hearing, the DOL changed its
official interpretation and stated that, except for dangerous
manufacturing applications, employers would not be responsible/liable
for the safety and health of home worksites. Because of other problems
as well as the need for further clarification of specific issues,
Congress requested a continuation of plans for a collaborative detailed
examination and report. The issue is still being deliberated as of this
writing.

This was a significant event for at least two reasons. First, it
highlighted the existing mismatch between information age workplace
policy/practices and outdated industrial era policies, procedures, and
management culture. This need for updating industrial era policy and
procedure was pinpointed heavily in the Congressional hearings and
attendant media coverage. Secondly, it signaled the advent of a major
policy shift regarding employer responsibility and the safety and health
of worksites in the information age.

### Conclusion of Part One

The above discussion covered, past to present, the general history of
Federal telework. As you can see, at the time of this writing, there are
new areas of telework action and energy that are beginning to unfold. In
addition to general events, however, there were several streams of
special applications of Federal telework that paralleled the general
telework activity. These are discussed below.

# PART TWO: SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF FEDERAL TELEWORK

## PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES/WORKERS COMPENSATION

### DOD Program for People With Disabilities

In April of 1993, Judith Gilliom, a manager in the Department of Defense
(DOD) Office of Civilian personnel, formally introduced telework as a
DOD work option for people with disabilities. This Flexiplace project
began with a one-year demonstration program. At the end of the
demonstration period, the program transitioned into an on-going,
supported work option. This was the first formal Federal effort to
utilize the new Flexiplace initiative for people with disabilities:

> "The DOD program grew out of a larger effort to create new
> opportunities for persons with disabilities in the DOD civilian
> workforce. The goal was to create a diverse workforce in which at
> least 2% of all civilians employed would be employees with
> disabilities. Flexiplace was seen as a way of meeting that goal by
> offering an attractive work alternative to prospective employees.
> During the uncertain period of base closures, reductions in force, and
> changes in administration during the early 90\'s the DOD altered its
> goal from creating new opportunities to enhancing current positions"
> (Hesse, 1995, p. 419)

Findings from the demonstration program supported the conclusion that
telework can be useful for persons with disabilities across a wide range
of practice and should be a continuing work option. This DOD telework
option for persons with disabilities is functioning actively today.

### DOD CAP Program 

Since its inception in 1990, DOD's Computer/Electronic Accommodations
Program (CAP) has provided the equipment and assistive technology for
people with disabilities to work at home or other alternate worksites
(CAP, 1999). Working together, CAP and the DOD Flexiplace program for
people with disabilities found that Flexiplace is an effective
accommodation and recruitment tool for people with disabilities. CAP's
target groups include:

> \- Recipients of workers' compensation payments;
>
> \- Persons who are being subjected to disability retirement;
>
> \- DOD employees with disabilities who could be more productive if
> they were allowed to work part or all of the week at home or in some
> other off-site location; and
>
> \- Persons with disabilities who have been unable to be employed
> because their disabilities make it difficult for them to function in a
> federal workplace on a regular basis.

Assistive devices supplied by CAP can:

> \- Allow injured employees to continue working in some capacity;
>
> \- Help employees return to work after injury in a more timely manner;
> and
>
> \- Help prevent further debilitation.

Today, CAP reports continuously increasing numbers of recipients of its
services.

### Executive Memorandum on Employing People with Significant Disabilities Utilizing Alternate Work Sites

In July 2000, President Clinton issued an executive memorandum directing
all Federal agencies to (1) identify positions that can be relocated to
alternate worksites and that can be filled by qualified individuals,
including those with significant disabilities and (2) regarding the
identified positions, develop an action plan for encouraging the
recruitment and employment of qualified individuals with significant
disabilities.

### Workers Compensation Activity

During the early 90\'s, agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority,
the Department of Labor, and DOD (as mentioned above) began
experimenting with the use of telework to (1) provide opportunities for
recipients of workers compensation and (2) reduce the size and expense
of the Workers' Compensation (WC) Program.

Three major difficulties were uncovered:

> \- A risky situation for WC recipients who make the effort to use
> telework to return to work (The risk is that if, for some reason, the
> telework option does not work for the recipient, the recipient may
> have a difficult time returning to WC support.);
>
> \- A mistaken general belief by employers that WC recipients are not
> interested in returning to work;
>
> \- An informal finding that some WC recipients would not be welcome
> back to their workplaces.

The latter two difficulties are program issues that could be overcome
with a well-managed program initiative; the first difficulty (recipient
risk), however, requires a legislative fix.

Faced with such difficulties, efforts to develop a feasible and
comprehensive telework option for Workers' Compensation faded out by the
mid-90\'s. Various small initiatives continue to tackle this challenge.
Currently, however, the absence of any Federal policy, legislation,
and/or program established to bring the benefits of telework to Worker's
Compensation continues to be a significant lost opportunity.

## THE EMERGENCE OF FEDERAL TELECOMMUTING CENTERS (TELECENTERS)

The original Flexiplace guidelines called for pilot testing of
telecenters as well as work-at-home programs. Telecenters are
geographically convenient satellite offices shared by several agencies
and/or other employers. 'Geographically convenient' refers to being
established in locations close to the residences of potential Federal
users. Telecenters serve the needs of those employees who want/need a
reduced commute but who require the structure, social environment,
technology, and/or other resources that are typically not available in a
home setting.

Because work-at-home programs involved fewer resources and less
complexity, the initial phase of Flexiplace focused on work-at- home
programs as opposed to telecenters. In the summer of 1991, the
Flexiplace project management team began planning/designing Federal
telecenters. By that time, the project management team was an active
participant in the Telecommuting Advisory Council (see ITAC, below).
Inspired by Flexiplace updates at Council meetings, Marsha Fuller, a
consultant from Hagerstown, Maryland, approached the project management
team with the idea that Hagerstown would be a good pilot location for
the telecenter initiative. Working with the project management team, Ms.
Fuller was able to interest the Hagerstown mayor and business community
in the idea. Thus, began the initial negotiations and concrete planning
for the first Federal telecenter. Ironically, Hagerstown was not to be
the first official Federal telecenter.

Ms. Fuller mounted her own campaign on behalf of Federal telecenters.
She was able to engineer helpful publicity as well as Congressional
interest.

## Congressional Support for Federal Telecenters

In 1992, a variety of Washington DC area congressional representatives
began work on establishing Federal telecenters. Tom McMillen (D, Md)
began by drafting authorizing legislation that would place
responsibility for development of Federal telecommuting in the Commerce
Department (NTIA). In subsequent hearings held by McMillen, several
testifying agencies (including Commerce) objected to the plan. This
proposed legislation was soon dropped due partly to negative Federal
reaction and, even moreso, to McMillen's re-election loss a few months
later.

Meanwhile, on a separate Congressional front, Reps Hoyer (D, Md) and
Wolf (R, Va) drafted appropriations language that would provide \$5
million to fund three telecenters (one in Hoyer's district of southern
Maryland, one in Wolf's district of northern Virginia, and one in
McMillen's Maryland eastern shore district). In September 1992, this
appropriation was approved and included in the Treasury, Postal, etc.
Appropriations Bill (Public law 102-393;106 Stat. 1745). The purpose of
the legislation was to test the effectiveness of telecenters in helping
to alleviate area air quality and traffic congestion problems and in
promoting a more family-friendly workplace.

As a result of further political activity, the preceding appropriation
was amended (by Public Law 103-123; 107 Stat. 1241) in October, 1993.
The amendment made the following changes:

\- added an additional one million dollars to the appropriation,

\- added Hagerstown, Md and Fredericksburg, Va to the list of telecenter
pilot locations, and

\- dropped the Maryland eastern shore district as a telecenter pilot
location.

### Official Opening of Federal Telecenters

Prior to the influx of Congressional funding, GSA and Hagerstown,
assisted by private sector resources, established a preliminary
telecenter located at the Hagerstown Junior College. While this was a
worthwhile early effort, it was not an official Federal telecenter.
Operation of official Federal telecenters began with the opening of the
Winchester, Virginia telecenter. Between October 1993 and May 1994, GSA
established four pilot telecenters in the greater Washington
metropolitan area - two each in Maryland and Virginia. Initially,
telecenters ranged from 10 to 30 workstations in size. The first four
pilot telecenters offered a combined total of 80 workstations to 143
participants and achieved a workstation utilization rate of 55 percent
by December 1994. Customer agencies paid a subsidized rate of \$100 per
workstation per month. Sites included:

> \- a 26-workstation facility in Winchester, Virginia in partnership
> with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Division and the
> Winchester-Frederick County Economic Development Commission (opened in
> October 1993 with 14 workstations);
>
> \- a 10-workstation facility at the Hagerstown Junior College in
> partnership with the City of Hagerstown and the U.S. Army Garrison at
> Fort Ritchie, Maryland (opened in October 1993);
>
> \- a 14-workstation facility in Charles County, Maryland in
> partnership with the Charles County Community College (opened in May
> 1994); and
>
> \- a 30-workstation facility in Spotsylvania County, Virginia (just
> south of Fredericksburg) in partnership with the Rappahannock Area
> Development Corporation (opened in May 1994).

By December 1994, 20 organizations in 10 Executive Branch Departments
and Agencies were participating in the four centers. Agencies with the
most significant participation included GSA, the Department of Defense
(DOD), and DOT.

### Emergency Response: The Northridge Earthquake

In response to the Northridge (California) earthquake in 1994, GSA
initiated the first use of telecenters as an emergency response measure.
Only weeks after the January 17 earthquake, GSA established three
emergency telecenters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. These
centers helped Federal workers avoid what for many had become a six-hour
round-trip commute.

**[Customers As Telecommuters]{.smallcaps}**. Federal employees were not
the only beneficiaries of the markedly reduced commuting time afforded
by the California emergency telecenters. Agency customers were also
spared the long trip into downtown Los Angeles. For example, taxpayers
in the Santa Clarita Valley could get help from IRS employees at the
Valencia Telecommuting Center only five or ten minutes away. Similarly,
veterans could substitute a tedious drive into west Los Angeles with a
short, pleasant one to the same facility to receive guidance from a
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits counselor.

Given management resistance to flexible workplace arrangements, even
during an emergency, results were impressive through much of 1994.
Despite little or no customer input on the location or size of the
telecenters, utilization rates at two of the three telecenters were
relatively high: the Valencia site (38 workstations) operated at 87
percent of capacity during the emergency while the 29-workstation
Westlake site was at 62 percent utilization well into FY 1994. The
Sherman Oaks site with 32 workstations was at 34 percent utilization at
its peak. GSA made these centers available cost-free to interested
agencies through the end of FY 1994 and experienced an overall
utilization rate of 63 percent through the emergency period.

All told, ten Executive Branch Departments or Agencies participated in
the Los Angeles area emergency telecenter effort including: GSA, IRS,
VA, the Departments of Defense (DOD), Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), Labor (DOL), Transportation (DOT), the Social Security
Administration (SSA), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the
Corporation for National Service (CNS).

### The Telecenter Lesson

The goal of the California Federal telecenters was twofold: to serve as
an emergency response tool and to continue existing as an on-going
telework option. In 1994, however, the emergency Federal telecenters
experienced a lesson which had been experienced previously by
non-Federal telecenters:

> Telecenters emerged ahead of their time. In order to get started, most
> telecenters operated on a subsidy or emergency funding of some sort.
> This allowed them price their services at discount rates that were
> well below market rates and low enough to be a non-issue for
> employers. To succeed, however, these centers would need to be
> self-supporting. To achieve such independence, most telecenters
> eventually tried the obvious route of increasing their fees to market
> level rates. Raising fees to market levels, however, had the
> additional impact of putting telecenter fee levels on employer radar
> screens. Employers were faced with the prospect of paying the
> now-significant telecenter fees IN ADDITION TO the ongoing expenses
> for their teleworkers' main office space: thus, employers were paying
> double overhead for each teleworker using a telecenter. The bottom
> line result was that the raising of telecenter fees from discounted
> (subsidized) levels to market levels highlighted the double overhead
> problem and reduced the number of paying customers.
>
> Another factor that reduced the number of paying customers was (and
> continues to be) ongoing management resistance to telework, in
> general, regardless of cost.
>
> Two major culture changes would be required to make telecenters
> viable: (1) a changed management culture that would be more amenable
> to flexible workplaces, and (2) a changed organizational culture that
> would be receptive to alternative officing/space saving applications
> as part of more efficient facility management. For example, space
> vacated, partially or fully, by teleworkers would be released,
> consolidated, reconfigured, sub-leased etc. to reduce main office
> space costs; resulting cost savings would more than offset the
> typically lower costs for telecenter workstations. As of this writing,
> neither of the aforementioned culture changes has occurred in the
> majority of Federal workplaces. (For more detail on this discussion,
> see the section on alternative officing).

By December of 1994, due to the aforementioned issues, only one of the
California emergency Federal telecenters (Valencia) continued to
function. Given the mixed-use of this center, serving both telecommuters
and customers, and its relatively high utilization rate, the Valencia
site was able to continue to function with little or no subsidy.

### Other California Partnerships

To build on this well-received start, GSA explored telecenter
partnerships with state and local officials throughout California. These
prospective partnerships were designed to make enterprising use of
existing public assets (e.g., underutilized space, equipment, human
resources), thus reducing the cost for telecenter participants and their
employers. In these arrangements of low cost telecenter partnerships
(which were designed for both public and private employer use), Federal
agencies were tenants and paid a customer fee ranging from \$100-\$150
per workstation per month. By December 1994, for example, Federal
employees had already begun telecommuting from four such sites in the
Los Angeles area.

### Other Special Response Telecenters: Oklahoma City and Atlanta

With the same expedience demonstrated in the aftermath of the Los
Angeles earthquake, GSA established two emergency telecenters in the
Oklahoma city area within weeks after the bombing of the Federal
Building and four telecenters in Atlanta in response to traffic
congestion needs associated with the 1996 Summer Olympics. The Oklahoma,
Atlanta, and Los Angeles telecenters were not funded by the
aforementioned Congressional telecenter appropriation; these telecenters
were funded by special authority of the Federal Buildings Fund. By the
turn of the century, however, GSA had closed the Atlanta and Oklahoma
telecenters due to inadequate utilization. The closure of the Oklahoma
centers was not surprising since Oklahoma city was not on the list of
areas having a high need for telecenter intervention for traffic
congestion and/or air pollution.

### The National Guard Bureau Distance Learning/Telecenter Initiative

In 1995, the National Guard Bureau (NGB) was working on a major
nationwide project to convert many of its armories into high-tech
distance-learning training centers. Inspired by information on Federal
telecenters, the NGB proposed and obtained a partnership with the
Federal telecenter program. The partnership was based on the fact that
the NGB expected to conduct its training activity in the training
centers during non-business hours (evenings and weekends), leaving the
centers free for telecenter use during normal business hours. In
addition to improving the utilization and revenue for NGB
armory/centers, this partnership provided a major increase in the number
of Federal telecenter facilities as well as the stability of a
well-funded national telecenter program. An additional benefit of this
partnership was the NGB's introduction of a diversified revenue stream
to the telecenter business: providing training and distance learning in
addition to workstations. Telecenter managers had begun to realize that
such diversification of their offerings could enhance their chances for
success.

Thus, the NGB integrated telecenter workstations into its program
offerings and, in conjunction with GSA, began establishing distance
learning/telecenter facilities. Due to a variety of inter-organizational
difficulties, however, the NGB/GSA partnership eventually languished and
currently exists minimally if at all. The NGB, however, has pushed ahead
with the integrated (distance learning + telecenter) model for its
on-going initiative. Currently, the NGB has more than 180 distance
learning facilities in operation.

### More Congressional Telecenter Activity

In 1996, in a continuing effort to jumpstart the generally underutilized
Federal telecenters (Interagency Telecenter Program) in the Washington
DC area, Congress passed a good news/ bad news bill. The good news was
that

\(1\) GSA was authorized to 'establish, acquire space for, and equip'
telecenters for use any public or private sector employee (Thus, not
only was GSA formally authorized to get into the telecenter business,
but GSA-sponsored telecenters would no longer be limited to Federal
employee use.);

\(2\) telecenter user fees could be used to bolster telecenter program
operating funds; and

\(3\) agency heads were requested to 'consider whether the need for
\...facilities can be met using alternative workplace arrangements' such
as telecommuting.

The bad news for the infant telecenter program was that for each
individual telecenter, GSA would be required to charge user fees that
would recover the costs of establishing and operating the center. This
would result in significantly higher fees, possibly reducing utilization
and killing the program.

By 1998, total Congressional funding for the Washington DC metropolitan
area telecenters had reached \$11 million dollars and the number of
associated telecenters had grown to 16. In 1999, Reps Wolf and Hoyer
authored additional telecommuting legislation. This language

\(1\) required Federal agencies to set aside an annual minimum of

\$50,000 for telecenter user fees;

\(2\) appropriated an additional \$2.1 million for telecenter
development; and

\(3\) established a family friendly support office at OPM.

As of this writing, it has been less than a year since this legislation
became law; its impact, thus far, has been minimal. The telecenters are
quickly approaching a make or break point in their existence. As
mentioned above, they have been gradually raising their user fees to
attempt to recover costs and become self-sufficient. Interestingly
enough, their customer base and overall utilization rates remain stable
(possibly due to the \$50,000 funding requirement mentioned above). It
will be interesting to see if they can hold on until the culture of
facility management becomes more amenable to their existence.

## ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

### Climate Change Action Plan

In 1993, the White House published "The Climate Change Action Plan"
focusing on environmental issues. Development of telework was one of the
plan's action areas. The plan assigned EPA and DOT to take a series of
actions designed to promote home-based and center-based telecommuting.
The plan requested that:

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in consultation with
DOT, issue guidance to states to take pro-telecommuting measures (e.g.,
reforming local zoning ordinances; providing employer trip reduction and
tax incentives; and implementing telecommuting programs for state and
local employees);

DOT encourage states to use Federally provided transportation funds to
initiate or expand telecommuting programs;

DOT implement a Federal telecommuting pilot project with the goal of
getting one to two percent of Federal employees to work at home at least
one day a week; and

DOT, in conjunction with other agencies, promote part-time, home-based
telecommuting to reduce traffic congestion and promote energy
conservation.

### Environmental Impact Research

In 1993, DOT became a major force in the development of Federal
telecommuting when it published its now classic study on telework and
transportation. Nicknamed the 'redbook' because of its bright red cover,
'Transportation Implications of Telecommuting' was the first
comprehensive research-oriented treatment of this topic by a Federal
entity. It is still widely used today.

Soon afterward, the Department of Energy published another
transportation-related research report (DOE, 1994). This report provided
detailed analysis of energy and emissions consequences of telework.

These latter reports finally gave Federal telework a sound empirical
quantitative basis for its assertions of telework's environmental
benefits. Both research efforts, however, faced a problem that continues
today: the fact that teleworkers are not numerous enough to provide
credible direct evidence on environmental impact. Consequently, both
reports relied heavily on analysis via models and projected data. While
both reports indicated future promise for telework impact on the
environment (traffic congestion, air pollution, energy conservation),
their estimates indicated modest impacts which served to tone down some
of the claims being made by telework advocates.

### Traffic Congestion and a Proposed Executive Order

During the latter half of the 90\'s, most urban areas were being deluged
by traffic congestion problems. Prominent among these was the Washington
Metropolitan Area whose Board of Trade and council of local governments
had repeatedly produced studies warning of the impending perils due to
the increasing traffic congestion. In response to this, the Clinton
Administration directed the DOT to take the lead on a Federal response.
One of the resulting Federal responses was to set up an interagency
effort to draft an executive order. The taskforce assigned to draft the
order favored the inclusion of a strong statement on telecommuting that
would require the Federal government to take on more responsibility by
significantly reducing its share of the congestion.

Eight months after the original draft was submitted by DOT to OMB,
however, it had not been signed into action and was considered dead in
the water. This caused concern among some of the telework advocates in
Congress and, in February 2000, Rep. Wolf introduced legislation to
require the President to sign and implement the executive order. Shortly
thereafter, OMB revised the draft executive order, deleting all mention
of telework and focusing on transportation subsidies. President Clinton
issued this version as executive order 13150 in the spring of 2000.
Needless to say, this was a major source of consternation in the
telework advocacy community.

### Congressional Environmental Credit Plan

In the summer of 1999, motivated by mounting concerns over urban traffic
congestion as well as the continuing slow development of telework, Rep.
Wolf, now chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Transportation, introduced a bill to pilot test financial incentives to
businesses that let employees work from home on various days. Rep.
Wolf's pilot program, to be conducted in five metropolitan areas, would
give voluntarily participating firms pollution credits that they would
be free to sell in deals with other businesses and nonprofit groups,
Federal and state governments and schools and universities. The bill was
enacted into law and a task force that includes DOT, EPA, and DOE was
established to design and implement the program. The design effort is
currently underway.

## ALTERNATIVE OFFICING

In the mid 1990\'s, a new driver for Federal telework began to surface.
This driver is reduced facility costs. It was noted that with sufficient
utilization of telework, an agency could reconfigure its main worksite
to take advantage of the fact that at least part of the time, there
could be a significant amount of work space, vacated by teleworkers,
that is not in use. The resulting reconfiguration based on options such
as hotelling, mini-workstations, desk sharing, team space, etc. could
enable employers to achieve significant reductions in operating costs
through reductions in main worksite space, through leasing or
sub-leasing of main worksite space, and/or through consolidations of
main worksite space.

This 'alternative officing' is a by-product of the telework movement.
Because it requires a new management view toward the possession and
handling of office real estate, it is a culture-change movement in
itself.

### The Federal Railroad Administration Alternative Officing Activity

(From July 28, 1999, FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION'S

REPORT ON TELECOMMUTING)

In 1995, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) implemented a
telecommuting plus alternative officing program in 22 Railroad Safety
Inspector field offices around the country. Safety Inspectors who
volunteered for the program telecommuted full-time from their homes and
their traditional office space was eliminated. By January 1997, the FRA
had closed seven field offices, reduced space in two others, and saved
approximately \$80,000. In FY 1997, the FRA closed 5 more field offices
and reduced space in 3 offices resulting in an annual savings of
\$84,644. In FY 1998, FRA closed 6 field offices and reduced space in 4
offices, resulting in a cost savings of \$87,285. As of this writing, no
new FRA field offices have been established.

In this case, telecommuting was not considered a condition of employment
and participating employees could elect to terminate their arrangements
with 3 months advance notice. FRA would then be required to find and
provide traditional workspace for the telework-terminating inspector(s).
As of this writing, only one telecommuting inspector has requested
termination of his telecommuting arrangement. Approximately 65% (185
employees) of the FRA's inspector workforce telecommutes on a permanent
basis.

Current FRA telecommuting goals continue to be focused on reducing
facility costs, improving employees' well-being through maximization of
participation and improving operational efficiency.

### Alternative Officing at the Department of Education and Other Agencies

In 1996, the Department of Education used an alternative officing
solution to deal with budgetary problems. Using a combination of
hotelling and home workstations, Education was able to reduce facility
costs in regional field office locations. These savings enabled
Education to save 24 jobs that otherwise would have been lost.

Other agencies that have reported alternative officing activity are the
Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Defense Contract Audit
Agency.

## THE INTERNATIONAL TELEWORK ASSOCIATION (ITAC)

In the early 90\'s, at the very beginning of the PCMI Flexiplace
initiative, Federal planners realized that telework activity spanned far
beyond the Federal sector and that information, support, technical
assistance, and numerous other benefits could be obtained by joining a
small but growing advocacy group which at that time was called the
Telecommuting Advisory Council (now called the International Telework
Association and Council). OPM and GSA both participated actively in
ITAC; GSA is still heavily involved in ITAC. Over the years, ITAC and
Federal agencies have partnered on numerous mutually beneficial
activities in support of the telework movement. One of the primary
partnership activities, which began in 1995, was 'Telecommute America!'
which is discussed below.

### Telecommute America! (Now called Telework America!)

In 1994, after success in setting aside a special day for company-wide
telecommuting and telecommuting focused activity, AT&T contacted EPA,
GSA, and the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT). AT&T's
purpose was to propose a similar activity on a national scale. Out of
these discussions emerged plans for Telecommute America! (now called
Telework America!). Telework America! (TWAM) is a public/private
partnership designed to promote and support the growth of telecommuting
in the US. TWAM's initial founding sponsors included AT&T, EPA, GSA,
ACT, ITAC, and the US Department of Commerce. Using funding from AT&T
and EPA, TWAM was implemented as a week-long, nationwide slate of
telework events in 1995. The Federal government has used TWAM as a forum
to focus attention on its telework movement. Today, TWAM is still a
public/private partnership but is now an annual activity conducted by
ITAC.

## A SPECIAL PARTNER: WMCOG

The coincidence of the following factors created an on-going partnership
between the Federal telework program and the Washington Metropolitan
Council of Governments (WMCOG):

> \- the growing traffic congestion problem in the DC metropolitan area
> (now rated as the second worst congestion in the nation),
>
> \- the fact that the primary leaders of Federal telework are located
> in the DC area, and
>
> \- the fact that the primary location for Federal telecenters is the
> DC metro area.

Though based and focused in the DC area, COG became a major champion and
supporter for Federal telework and telecenters. This support includes
funding and other resources as well as services.

# TODAY

As mentioned in the beginning of this discussion, the Federal telework
program is still evolving. Reading through this discussion, one can see
that, in fact, there is a lot of telework activity unfolding at this
time. Federal telework is not yet a mainstream arrangement and,
certainly, there are some serious challenges ahead. All in all, however,
things look promising for Federal telework.

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