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36–613 PDF 2008

S. Hrg. 110–390

ASSESSING TELEWORK POLICIES AND INITIATIVES

IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

HEARING

BEFORE THE

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, 

THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JUNE 12, 2007

Available via http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs

(

(II)

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL 

WORKFORCE, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

THOMAS RICHARDS, Professional Staff Member 

JENNIFER A. HEMINGWAY, Minority Staff Director 

THERESA PRYCH, Minority Professional Staff Member 

EMILY MARTHALER, Chief Clerk 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 1

Senator Stevens ................................................................................................ 2

Senator Voinovich ............................................................................................. 4

WITNESSES 

TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2007

Daniel A. Green, Deputy Associate Director for Employee and Family Support 

Policy, Strategic Human Resources Policy Division, Office of Personnel 

Management ......................................................................................................... 5

Hon. Jon W. Dudas, Under Secretary for Intellectual Property, and Director, 

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Commerce ............... 7

Stanley Kaczmarczyk, Principal Deputy Associate Administrator for Governmentwide Policy, U.S. General Services Administration .................................. 9

Bernice Steinhardt, Director of Strategic Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office ......................................................................................................... 11

Tom Davison, Trustee of the Board, Chapter 275, Environmental Protection 

Agency Region 5, on behalf of the Federal Managers Association ................... 25

Stephen W.T. O’Keeffe, Founder and Executive Director, Telework Exchange . 26

David Isaacs, Director of Federal Government Affairs, Hewlett-Packard Company ....................................................................................................................... 29

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Davison, Tom: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 25

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 78

Dudas, Hon. Jon W.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 7

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44

Green, Daniel A: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35

Isaacs, David: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 29

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 93

Kaczmarczyk, Stanley: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 9

Prepared statement with attachments ........................................................... 59

O’Keeffe, Stephen W.T.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 26

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 85

Steinhardt, Bernice: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 11

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 66

APPENDIX 

Background .............................................................................................................. 99

Questions and responses for the Record from: 

Mr. Green .......................................................................................................... 105

Mr. Kaczmarczyk .............................................................................................. 106

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ASSESSING TELEWORK POLICIES AND 

INITIATIVES IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2007

U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT

MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:35 p.m., in Room 

SD–562, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel K. Akaka, 

Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Akaka, Voinovich, and Stevens. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA 

Senator AKAKA. This hearing will come to order. I want to welcome all of you to this hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight 

of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia as we meet to consider the issue of telework, otherwise known as telecommuting, in the Federal Government. We 

will also be reviewing S. 1000, the Telework Enhancement Act of 

2007, introduced by my good friend Senator Stevens to promote 

telework programs. 

Telework programs have allowed Federal employees to work from 

their home offices or telework centers close to their homes for nearly two decades. As the Internet and wireless communication technologies have become commonplace in the work environment, the 

costs and concerns with security for teleworking have diminished 

significantly. 

Over the past 10 years, the option for government employees to 

work from home or a remote location closer to home has become 

not only a quality-of-life issue but a necessary component of Federal agencies in addressing continuity of operation plans. 

Congress, and rightly so, has been vigorous in its efforts to enhance telework and encourage more agencies to implement comprehensive and robust programs. Telework has emerged as a dynamic option for agencies to offer more flexible work schedules, reduce overall traffic congestion, continue operations in the event of 

an emergency, limit overall costs, and improve energy efficiency. 

With nearly 50 percent of the Federal workforce eligible for retirement in the next 5 years, agencies must use all available tools 

to keep and attract talented Federal workers. Telework allows 

agencies to compete in today’s marketplace. Offering employees an 

2

option to work from home or a location closer to home improves an 

employee’s quality of life and in the process eases the traffic burden on metropolitan areas. 

According to a survey by the Texas Transportation Institute, the 

National Capital Region ranks third behind Los Angeles and San 

Francisco for the worst traffic congestion in America. In Hawaii, 

gas prices rank seventh among the highest in the Nation. The Department of Transportation has launched an initiative in this area, 

the National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America’s Transportation Network, which promotes public and private employers to 

use telework as a primary tool in reducing congestion and saving 

commuters’ money on escalating gas prices. 

As the largest employer in the National Capital Region, and one 

of the largest employers in Hawaii, the Federal Government has a 

responsibility to help reduce commuting times and costs for area 

workers. Furthermore, it is imperative that we develop strategies 

to maintain continuity of government operations should a natural 

or manmade disaster disrupt services. 

OPM and GSA have been leaders in providing telework resources 

for agencies. They launched the Interagency Telework Site and 

worked with other agencies to implement telework programs. A few 

shining examples include the Patent and Trademark Office—who I 

look forward to hearing from this afternoon—the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Office, and the Federal Aviation Administration. 

Telework implementation should not be stalled by trepidation. I 

look forward to discussing ways to improve governmentwide 

telework policies and practices and hearing our witnesses’ thoughts 

on the Telework Enhancement Act. Again, I thank you all for being 

here today. 

Now I would like to call on my friend, Senator Stevens, for his 

statement. Senator Stevens? 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR STEVENS 

Senator STEVENS. Well, thank you very much, Senator Akaka. I 

am pleased you called this hearing today to review the proposal before us. It is time to take a real serious look at the current 

telework program. 

This has far-reaching benefits not only to employees and employers but to the whole Nation, I think, because clearly it involves national security as well as the sustainability of our environment. 

And the period of time we are going through right now with global 

climate change as well as the intensive national security issues, I 

think, warrants taking a look at what has happened to the legislation we enacted in 2000. It was signed into law that year as part 

of the highway bill. That required agencies to establish a policy 

under which eligible employees of the agency may participate in 

telecommunicating to the maximum extent possible without diminished employee performance. It was intended to apply to 25 percent 

of the Federal workforce, and an additional 25 percent of the workforce each year thereafter, and the objective of the 2000 legislation 

was to alleviate traffic congestion and increase Federal employee 

ability to participate in telework. 

3

Our bill’s conference report made it clear that each Federal agency should establish telework criteria, remove barriers to implementation, and provide all the assistance necessary to carry out that 

policy. 

Two agencies really have carried out this mandate. The Office of 

Personnel Management and the General Services Administration 

formed a common website to facilitate the advancement of the 

telework program, and I think the efforts have brought about a degree of success. 

Between 2001 and 2004, Mr. Chairman, 150,000 Federal employees gained eligibility for telework, bringing total eligibility up to 44 

percent of the Federal workforce. But despite the loose definition 

of ‘‘telework,’’ which is an employee who works from home 1 day 

per week—that would be a teleworker—only 19 percent of those eligible were deemed as having teleworked in 2004. There are some 

who say that this low percentage is due to insufficient information 

available to employees and difficulties with program coordination 

and workforce culture issues. 

OPM and GSA should be commended for the strides they have 

made to try and implement this program, and over the course of 

the past 7 years, there have been several enhancements to help 

achieve the original goals of the program. 

Senator Landrieu and I introduced a bill to bring about additional improvements, the bill that you mentioned, S. 1000. I do believe that we need to build upon the existing telework program to 

ensure maximum telework participation among our Federal workforce, and our bill is designed to improve the cost efficiency of the 

Federal Government, encourage Federal employees to drive less, 

reduce traffic congestion, save fuel that in and of itself that will restrain the greenhouse emissions in major cities. It, I believe, will 

enhance efforts by our Federal Government with respect to continuity of operations, and provide incentives to the employees to try 

to adopt this means of working. 

This should attract and retain highly skilled Federal personnel 

if the program is administered to its fullest. I do believe there are 

models for this program in some of the private sector. I do hope 

those of you who are witnesses here today will help us find ways 

to increase the effectiveness of this program, and I look forward to 

the testimony, Mr. Chairman. 

Again, I thank you very much and I thank the witnesses for coming. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Stevens. 

At this time I want to welcome our first panel. Let me introduce 

the first panel, and then I will call on Senator Voinovich for his 

statement. 

Daniel Green is Deputy Associate Director for Employee and 

Family Support Policy for the Strategic Human Resources Policy 

Division at the Office of Personnel Management. 

Jon Dudas is Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the Patent and Trademark Office. 

Stan Kaczmarczyk is Principal Deputy Associate Administrator 

for Governmentwide Policy at the General Services Administration. 

And Bernice Steinhardt is Director of Strategic Issues for the 

U.S. Government Accountability Office. 

4

Good to have you, and let me call on Senator Voinovich for his 

opening statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH 

Senator VOINOVICH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for holding this hearing to discuss the status of our telework programs and 

consider legislation before the Committee to increase participation 

throughout the Federal workforce. Off the top, I am very interested 

in this because my daughter-in-law takes advantage of this every 

day in her home with her four children. 

One of my top priorities as Senator has been to transform the 

culture of the Federal workforce, something I conscientiously undertook with the city and State workforces as Mayor of Cleveland 

and Governor of Ohio. As Senator, I have held 26 hearings on the 

crisis of human capital in the Federal Government and introduced 

numerous human capital reform bills, including the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the Federal Workforce Flexibility Act. I 

know that investing in our workforce pays big dividends. 

We have an aging workforce that has difficulty attracting young 

people to public service careers. The image of the public sector can 

be bureaucratic, an impression that too often discourages young, 

creative college students. We must be able to recruit the best candidates, provide training and professional development opportunities, and reward good performance. 

To compete as an employer of choice in the fast-paced 21 Century 

knowledge economy and improve our competitiveness, we need to 

create an environment that supports those with the desire and 

commitment to serve. Just as other aspects of their lives have been 

informed by technology, we need to acknowledge that this next generation will have different expectations of what it means to go to 

work. Growing up with cell phones and hand-held devices makes 

it far more likely that working anytime from most anywhere will 

be the new norm. 

As I stated in my 2000 report to the President on the crisis in 

human capital, Federal agencies should enable as many employees 

as possible to telecommute or participate in other types of flexible 

workplace programs. Not only will this make Federal service more 

attractive to many employees, especially parents of young children, 

it has the potential to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in 

large metropolitan areas. An additional reason that was made 

plain on September 11, 2001, is the need for a workforce that can 

be dispersed and decentralized so that essential functions can continue during an emergency. 

My good friend Senator Stevens has introduced S. 1000, the 

Telework Enhancement Act of 2007, to ensure that executive agencies begin with the presumption that all Federal employees are eligible to telework unless specifically exempt and to extent this principle to the judicial and Legislative Branches by encouraging participation wherever possible. 

According to the most recent OPM survey on Federal human capital, only 22 percent of employees, when asked about worklife, and 

family-friendly benefits, said they were satisfied with current 

telework communicating opportunities. Another 44 percent responded that they had no basis to judge. Even though teleworking 

5

1The prepared statement of Mr. Green appears in the Appendix on page 35. 

has increased since OPM began reporting in 2001, participation is 

far short of what it should be and what the Federal workforce 

needs if our government is to remain an employer of choice. 

So I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this hearing, and I want to 

thank Senator Stevens for the introduction of S. 1000. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. 

As you know, our Committee has rules that require that all witnesses testify under oath. Therefore, I ask you to please rise with 

me and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give this Committee is the truth, the 

whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God? 

Mr. GREEN. I do. 

Mr. DUDAS. I do. 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. I do. 

Ms. STEINHARDT. I do. 

Senator AKAKA. Let the record note that the witnesses answered 

in the affirmative. Welcome, and before we begin, let me tell you 

that although your oral statement is limited to 5 minutes, your full 

written statements will be included in the record. 

Mr. Green, will you please proceed with your statement? 

TESTIMONY OF DANIEL A. GREEN,1 DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR EMPLOYEE AND FAMILY SUPPORT POLICY, 

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES POLICY DIVISION, OFFICE 

OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 

Mr. GREEN. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I 

am pleased to be here today on behalf of Director Linda M. Springer of the Office of Personnel Management to discuss the status of 

telework in the Federal Government. Telework has become an important human capital management tool for ensuring the Federal 

Government has an effective and flexible civilian workforce capable 

of meeting 21 Century challenges. As Director Springer seeks to 

advance the Strategic Management of Human Capital component 

to President Bush’s Management Agenda, we are seeing increased 

signs that Federal agencies are keenly aware that telework is a 

useful tool which can help attract and retain a 21 Century highperforming workforce that produces high-quality results. 

We also recognize the relationship between telework and Continuity of Operations (COOP) planning and the impact telework 

can have on traffic congestion and energy consumption. Additionally, telework can be used as a method to increase available employment options for individuals with disabilities. 

As you may recall, last year Director Springer introduced our Career Patterns initiative. This new approach for bringing the next 

generation of employees into the Federal Government highlights 

telework as a High Impact HR Flexibility. In preparation for the 

looming retirement wave, we have encouraged Federal agencies to 

shift their thinking about the work environment to make it more 

appealing to non-traditional employees and applicants. We are 

pleased to see that many Federal agencies have begun to operate 

and hire using OPM’s Career Patterns approach. 

6

We recognize that telework can also be a critical component for 

emergency COOP activities. Director Springer initiated a telework 

exercise at OPM in September 2006 to test our State of readiness 

and the ability of our employees to conduct mission-critical functions and activities in the event of an emergency. While we encountered a few minor technical difficulties along the way, the overall 

exercise was carried out smoothly. We are encouraging other Federal agencies to incorporate telework into their own COOP planning efforts. 

President Bush’s Implementation Plan for his National Strategy 

for Pandemic Influenza specifically directed OPM to update existing telework guidance to include information about teleworking in 

the event of a pandemic influenza. In response to this requirement, 

OPM issued a revised comprehensive ‘‘Guide to Telework in the 

Federal Government,’’ which was distributed to all Federal agencies. In addition, OPM is now visiting with Federal agencies to provide comprehensive briefings on policies regarding pandemic preparedness and telework. 

OPM is using the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council 

chaired by Director Springer to highlight best practices on telework 

across the Federal Government. In February 2006, the Council’s 

Training Academy conducted a session with over 50 attendees representing more than 20 agencies. Attendees learned how effective 

and valuable telework is for the Defense Information Systems 

Agency and preparation for Base Realignment and Closure activities. The International Trade Commission’s Director of Administration and the union president of the local American Federation of 

Government Employees co-presented their agency’s telework tracking system. 

OPM also conducts an annual survey of agencies with respect to 

telework. In our most recent surveys for 2005 and 2006, we have 

worked to further clarify terminology and eligibility definitions in 

order to solicit more complete and focused data. In addition, we are 

now seeking more detailed responses from agencies through these 

surveys with respect to information security. While we will shortly 

be releasing the latest data from our most recent surveys, we are 

pleased that during the administration’s first term, telework by 

Federal employees nearly doubled from 73,000 in 2001 to over 

140,000 in 2004. 

Mr. Chairman, your letter of invitation also asked me to address 

S. 1000, the Telework Enhancement Act of 2007, which was recently introduced by Senator Ted Stevens. We appreciate Senator 

Stevens’ longstanding advocacy for Federal employees, and we appreciate the Subcommittee’s interest in moving this legislation forward. We are looking forward to talking more with your staff on 

specific issues. As the legislative process moves forward, we want 

to ensure our mutual goals can be effectively met with respect to 

enhanced use of telework by Federal managers and employees. 

In conclusion, we believe Federal agencies recognize the value 

and impact telework can have with respect to strategic human capital management, effective COOP planning, traffic congestion, and 

energy consumption. We are committed to working with GSA, 

GAO, this Subcommittee, and others to ensure telework policies are 

effectively managed and promoted. 

7

1The prepared statement of Mr. Dudas appears in the Appendix on page 44. 

Mr. Chairman, I would be pleased to respond to any questions 

you or Members of the Subcommittee may have. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Green. 

Mr. Dudas, will you please proceed with your statement? 

TESTIMONY OF HON. JON W. DUDAS,1 UNDER SECRETARY FOR 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, AND DIRECTOR, U.S. PATENT 

AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Mr. DUDAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member 

Voinovich, and Senator Stevens. Thanks for the opportunity to appear before you and testify about the perspectives from the U.S. 

Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on the Federal Government’s telework policies and how to better encourage the use of 

telework to improve satisfaction of Federal workers and the bottom 

lines of Federal agencies. Throughout my testimony, I will limit my 

comments to the one experience I know, which is the U.S. Patent 

and Trademark Office. I am happy to tell you where the USPTO 

was, where we are now, and where we think we are going in terms 

of teleworking and why we think S. 1000 can be helpful in that 

process. 

Where we were is quite simple. Ten years and 2 weeks ago we 

had no teleworking in the agency at all. It took courage and determination to make it happen, and there were many obstacles ranging from negative attitudes and naysayers to insufficient technology at the time. But the agency did have great people and they 

had vision and motivation. Today the USPTO has 3,414 employees 

teleworking in more than a dozen different teleworking programs; 

1,255 employees are working 4 days a week from home, including 

85 percent of all eligible trademark examiners. 

We are at the beginning stages of recognizing that we can not 

only be a successful local teleworking force, but that we could become a nationwide workforce through teleworking. We currently 

have teleworkers working in 14 States and the District of Columbia, including teleworkers as far away as Colorado, the State of 

Washington, and the State of Hawaii. 

The USPTO has received numerous notable awards, including 

from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the 

Telework Exchange, the Mid-Atlantic Telework Advisory Council, 

the Telework Coalition, the International Telework Association 

Council, and the Potomac Forum. We have a slide showing the different awards which we are extremely proud to have received, 

which shows how we have become a leader in teleworking. 

Just last week, we celebrated our tenth anniversary of teleworking at the agency. Seventeen of the 18 original people on the 

telework pilot are still with the agency, 10 years later. 

We have also been chosen by Business Week Magazine as one of 

the best places in the United States to launch a career and by 

Family Magazine as one of the best places in the Washington area 

to work if you have a family. That is due in part to our teleworking 

programs, and it is critical for us to be an employer of choice. As 

8

Senator Voinovich talked about, telework is so important for government agencies. 

Why do we do it? Quite honestly, pretty selfish reasons. We do 

it because it helps us with our business, it helps us with our bottom line. It solves problems in our agency. We do it because it has 

employee advantages. It improves morale. It makes employees 

want to do more, and employees are able to do more. So really for 

us it involves a lot of bottom-line issues. We recognize there are a 

lot of additional advantages to that beyond what it does for the 

agency, but fundamentally what we have found is that it solves 

problems for us. 

Where we are going is important to us as well. The USPTO is 

exploring the feasibility of creating a nationwide workplace where 

an examiner can work from anywhere in the country. Our goal is 

to meet current and future workforce requirements by attracting 

the best and the brightest examiners and employees from outside 

the Mid-Atlantic Region, to increase our retention rates at the Patent and Trademark Office, and to manage the real estate costs associated with the expansion that is underway. We are hiring 1,200 

new engineers every year at the Patent and Trademark Office. Retention is very important to us. Recruitment is very important to 

us. 

What do we need to get there? We need to be sure that the necessary training and full collaboration are there. That falls on us at 

the USPTO. This requires training in technical skills and managerial skills, as well as new and better technology for collaboration. 

But as we transition from a very real success story of a local teleworking unit to what I believe could be a real success story as a 

fully integrated nationwide teleworking agency, we’ll have one important need. The USPTO would like to propose some sort of demonstration project that would give discretion to the USPTO to reimburse telework employees for travel expenses when reporting to the 

official Alexandria worksite. 

The current law, we believe, as we transition to a nationwide 

workforce, deters potential workers from voluntarily locating outside the area. In other words, we have people that are working in 

14 different States and the District of Columbia. We cannot tell 

them that we do not need them in the office, but they have told 

us, ‘‘If I could pay my own expenses and come back, I would like 

to do that.’’ There are ways that we can do that through a demonstration project. A change to that travel policy would help 

USPTO utilize telework in its efforts to retain a highly qualified 

workforce. 

We are very pleased that Senators Stevens and Landrieu introduced the Telework Enhancement Act of 2007. For any telework 

program to be productive, all eligible employees should be encouraged to participate in telework to the maximum extent possible. 

Managers must be on board, and telework officers should be aggressive in expanding the agency’s telework program, including 

proposing new pilot programs. 

The Telework Enhancement Act of 2007 changes telework eligibility to make all Federal employees eligible, unless determined 

otherwise by each agency, with few exceptions. At the USPTO, we 

think that is the right way to approach it, with more serious conVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:58 Jun 03, 2008 Jkt 036613 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\36613.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
9

1The prepared statement of Mr. Kaczmarczyk with attachments appears in the Appendix on 

page 59. 

sideration being given in deciding who is eligible for telework. 

Based on our experiences, having a senior-level full-time telework 

coordinator at the USPTO who works with the various business 

units and serves as a liaison between employees and managers has 

been invaluable to us in promoting and supporting telework and coordinating telework programs throughout the USPTO. 

S. 1000 also revises the definition of telework to be an arrangement where an employee works at an alternative work site at least 

2 days per week versus the current definition of 1 day. At the 

USPTO, our experience has been having a 1-day requirement is actually helpful. You certainly have to be able to measure how many 

people you have teleworking, but right now we have one program 

with 1,500 people teleworking from home. We think that there are 

certain positions where having a person working 1 day at home can 

be helpful. In fact, that has been a transition point at the USPTO 

where people have worked 1 day at home and then move on to 

work 4 days a week at home. So we would encourage the Subcommittee and look forward to working with the Subcommittee to 

find a way that we can maximize all the programs across the board 

to promote teleworking. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Dudas. 

Mr. Kaczmarczyk, your statement, please. 

TESTIMONY OF STANLEY KACZMARCZYK,1 PRINCIPAL DEPUTY 

ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR GOVERNMENTWIDE POLICY, U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Voinovich, 

and Members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate the invitation to 

appear before you today to discuss the General Services Administration’s view on improving Federal telework participation and current telework activity. GSA’s partnership with the Office of Personnel Management on the Governmentwide Telework Program is 

very active and well documented. 

After more than 15 years of continuing efforts to build a robust 

and vital Federal telework program, levels of participation are still 

not as high as we believe they can and should be. Successful implementation of telework in the Federal Government involves culture 

change and proactive senior leadership, along with useful policies, 

implementation guidance, program support, best practices, and effective tools. Over this time frame, GSA and OPM have worked 

continuously with other Federal agencies to identify and provide 

the needed guidance and tools. 

Legislation that would remove barriers to Federal telework is 

welcomed, and we look forward to working with Congress on appropriate telework legislation. 

Last year, GSA published Federal Management Regulation Bulletin 2006–B3. This first-of-its-kind guidance helps agencies resolve 

commonly encountered telework implementation issues, such as the 

provision of workplace equipment to teleworkers and the payment 

of utility costs for alternative worksites. 

10

This year, we followed up with FMR Bulletin 2007–B1, ‘‘Information Technology and Telecommunications Guidelines for Federal 

Telework and Other Alternative Workplace Arrangement Programs.’’ By clarifying the technology, security, and privacy policy 

guidance for telework, this guidance helped establish that telework, 

when appropriately implemented, can maintain information security. 

Technology has often been cited as a barrier to increased 

telework in the Federal Government. GSA conducted two in-depth 

studies on this topic based on survey and other information from 

agency chief information officers, managers, teleworkers, and 

telework coordinators. These studies are readily available on our 

website at gsa.gov/telework. 

There has been widespread interest in the incorporation of 

telework as a mechanism for emergency Continuity of Operations 

Plans (COOP). This is a natural benefit of telework, but you cannot 

wait until an emergency to implement a COOP telework program. 

Federal agencies must have a viable telework program in place as 

part of normal operations plan so that employees may fully transition to this alternative work arrangement in the event of an emergency. 

Other valuable telework applications include: Telework combined 

with alternative officing can enable agencies to reduce cost and improve the utilization of existing facilities. 

Telework is also a great way to enhance recruitment and retention of Federal workers and to improve work/life balance. Would 

you rather be stuck on the Beltway at rush hour or be done with 

your work in time to make the kid’s soccer practice? 

And the environmental impact of telework should serve as additional motivation for stronger telework participation policies. 

In order to provide an alternative to home-based telework, GSA 

has established 14 telework centers to provide alternative workplaces for those employees who cannot or prefer not to work at 

home. These centers, located in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, are established in convenient locations for use by employees 

who can reduce their traditional commutes by working at a center 

near their homes. We believe there is a market for center-based 

telework, and, in fact, I am a long-time user of our Fairfax 

Telework Center. 

In conclusion, GSA’s goals of improving the growth of Federal 

telework requires proactive top level leadership; strong policy mandates and clear guidelines; increased program support and integration of telework into overall agency planning; increased demonstration and utilization of telework applications and recommended 

practices; and high visibility program promotion. 

I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. 

Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Kaczmarczyk. Ms. 

Steinhardt. 

11

1The prepared statement of Ms. Steinhardt appears in the Appendix on page 66. 

TESTIMONY OF BERNICE STEINHARDT,1 DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC ISSUES, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Thank you very much, Senator Akaka and Senator Stevens. We appreciate the opportunity to be here today to 

talk about the Federal Government’s efforts——

Senator STEVENS. Could you turn on your mike? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Is it on now? Yes. Thanks. 

Over the years GAO has reported on these efforts, and we have 

noted Congress’ great interest and desire for greater progress. Currently, you are considering S. 1000, the Telework Enhancement Act 

of 2007. We have a number of comments on the bill which we have 

discussed with your staffs and which I have covered in my statement, but let me say at the outset that we appreciate your efforts 

to try to bring greater coherence to this governmentwide program. 

The potential benefits of telework to employees, employers, and 

to society are by now well known. My colleagues here have mentioned them, as well as others. Yet GAO’s work over the last few 

years suggests, as we usually do, that more could be done to better 

realize the potential of telework within the Federal Government, 

beginning with the fundamental concept of managing for results. 

By this I mean that agencies need to have meaningful measures 

of what they are trying to achieve through telework, and they need 

to be using this information to achieve better results. 

For example, if we are trying to reduce vehicle congestion or attract and retain top talent, then we should be measuring the extent 

to which telework contributes to these goals. I think Mr. Dudas at 

PTO incorporates some of these practices in their program. 

In our 2003 report, though, on telework programs, we identified 

24 key practices that Federal agencies should follow in implementing their telework programs. Four of them were related to 

managing for results. But when we looked at how four agencies—

the Department of Education, VA, OPM, and GSA—were implementing their programs, we found that these four practices were 

among the least employed and that none of the agencies were effectively implementing any of them. 

Clearly, the weakest area, the one in which none of the agencies 

had any efforts underway, was in establishing measurable program 

goals. Although OPM’s Telework Guide at that time suggested that 

agencies should be evaluating the effect of telework on productivity, on operating costs, morale, recruitment, retention, none of 

the agencies had established these or any other relevant program 

goals. They had not set targets for them, and they had not collected 

the information that could allow for evaluation. And without this 

kind of information, agencies could not implement one of the other 

key practices, which is to identify problems or issues with the 

telework program and make appropriate adjustments. 

In a later review we conducted in 2005, we looked at how five 

other agencies—Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, the 

SEC, and SBA were implementing their telework programs, and we 

found that most of them measured employee participation in 

telework based on their potential to telework—that is, by counting 

telework agreements rather than actual usage. None of the agenVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:58 Jun 03, 2008 Jkt 036613 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\36613.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
12

cies had the capability at that time to track who was actually teleworking or how frequently, although we understand that the Justice Department seems to have made some progress on this since 

then. 

Even for more basic measurements like eligibility, agencies used 

such differing methods to calculate them that there really isn’t a 

meaningful picture of eligibility when you look across the entire 

Federal Government. 

To help agencies better manage for results through telework programs, our 2005 report said that Congress should determine ways 

to promote more consistent definitions and measures related to 

telework. In particular, we suggested that Congress might want to 

have OPM, working through the Chief Human Capital Officers 

Council, develop a set of definitions and measures that would allow 

for a more meaningful assessment of progress in agency telework 

programs. Some information could be improved by more consistent 

definitions, such as eligibility. Some information may take additional effort to collect as, for example, on actual usage of telework. 

Some of the information may already be available through existing 

sources, like the Federal Human Capital Survey and the Federal 

Benefits Survey that ask Federal employees about their satisfaction with telework. But, in any case, we believe that OPM and the 

Chief Human Capital Officers Council, the CHCO Council, are well 

positioned to sort through these issues and to consider what information might be most useful. 

Let me just say in closing that we would be pleased to continue 

to work with you and your staffs. We look forward to it, and with 

that, I would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Ms. Steinhardt, for your 

statement. I understand your questions and your statement about 

consistent definitions. 

Mr. Green, according to your agency and GSA, telework is defined as ‘‘the ability to work at a location other than your official 

duty station.’’ Agencies, however, may define telework differently 

when it comes to reporting the number of eligible and participating 

employees. One hundred forty-one thousand Federal employees 

currently telework, but we do not know what that really means 

without a uniform definition. 

Mr. Green, how do you define telework as it relates to eligibility 

and participation? And what is your plan for developing a more 

uniform definition of telework? 

Mr. GREEN. Yes, sir. First of all, I agree with you 100 percent. 

The definitions needed work and specificity because they were too 

broad and ephemeral to be useful. So, we worked with agency 

telework coordinators and others over the past few years to come 

up with a new set of structured definitions, which we have incorporated into our most recent report using the 2005 data. We expect 

this report to be issued in the next few days, and the report using 

the 2006 data, which we are now analyzing and will be issued subsequently. 

These new definitions take into account current legislation, 

which says that employees are eligible to telework with certain 

specified exceptions, primarily those who work with classified inforVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:58 Jun 03, 2008 Jkt 036613 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\36613.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
13

mation, or whose presence on the job is absolutely necessary every 

day. 

We have defined telework participation based on three separate 

telework frequencies: 1 or 2 days a week, 3 more days a week, and 

less than 1 day a week but at least 1 day a month so that we capture a broad range of information but still structure it based on the 

current status of telework. I think that will lead to more consistency across agencies in our reporting. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. 

Mr. Kaczmarczyk, telework centers such as the one in Honolulu 

can offer Federal employees a more convenient location to commute 

to than their regular office location. Public-private partnerships 

help facilitate these remote sites. What is GSA doing to forge public-private partnerships? 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. All of the telework centers that we operate 

currently operate under an agreement with some sort of public-private partnership usually involving a university such as George 

Mason University or Bowie State University, so maybe public-public is better. There is also one that is with Lockheed Martin. There 

are collaborative efforts that are funded by GSA. The users are 

charged fees to use the telework centers. And in addition to being 

used by Federal workers, they are also eligible to be used by private sector users. I have myself seen many private start-up companies using the telework center in lieu of renting office space until 

they get on their feet. Many of the universities that we work with 

will actually work with small businesses to help them set up a 

business and develop and grow until they can find office space and 

be successful on their own. And they are tremendous community 

resources. 

So, in a sense, they are not strictly Federal facilities, but they 

are, both in terms of the operations and management and in terms 

of the use, true public-private partnerships. 

Senator AKAKA. Have you identified a list of private companies 

that are able to address some of the security and logistical challenges of teleworking? And how are you sharing this information 

with participating agencies? 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. We have actually worked with Booz Allen 

Hamilton, a consultant to GSA, when we published those two studies I mentioned in my statement that take a pretty thorough look 

at the different information technology barriers and needs. And we 

have identified solutions for every existing information technology 

and security barrier that there is for telework. And we have disseminated that information to the Federal Government. 

Senator AKAKA. Mr. Dudas, how did the Patent Office convince 

its leaders and managers to support telework? 

Mr. DUDAS. The leaders really had to be convinced originally by 

some very bright people within the office who recognized the good 

that could be done and that telework would improve morale. Managers who were just honored at the tenth anniversary of our program went to leadership at the highest levels to request we get this 

done. Then it was just a matter of making certain all the managers 

realized this is our direction and vision. 

14

I was not there at the time, but there were pioneers who were. 

It really took some guts at the top and then the managers had to 

be trained well. 

Senator AKAKA. Since you have been working with telework, 

what advice would you have for other agencies struggling to get 

buy-in from their leadership? 

Mr. DUDAS. I would say take a look at the issues you have facing 

your agency, the problems you face, and find out how teleworking 

can help you. Now that we are hiring 1,200 patent examiners a 

year, we would not fit in our space without telework. We have a 

new building that it took 20 years to get in place, and we would 

not even fit in our space without telework. So teleworking actually 

is the solution to a lot of the issues we have. I would say to leaders 

of agencies, just tell people you are going to get it done. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you, Mr. Dudas. Senator Voinovich. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Senator Stevens, do you have some other 

things to do and would you like to go next? 

Senator STEVENS. Go right ahead. 

Senator VOINOVICH. OK. Mr. Kaczmarczyk, one of the conclusions from the GSA’s May 2006 Telework Technology Cost study 

was to expand telework to a significant number of an organization’s 

staff—25 to 50 percent—the organization needs to be able to provide basic telework infrastructure, services, and technology to its 

teleworkers. 

What is GSA doing to monitor the status of an agency’s ability 

to support telework, including making sure that telework program 

investments will achieve cost savings over time? You have to have 

the money to put the infrastructure in and I would be interested 

in how GSA approach this? 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. Unfortunately, our role is basically to do the 

analysis, to publish it, and to educate Federal agencies. We do not 

really have any oversight role as to how they spend their IT money, 

but the study was actually pretty interesting if you go through it 

in detail because it said that a lot of the money that you need to 

spend for IT infrastructure in support of telework is already being 

spent in terms of continuity of operations programs, emergency 

preparedness, supplying workers with laptops who travel to make 

presentations. So it is really more a matter of coordinating what 

is already being spent more so than it is spending additional funds. 

And so our job is really to educate, I think, the chief information 

officers, and we did brief one of their subcommittees, and we need 

to do some more work with them to educate the CIOs around the 

agencies about a more strategic way to plan their IT spending to 

include coordinating the spending for the telework programs. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Mr. Dudas, you stated that the Patent and 

Trademark Office decided to offer employees more than a dozen 

telework programs tailored to the needs of different functions rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach. What makes this the best 

approach for USPTO? And what trade-offs are there in administering multiple programs? 

Mr. DUDAS. Certainly, our benefits are that we have different 

people working in different jobs measured in different ways. We do 

measure just about everything at the Patent and Trademark Office. 

So it has given us the opportunity to tailor the programs to what 

15

would be best for individuals within that job description. For patent examiners and trademark examiners, having an almost fulltime work-at-home program seems to be the very best program. For 

patent judges and trademark judges, it has been the same thing. 

The trade-off has been that we do not have a one-size-fits-all program. This means we have to be able to evaluate each job description carefully, making certain that we are testing each program 

and making certain that it is getting good value and that it is getting the intended benefits. That is why having one coordinator 

working throughout the USPTO has made it very easy for us to 

make those trade-offs. We can recognize which programs are being 

successful. All the numbers I gave you before are only programs 

that we think are successful. We have other programs underway. 

And another issue is, we have three different labor unions within 

the Patent and Trademark Office. We certainly want to make certain all employees feel that they are being treated equally. 

Senator VOINOVICH. And in terms of the labor unions, they have 

been cooperative with——

Mr. DUDAS. They have. In fact, we have a press release that was 

just released as we came in today. NTEU has lauded the cooperative efforts that they have had with the USPTO and other agencies 

in bringing teleworking to the forefront. Cooperation with the labor 

unions is important because we are bringing benefits to the employees. 

Senator VOINOVICH. You talked about productivity and reduced 

office space requirements. Have you really been able to measure increased productivity because of this? 

Mr. DUDAS. I would probably put a caveat that we have seen increased production. Per hour productivity has not gone up, but 

what we have seen is that the people who have gone to work at 

home are as productive. We measure productivity down to the 

tenth of an hour in the patents area and down to the quarter of 

an hour in the trademarks area throughout the year. Every 2 

weeks there is a report. We have seen that people who are working 

at home are as productive or more productive, but we also see that 

they have a couple extra hours where they might work. So if you 

look overall at how much work someone working at home can get 

done in a year, they tend to get more work done because there is 

less time on the road. So as for productivity per patent examination 

per employee, we see that going up, and we see that per hour productivity is at least as good. 

As to your other question on building space, we used to be located in Crystal City. When we expanded our teleworking program 

in 2003, we cleared three floors in Crystal City. That saves a million and a half dollars in rent a year—a very obvious savings. Then 

when we moved into our new campus in Alexandria, we were able 

to build those costs in as we expanded the number of people that 

we had in place. We now have a hoteling concept. You do not have 

an entire office to yourself all week and have your work station at 

home. You hotel. So we have seen a cost savings—a very real measurable savings in terms of both dollars and space. And, again, we 

would not fit in the campus we have now if we did not promote 

teleworking as aggressively as we have it. 

16

Senator VOINOVICH. In terms of the workload, you have an idea 

what a good worker would produce in terms of their examinations? 

Mr. DUDAS. Yes. 

Senator VOINOVICH. So what you are saying is that they do as 

well as or better than if they were sitting in an office at Crystal 

City? 

Mr. DUDAS. Yes. We have a bonus structure. If you get beyond 

a certain amount done, then you get a bonus for doing more work. 

We see more people working at home going for the highest bonuses 

or at least the minimum level of production. We see them doing as 

much or more than people at the office. 

Senator VOINOVICH. So it is the workload rather than the time 

that generates this? 

Mr. DUDAS. Yes. I do not think I was entirely clear. We find that 

on a per hour basis they are about equally productive. But we find 

that people who are working at home tend to work more hours because—I will surmise a guess—they are not on the road for the 

extra hour or two. 

Senator VOINOVICH. So the agency gets the benefit of that. 

Mr. DUDAS. Yes, it seems we do. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. Senator Stevens. 

Senator STEVENS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

This bill would require each agency to have a telework managing 

officer or coordinator type of position. How many agencies have 

those now? Do you have one, Ms. Steinhardt? Do you have someone 

who manages a telework program? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. At GAO? 

Senator STEVENS. Yes. 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Yes, we do. I think most of the agencies have 

telework——

Senator STEVENS. A full-time position? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Yes, at GAO, the telework coordinator is a fulltime employee but with other responsibilities. 

Senator STEVENS. All of you have a full-time position now? 

Mr. GREEN. No, sir. 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. Not full-time. It is the responsibility of somebody in the HR Department. 

Senator STEVENS. Well, in an area such as ours or any of these 

major cities, we had, when we started this program, envisioned the 

concept that if you took an office of 100 people, 20 of them would 

come in a day for 5 days. So there would still be a sense of belonging to the system, but we would reduce the traffic by 80 percent. 

We would reduce the need for parking in a city by 80 percent, and 

we could get an increased performance by the people because they 

could concentrate better in doing their work. 

That does not seem to have happened, does it? We have not had 

the real—it sounds like the Patent Office may have, but I do not 

sense that the overall Federal agencies have concentrated on the 

concept of telework. Am I wrong? 

Mr. GREEN. No, you are not wrong. 

Senator STEVENS. Why can’t that be done, Mr. Green? 

17

Mr. GREEN. Well, it can be done. I don’t know about a goal of 

80 percent teleworking. I am not that far along with you on that. 

But we agree that more can be done. 

Senator STEVENS. With the great advantages now of the whole 

net—the concept of computers and the networks of computers you 

can work on, I have the vision that so many people really are glued 

to their computer all day long. Am I wrong? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. For many types of positions, absolutely. 

Senator STEVENS. Well, have the agencies examined those positions to see how many of them could be done at home? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. I think they have to some extent, and perhaps 

Mr. Green can shed more light on this. But I think the concern 

that we have and the issue that we have raised in our work is that 

the agencies really are not measuring—with some exceptions, PTO 

apparently—how much time or what people are actually—how they 

are using telework. 

What we know and what OPM reports is how many people could 

be teleworking, how many agreements we have in place. But are 

they absolutely reducing their commuting time? Are trips being reduced? We do not have the capability now to judge that because 

agencies are not measuring for that. 

So to answer your question, Senator Stevens, are we making 

progress, well, we need to have some good measures of progress, 

and then we will be able to tell. 

Senator STEVENS. Well, I have the suspicion that the heads of 

agencies or the heads of divisions have the feeling that a teleworker is just someone who is going to go home and not work for 

the day, that there is no way of knowing whether they are actually 

doing their work. Is that a wrong impression? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. I think that is a very important point, Senator 

Stevens. I am really glad you brought that up. We actually did a 

report about 10 years on telework, and in talking to some folks 

then, we found that the whole culture, the whole management culture really needed to shift. We still have remnants of this kind of 

industrial era of management by observation. I sort of picture a 

shop floor manager overlooking a factory floor. 

You do not have to see your employees, you should not have to 

see your employees to know if they are getting their work done. 

You should be managing for results. And it is that kind of culture 

that we need to move to, managing for results. 

Senator STEVENS. There is a great book, ‘‘The Soldier and the 

Great Warrior.’’ I read that, in Italy, how the people on those floors 

made more mistakes because they were asleep, and just didn’t 

quite keep going. No one was keeping awake. But it is one of those 

things——

Ms. STEINHARDT. Despite the observation. 

Senator STEVENS. I really have to find some way to deal with the 

question of how we can increase the effectiveness of this now because it is getting to be even more important, I think, that concentration of our cities has increased to the point where it takes 

so long for an employee to get to work, it is so long for him to get 

home, that they are going to be more tired if they go through that 

traffic every day and their performance will be lower. It should be 

stimulated to do more of their work at home if it is at all possible. 

18

I also want to commend you on the concept of having a telework 

center perhaps in places like Fort Meade or other places. That 

seems to be a reasonable alternative to having to drive into town 

to do nothing but sit in front of a computer and do the work you 

could do elsewhere. 

How many of you are looking at that? Is your agency looking at 

that at the Patent Office? 

Mr. DUDAS. Yes, we are. We are looking at the local teleworking 

commuting stations. In fact, the concept of the nationwide workforce for us really means that you could have telecommuting stations throughout the United States and people could choose where 

to live. So we think we are within 5 years of being able to do that, 

where there would be telecommuting stations throughout the country. 

Senator STEVENS. You are all too young to remember it, but 

President Eisenhower had the idea of decentralizing the Federal 

Government so that we could reestablish the small cities of the 

country and give them an identity by virtue of having employees 

of a particular agency be a major portion of any such small city. 

Has that been accomplished at all through telework in any of your 

agencies? Have you had a concentration of people living so that 

they could have interaction together in a small location and still be 

part of the overall system in terms of the agency itself? 

Mr. DUDAS. We have not yet at the USPTO, but that is what we 

are striving for within the next 5 years. In fact, we examine technology in every field, so perhaps it would be advantageous to have 

more of our examiners who work on high-technology working in 

areas where they can have more face-to-face interviews with people 

in Silicon Valley and Telecom Valley in Southern California. We 

think we will maximize efficiency both for our employees and for 

the patent system as a whole. 

But I will say we are not there yet, but we believe we can be 

there within the next 5 to 10 years. 

Senator STEVENS. What can you tell us of the plans to measure 

the effectiveness of this concept as far as plans for the future? Can 

we believe that we can move forward and get some type of human 

capital officer of the overall agency so that they could supervise 

these individual telework managers in, say, the bureaus of a major 

department? I worked in the Department of Interior here in Washington during the Eisenhower Administration, and everybody came 

to the same building every day, and everyone went home in the 

same traffic every day. It has gotten worse now. But I have never 

understood why we did that, why we concentrate an agency in 

downtown Washington when the separate bureaus should be 

around in various places and get together once in a while for a conference of the overall agency. I do not see any tendency toward that 

now, do you? Has the GAO looked at this concept? How can we get 

people out of downtown Washington? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Well, GAO certainly has people outside of 

downtown Washington. We have 11 field offices around the country, and we think it is really important to doing our job. 

Senator STEVENS. Well, you have got the field offices. I know 

that. We have got one in Alaska, too, but I wonder sometimes if 

that is not really teleworking, that is just sort of regionalization. 

19

Ms. STEINHARDT. Well, it is being closer to where the rest of government is and where the people are. But I think we have 

learned—and perhaps other Federal agencies as well—in the 

course of working with field offices, we have learned how to work 

with people at a distance. 

Senator STEVENS. Let me just close, Mr. Chairman. I am sorry 

to take so much time. I know there is another panel. But when you 

look at the question of OPM—and you, Mr. Green, you are OPM, 

aren’t you? 

Mr. GREEN. Yes, sir. 

Senator STEVENS. Have you had any concept of trying to have 

conferences of the managers, personnel managers from the various 

agencies, to encourage the use of teleworking? 

Mr. GREEN. Yes, sir. Through our Chief Human Capital Officers 

(CHCO) co-counsel in February, we had a training session in which 

50 individuals representing over 20 agencies attended. We presented best practices from three agencies, including OPM, and others spoke to share information on telework. PTO has participated 

in previous training conferences. 

We also meet quarterly with telework coordinators from each 

agency and share best practices, discuss issues, discuss problems 

and ways to work around those. 

Senator STEVENS. Well, could I just suggest this: That each of 

you think of what we might do to reduce what I would call the 

managerial resistance to telework. 

Mr. GREEN. Yes. 

Senator STEVENS. And see if we can improve this bill somehow 

by bringing about a mandate for periodic review of positions and 

periodic review of the effectiveness of the program to encourage 

teleworking in the various agencies. Would you give us your comments, please? 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Stevens. 

We will have a second round of questions here. For my second 

round, the first question goes to Ms. Steinhardt. You talked about 

implementing telework by using business cases. In your 2003 report, you recommended establishing a business case for implementing telework programs and for agencies to make appropriate 

adjustments for problems with identifying telework. Subsequently, 

you note that this was not the tactic used by agencies in moving 

forward with their programs. 

For agencies who have not established a business case for implementation, is it too late? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Absolutely not, and I think it still remains essential. And I think listening to Mr. Dudas’ testimony about what 

PTO did offers a very good object lesson in how to do it. If you have 

large numbers of people coming in, large new recruits, you have a 

business case to be made for retaining a skilled workforce in whom 

you are investing a great deal, and you need to be thinking about 

telework as well as a number of other strategies that are going to 

help you achieve that goal. You need to be setting the goal and 

thinking about how you are going to measure the use of telework 

in contributing to that goal. 

20

Senator AKAKA. Mr. Green and Mr. Kaczmarczyk, agencies look 

to OPM and GSA for guidance in establishing telework programs. 

Could you each describe what the major problems you were told by 

agencies were in setting up those programs? Mr. Green. 

Mr. GREEN. Yes, sir. In addition to the usual issues, of course, 

they are concerned with how to finance the infrastructure and 

tracking systems and how to ensure that the mission of the agency 

is being accomplished. We also hear frequently is that there needs 

to be greater support at the executive level for the agencies, and 

there needs to be greater understanding and awareness by both 

employees and managers. To that end, one of our strategic goals for 

this coming fiscal year is to introduce additional telework training 

into as many management training courses as we can. 

Senator AKAKA. Mr. Kaczmarczyk. 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. Yes, thank you. Well, in addition to the basic 

how-to’s, how to set up a telework program, what are the best practices, how to do a telework agreement—and all of that is available 

on the joint website, telework.gov—a couple of issues that have 

been identified repeatedly over the years is the IT and security 

issues. So we issued that guidance that I mentioned in my opening 

statement. 

We have done numerous things with OPM over the years to try 

to educate managers as to how to manage teleworkers, how to 

manage by results. And just most recently, with the telework centers that we manage, we ran a promotion particularly aimed at 

managers in the Federal Government. There was a survey that was 

done by the Telework Exchange, who I believe are on the next 

panel, and one of the findings of the survey was that managers 

who had teleworked themselves were more favorably disposed towards a telework program because they understood what it was all 

about. They understood you could work outside of the office and get 

something done. 

So we ran a promotion, and since the beginning of the promotion 

early this year, we have 40 managers across the Federal Government who have signed up to try teleworking at one of our centers. 

And just to put it in perspective, there are up to 14 centers; there 

are about 250 total seats across those 14 centers. So 40 potential 

new users who not only are going to use the centers themselves 

and hopefully stay on, as the enticement of the free offer is intended to do, is a good number in itself, but also if they go back 

to their office and realize that telework is a viable option for the 

people who work for them, hopefully that can fan out across that 

population. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Dudas, I want to draw on your experience. Performance 

management is critical in any telework program. A loss of productivity because of a telework program really defeats its intended 

purpose. 

What steps did the Patent Office take to ensure that there was 

no loss of productivity in an employee’s performance and that their 

performance appraisals were not negatively impacted by their participation in a telework program? 

Mr. DUDAS. Two things. One, we were fortunate at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that even before we began teleworking 

21

we had solid performance metrics in place, measuring production 

down to the tenth of an hour and measuring quality based on objective factors. So essentially what we did was make certain that 

the same factor that applied for production, productivity, and quality applied at home as well as in the office. We cannot have a slip 

in productivity in either place. 

The other thing is that piloting programs allows managers and 

employees to build confidence. For each program we have had, we 

have piloted it at first so that we have people who can experience 

the program, bring their experiences back, and show that good 

things happen because of the program. 

For example, we began a pilot about a month ago where we have 

entire units who are telecommuting, that is the manager, the senior-level employees, and the junior-level employees. If that works, 

that will be the basis then for our nationwide workforce. 

So we think having good measurements in place in the absence 

of telework is necessary. Keeping them in place with telework will 

protect the employee, and then have pilot programs. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you for that experience. 

I would like to now pass it on to Senator Voinovich. 

Senator VOINOVICH. I am interested in Senator Stevens’ frustration with this thing not working as fast as it should. Is there anybody at OMB that is really interested in this issue who is promoting it through the agencies? 

Mr. GREEN. Well, OMB has been very helpful recently by issuing 

guidance to all agencies about security, reinforcing the security 

issues involved and reinforcing the requirements that security of 

government property, and of government information——

Senator VOINOVICH. Is OMB, Clay Johnson and company, promoting teleworking throughout the Federal Government? 

Mr. GREEN. I would ask them, sir. 

Senator VOINOVICH. So you do not know. Does anybody know? 

Well, that may be one of the reasons why it is not moving as fast 

as it should. 

Mr. Kaczmarczyk, you represent GSA. You have agencies coming 

to you all the time, and they want buildings. And I am sure you 

have to review them. But do you ever take telework into consideration when looking at an agency and ask, Gee, you are in here asking for more space, how much teleworking are you doing in your 

agency? That is another hammer that could be used to get agencies’ 

attention in terms of the use of teleworking. You expect to do the 

job here in the Federal Government and you have got X space; a 

portion of that should not be needed because you have employees 

who are teleworking. Do you do any of that? 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. Yes. In fact, that is one of the functions of my 

office, the Office of Governmentwide Policy, as opposed to the part 

of GSA that provides space, which is the Public Buildings Service. 

It is our job to do that kind of due diligence, and we have worked 

with the Public Buildings Service over the years to develop a program they call ‘‘Workplace 2020,’’ which basically will do that type 

of analysis, with the customer coming to PBS for space, and to 

make sure that they really need that much space, and to make 

sure they are taking a hard look at using alternative work arrangements, such as telework, in place of new office space. There have 

22

been several successful pilot projects done across the country as a 

result. 

Again, like all telework in general, even that pilot program is 

slow rolling out into the mainstream of Federal space use, but we 

are working very hard to have those kinds of discussions with our 

customers. 

Senator VOINOVICH. If I came in as the Secretary of an agency, 

like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and want more space, 

would you say, ‘‘Do you really need all of this space?’’ And what 

percentage of staff in the NRC are working in telework arrangements? Do you ever ask those kinds of questions? 

Mr. KACZMARCZYK. We would ask about those types of questions. 

Also, it comes up in the context of customers who are upset about 

the cost of their rent bill, and we actually worked with PTO on 

their program, even though it cost us—when they vacated those 

three floors of space, we had to take that space back and either 

find another tenant for it or buy out the space. So, we are trying 

to do the due diligence and making sure that agencies really do 

need the space. 

We also did some work years ago with the Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission who also were interested in doing more 

teleworking because their rent bills were too high and they were 

not getting the money in their budget, so we worked with them to 

work through the analysis of how that could be done. I think they 

may be still looking to implement that program. I am not sure if 

they have implemented it yet. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Mr. Green, how hard is OPM pushing? 

Mr. GREEN. We are doing a lot, Senator, and to put in another 

plug for my colleagues at GSA and OMB, we are all working to promote telework in as many ways as we can. We are particularly 

proud of the Telework Guide that we issued this past year that 

provides guidance to both employees and to managers on how to be 

an effective teleworker and how to effectively manage telework. We 

also work with the CHCO Council, as I mentioned before, we visit 

with agencies, we provide guidance to them, we review agency 

telework policies, and we help them resolve issues on a case-bycase basis. Director Springer has mentioned in numerous speeches 

the importance of telework, especially with the Career Patterns initiative that we have underway. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Well, I am really happy to hear about the 

CHCO Council because that is something that we put in our legislation early on, back in, I think, 1999 and 2000 with Senator 

Akaka. 

Mr. GREEN. It is very effective, 

Senator VOINOVICH. Just as an aside, I would like to have John 

Salamone, Executive Director of the CHCO Council, give us a report about what you have accomplished in this area and maybe 

some other things. 

Mr. GREEN. I am sure he would be delighted to do so. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Best practices, getting people together, talking about it. Mr. Dudas, do any of your staff show up at CHCO 

Council meetings to share with them your best practices? 

23

Mr. DUDAS. We do. I have not shown up, but our full-time coordinator has shown up. In fact, we have a website explaining our experiences so others can look at that as well. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Ms. Steinhardt, have you determined a set 

of metrics that you have shared with OPM? Are you monitoring 

what is happening over there? Does OPM have standard reporting 

definitions and measures to ensure that agencies are reporting eligibility and actual participation separately? You need metrics to 

determine whether or not this is working, right? That is your job. 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Exactly. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Do they understand the metrics that you are 

using to judge their performance in this area? Or is that still up 

in the air? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Well, it is still up in the air. That is exactly the 

problem. There is not a consistent set of metrics and certainly not 

a complete set of metrics. When we looked at what was going on 

across the agencies, we found the shortcomings, and that is why we 

suggested that OPM take that role, along with the CHCO Council, 

working with all of the agencies through their CHCOs to come up 

with that set of measures, ones that will yield the intended results, 

or at least be able to observe intended results. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Mr. Green, is it possible that you could get 

together with Ms. Steinhardt and talk about those metrics so that 

maybe you could report to——

Mr. GREEN. Senator, we were talking about doing exactly that 

before this hearing started. 

Senator VOINOVICH. I am very glad we are having this hearing 

then. [Laughter.] 

I think that the Chairman and I would be very happy to get a 

report back in the next 6 weeks about how you have come together 

on those metrics. 

Mr. GREEN. Now I know we will do that. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you, Senator Voinovich. Senator Stevens. 

Senator STEVENS. I failed to ask you, Ms. Steinhardt, about your 

recommendation for a Chief Human Capital Officers Council. Could 

you explain that for us? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. Yes, I would be happy to. As I was saying to 

Senator Voinovich, we recommended or suggested that Congress 

take some action here in having OPM work with the Chief Human 

Capital Officers Council to come up with that consistent set of 

metrics so that we could tell whether we were making progress and 

what kinds of progress we were making in the telework program. 

Senator STEVENS. Has anyone followed the suggestion yet? 

Ms. STEINHARDT. I think that was Senator Voinovich’s intent in 

his suggestion for us to—well, for OPM to do precisely that, and 

we would certainly be happy to support them. 

Senator STEVENS. You had that in your annual report last year? 

Mr. GREEN. The recommendation? No, that was GAO. 

Senator STEVENS. I thought that was a GAO request. 

Ms. STEINHARDT. It was a recommendation in GAO’s 2005 report, 

which we mentioned earlier. 

Senator STEVENS. Well, what does OPM say about the data that 

you are getting from the agencies now concerning telework? Is it 

24

such that you can rely on to really understand whether the program is working or not? 

Mr. GREEN. I believe it is. Is it perfect? No, sir, it is not. We are 

working with the payroll providers to come up with a set of standard definitions and standards on what is telework. For example, if 

a person works from home 4 hours out of an 8 hour workday, is 

that a day of telework or not? 

When you start doing electronic measures and information systems measures, you have to start examining fundamentals in order 

to build a report that is completely reliable. But we are doing that, 

and we are going to share that with agencies, and hopefully more 

and more will adopt it. Many agencies already have time and attendance systems that capture telework. 

As was mentioned earlier, other agencies report their amounts of 

telework based on the agreements that they have in place. So there 

are differences. But when we get our survey information from 

agencies, we do not just report what they say and move on. We review it and compare it to what they previously reported. That is 

why it is very important to have consistency in our annual reports 

and to try to keep the data the same year to year. We make 

changes only if we think it is going to be an improvement. 

But we take a look at the data and follow-up with agencies to 

ask questions about discrepancies. We scrub it. That is why it 

takes us a little while to issue a report. And when we issue a report, we believe it is a good snapshot of what is going on with Federal agencies and that it helps the Congress, OPM, and all Federal 

agencies see where they are and see where they need to be. 

Senator STEVENS. Mr. Chairman, my closing remark would be 

that it is just too bad we exempted the Senate from this bill. I 

think we could have teleconferencing of hearings such as this and 

still be available and transparent to the public, and you could be 

in Hawaii and I could be in Alaska, and George could be suffering 

in Ohio’s heat. [Laughter.] 

Thank you very much. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Stevens. Our 

non-contiguous States can certainly benefit by this. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Mr. Chairman, the weather in Ohio is wonderful right now. [Laughter.] 

Senator AKAKA. Yes. Well, I want to thank this panel. I am sure 

there are other questions, but I will keep the record open for about 

a week for Members to submit questions or statements that they 

have, and in some cases ask for you to respond to some of them. 

But I want to thank you very much. You have been helpful to us 

in further working on and crafting the bill that is there and even 

amending it so that it can be better. But we are relying upon you 

and your experiences to help us do that, so thank you very much 

again. 

Now I would like to call up our second panel. On our second 

panel, we have Tom Davison, Trustee of the Board for Chapter 275 

of the Federal Managers Association; Stephen O’Keeffe, Executive 

Director of the Telework Exchange; and David Isaacs, Federal Government Affairs Director of Hewlett-Packard. 

As you know, we have a requirement here to take the oath, so 

I ask the three of you to please rise with me and take the oath. 

25

1The prepared statement of Mr. Davison appears in the Appendix on page 78. 

Do you solemnly swear that in the testimony you give to this Committee, that it will be truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 

truth, so help you, God? 

Mr. DAVISON. I do. 

Mr. O’KEEFFE. I do. 

Mr. ISAACS. I do. 

Senator AKAKA. Let the record show the witnesses responded in 

the affirmative. 

Mr. Davison, will you please proceed with your statement? 

TESTIMONY OF TOM DAVISON,1 TRUSTEE OF THE BOARD, 

CHAPTER 275, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION 5, ON BEHALF OF THE FEDERAL MANAGERS ASSOCIATION 

Mr. DAVISON. Chairman Akaka, Senator Stevens, my name is 

Tom Davison. On behalf of the nearly 200,000 managers and supervisors in the Federal Government whose interests are represented 

by the Federal Managers Association, please allow me to thank you 

for the opportunity to present our perspective on the government’s 

telework policies and recommendations to encourage the use of 

telework. 

Currently, I serve as the Human Resources Officer for the Environmental Protection Agency Region 5, Chicago, a position I have 

held for over 4 years. I bring with me today 34 years of service in 

the Federal Government. Please keep in mind that I am here on 

my own time and on my own volition representing the views of 

FMA and do not speak on behalf of EPA. 

In Region 5, I provide guidance to employees and managers 

about the EPA program and represent the region in dealings with 

our local union. In Region 5, we have about 560 employees participating in our regular telework program; 350 on episodic telework 

and others using telework in the event of a temporary medical condition or disability. 

While I am pleased that well over half of EPA’s employees are 

enrolled in telework, we still have more to learn about the impact 

of telework in the workplace. 

As managers and supervisors in the Federal Government, we at 

FMA are committed to being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. Telework has the potential to revolutionize Federal agency operations and is a vital resource in meeting the challenges of retaining experienced professionals and recruiting talented employees. 

Creating a flexible and modern workforce to compete with the private sector demands innovative management techniques and supervisory training. At the same time, we must be mindful of management concerns regarding telework administration. 

In conjunction with FMA, the Telework Exchange completed a 

first-of-its-kind study of Federal managers’ perceptions of telework 

in which over 45 Federal agencies and departments participated. 

The study revealed that as managers become more involved in 

telework, they express more favorable attitudes towards it. Sixtysix percent of managers who supervise teleworkers find that they 

are as productive as their in-office counterparts. 

26

1The prepared statement of Mr. O’Keeffe appears in the Appendix on page 85. 

Nevertheless, the study also found that Federal managers’ perceptions of the drivers of telework are not aligned with that of the 

agencies. Managers view the balance between work and private life 

and the impact on recruitment and retention as major telework 

drivers. Conversely, agencies perceive continuity of operations 

planning as the purpose of telework. We believe this finding indicates agencies need to embark on programs to educate managers 

on the priorities for and agency mission benefits of embracing 

telework as a standard operating procedure. 

These survey results highlight that supervisors are ambivalent 

about whether employees can get their work done effectively at alternative workstations. We at FMA believe managers should have 

the flexibility to decide which employees can participate in teleworking programs. If an employee is underperforming or requires 

more supervision, they should not be allowed to telecommute. Establishing clear guidelines and goals before using telework will 

help ensure no one takes advantage of the system. 

Managers cite fears of not having control over employees and 

productivity issues as the top telework inhibitor. Strong policies 

and clear procedures need to be in place before allowing employees 

to telework. This will ensure employees to know what is expected 

of them and allow them to focus on their work. Improved performance management systems would also help alleviate management 

concerns. 

Currently, OPM offers two free online training courses to teach 

managers, supervisors, and employees how to make the most of 

telework arrangements and to make them aware of their responsibilities, agency responsibilities, and Federal policy on telework. 

EPA supervisors are expected to take the course, and any EPA employee who wants to participate in the program must also complete 

the course. We encourage all Federal agencies to use these programs. Without educating managers and employees regarding 

these opportunities, participation will not advance. Training is an 

essential part of helping both employees and the agencies realize 

the benefits of teleworking. We support these training programs 

and believe they will be vital to the success of and participation in 

those programs. 

In order to assure success of telework programs, we ask Congress 

to consider a separate line item in the appropriations process to ensure training programs are properly funded and administered. 

Thank you for your time, and I would be happy to answer your 

questions. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Davison. 

Mr. O’Keeffe, you may proceed with your statement. 

TESTIMONY OF STEPHEN W.T. O’KEEFFE,1 FOUNDER AND 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TELEWORK EXCHANGE 

Mr. O’KEEFFE. Subcommittee Chairman Akaka, Senator Stevens, 

thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I would also 

like to take a moment to thank Senator Stevens and Senator 

Landrieu for introducing S. 1000, the Telework Enhancement Act 

of 2007. My name is Steve O’Keeffe, and I am the founder of the 

27

Telework Exchange, a public-private partnership focused on 

unlocking the gridlock in Federal telework. Our partnership includes Federal agencies and leading private sector companies. 

I sit here before you as the voice of Federal employees and agencies on this telework issue. We have had more than 5,000 Federal 

employees register on the Telework Exchange website to understand the cost of their commute, the cost savings they can realize 

by teleworking, and the ability for their teleworking to reduce effluent and pollutant into the environment. 

We have spent hundreds of hours listening to Feds talk about 

telework successes and challenges, so let’s consider the view from 

behind the wheel. How does commuting look for Feds in America? 

A few data points. 

How bad is the commute? Feds spend more time commuting than 

they do on vacation each year, some 245 hours per annum. How much are we spending on commuting? At $3 a gallon, the average full-time Fed commuter spends $1,656 a year on gas alone. 

Consider today as gas prices approach $4 a gallon. 

How much gas are we burning? The average Federal employee 

uses 530 gallons of gas per year. Feds eligible to telework that are 

not doing so could save enough gas to fill more than 5,000 Boeing 

747s each year. 

Let’s consider what this means for survivability or business continuity of government. Consider one case: Pandemic planning. The 

Federal Government will grind to a halt in the event of a pandemic 

outbreak. According to a recent study, just 27 percent of Feds note 

that they will show up at the office should America start to sneeze. 

My testimony showcases four factors: 

Weak rules of the road. Legislation so far is a sad tale of insufficient horsepower and misfires. 

Road blocks. What is stopping agencies from putting telework 

into gear? 

Race leaders. Agencies that are getting it right and how we can 

use their example and proven best practices to guide telework 

adoption. 

And turbocharging. S. 1000, how the legislation allows us to get 

more out of the Federal telework by focusing on generating greater 

horsepower from the engine. 

Considering the existing rules of the road, the 2000 legislation on 

Federal telework required agencies to ensure that 25 percent of eligible employees would be empowered to telework within 6 months, 

with an additional 25 percent qualifying year over year. Hence, 100 

percent of eligible Federal employees will be working by 2005. 

That did not materialize. In fact, OPM’s latest report finds that 

only 19 percent of Federal employees are actually teleworking. 

Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia inserted provisions into the 

2005 omnibus spending bill to reprimand agencies within his Subcommittee’s control if they fail to meet the telework law requirement. Regrettably, Congressman Wolf’s legislation proved a paper 

tiger. The Subcommittee did not enforce the appropriations 

holdbacks. It is time to establish some legislation with some real 

authority. 

So let’s consider the road blocks. If this riding in a car is such 

an awful disease, why aren’t agencies lining up for the telework 

28

cure? Lack of ownership. Telework coordinators within the agencies 

are overrun. The majority of telework coordinators spend less than 

25 percent of their time on telework issues. They do not have the 

time to effectively promote telework in their agencies. 

Eligibility. There is no consistent framework or eligibility criteria. OPM reports that 81 percent of eligible employees are not 

teleworking, but a recent survey by CDW–G reveals that 79 percent of Federal employees would telework if given the option. 

Something does not add up. That is why we at the Telework Exchange have introduced a new telework eligibility gizmo which allows Federal employees to go online and identify their eligibility 

within seconds. 

Management intransigence. Telework coordinators rate management resistance as the number one obstacle to Federal telework 

adoption. Just 35 percent of Federal managers believe their agencies support telework. 

Productivity. We hear many managers are worried about productivity. USPTO and Department of Justice studies have shown that 

productivity increases of 10 to 70 percent can be realized through 

telework initiatives. 

Security. A recent concern shows that Federal teleworkers are, in 

fact, more secure than the majority of their in-office colleagues. Too 

many in-office colleagues actually carry their files home, and that 

practice was the driver for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ security breach last year. 

Despite these road blocks, there are many agencies that are 

speeding ahead. DISA, IRS, FDIC, TIGTA, and the USPTO are 

leaders. One factor they have in common: The management of 

these agencies all support telework. DISA has reversed conventional thinking on telework eligibility, establishing eligibility as an 

opt-out rather than an opt-in management decision. 

I ask you to consider the potential to cross-pollinate the factors 

that have driven successes. S. 1000 provides a series of solutions. 

Not enough driver’s ed. Twenty-five percent of telework coordinators is not the answer. S. 1000 creates the telework managing officer position to implement, promote, and expand telework programs 

within each agency. 

Who gets to drive policy confusion? Each agency has its own 

telework eligibility policy which drives mass confusion about who 

is allowed to telework. S. 1000 confronts this issue head on by 

turning the tables on eligibility so that everybody is eligible until 

proven otherwise. 

Poor policing. S. 1000 addresses management training on telework by requiring training for new employees and managers. 

Legislative paper tigers. S. 1000 requires annual reporting from 

the Government Accountability Office to track telework adoption 

effectively before Congress, putting teeth for the first time in the 

jaw of telework initiatives. 

Mr. Chairman, in closing, I ask you to take this opportunity to 

support S. 1000 and put telework into drive. I look forward to answering any of your questions. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. O’Keeffe. Mr. Isaacs. 

29

1The prepared statement of Mr. Isaacs appears in the Appendix on page 93. 

TESTIMONY OF DAVID ISAACS,1 DIRECTOR OF FEDERAL 

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY 

Mr. ISAACS. Chairman Akaka, Senator Stevens, good afternoon. 

My name is David Isaacs. I am Director of Federal Government Affairs for the Hewlett-Packard Company here in Washington, DC. 

We appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today and share 

our views with you on teleworking within the Federal Government. 

We would like to express our appreciation to Senator Stevens for 

his leadership in this area and express our support for the 

Telework Enhancement Act of 2007. 

Our views in this area are informed by two perspectives: One is 

as a technology provider to the Federal Government where we provide solutions to government, including teleworkers; and, second, 

as a major U.S. corporation that offers a range of teleworking arrangements to our employees. We have over 10,000 employees in 

the United States that are teleworkers, and thousands of others 

work remotely from time to time, including myself. 

I think our company has achieved the benefits that have been articulated about teleworking, including business continuity, increased productivity, worker satisfaction and retention, and environmental benefits, and we have been recognized by the U.S. EPA 

in receiving their Commuter Choice Award. 

In short, I think telework is a good example of how technology 

can help the government and society at large address major societal challenges. I would like to focus today on some of the perceived 

obstacles that are preventing the adoption of greater teleworking 

and discuss ways that technology can address those concerns. 

First, you have heard security mentioned a couple times today 

and the widely reported incidents like the Department of Veterans 

Affairs’ lost laptops. The HP solution to this problem is by offering 

laptops or notebook computers that have security features embedded into them. For example, we offer the government teleworker 

notebook computers that have biometric access features, software 

programs that allow laptops to be tracked down and recovered, and 

as well as remote wipe capabilities in which data on a computer 

can be erased remotely. 

Senator STEVENS. What is that? Say that again? 

Mr. ISAACS. Software in which the data on a computer hard drive 

can be erased remotely over the network. 

You have also heard from the government panel that there are 

different types of workers with different teleworking needs, and we 

think that those needs need to be addressed as well. There is no 

one-size-fits-all solution for the teleworker, and, therefore, we recommend that procurement decisions take into account these different needs and allow for different computing, printing, voice, and 

other features that the individual worker may need and choose a 

vendor that can address all those needs comprehensively and allow 

for growth and change as technology evolves. 

I know another concern is with remote service and support to 

employees working offsite, and we think that can be addressed 

through technical solutions like online support and next-businessday services, and the like. 

30

Finally, another concern that we have heard is the lack of faceto-face collaboration with remote workers. One way of addressing 

that, certainly at the telework center level, is through videoconferencing. We think that it makes sense for these telework centers to install videoconferencing and capabilities, and HP, for example, has one solution that we call a ‘‘Halo Virtual Collaboration 

Studio’’ that enables direct capability and would allow you, Senator 

Akaka, to hold this hearing from Hawaii and, you, Senator Stevens, to be in Alaska, and allow the same level of productivity as 

if you are in the same room, whether you are across town, or across 

an ocean. 

So the bottom line is that we think that technology can readily 

address the concerns that have been articulated and make teleworking as common and as productive as working in the office. 

In conclusion, we would like to express our support for Senator 

Stevens’ bill and emphasize the role that technology can play in 

promoting telework, and we thank you again for the opportunity to 

present our views. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Isaacs. I want you to 

know that your full written statement will be included in the 

record. 

Mr. Isaacs, as you mentioned in your testimony, information security is a critical concern when dealing with telework. The loss of 

laptop computers—and you mentioned that—the mishandling of information, and the security of working from a remote location cannot be overlooked. What should agencies be doing that they currently are not doing to improve their security policies to prevent 

loss of information? 

Mr. ISAACS. Well, as I articulated in my testimony, I believe that 

purchasing decisions for the remote worker need to incorporate security requirements into those procurement policies, and security 

can be achieved in many ways. I mentioned biometric access to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to that device. 

Then accidents do happen. We know that. So to ensure that devices 

can be tracked remotely and located as well as what I refer to as 

the remote wipe capability, which is the erasing of data remotely, 

those are kind of basic security safeguards that we think need to 

be adopted and including in Federal purchasing decisions. 

Senator AKAKA. Mr. Davison, we have seen in the telework survey and heard in testimony that the culture of an agency can 

present one of the greatest challenges to implementing a vigorous 

telework program. I understand that you manage employees who 

telework and coordinate telework policy. Based on your experiences, what can employees or managers who want to telework, do 

to change the culture of an agency to promote telework? 

Mr. DAVISON. I think it is the expectation that is set by top management and then down through the management chain that teleworking is expected, that it is the norm, that it is what we want 

to see. I think that is happening in Region 5. I think our employees 

understand that our top management does support it. I think that 

the struggle that individual managers have is that the individual 

likes teleworking, they like to make it available to employees. We 

receive strong support from our union to do more with teleworking. 

But the difficulty often is to deal with the employee who is in the 

31

position that might be susceptible telework but whose performance 

or conduct leaves the supervisor in doubt whether they are a good 

candidate for that program. And we have a great deal of difficulty 

dealing with that situation. 

The other issue that I have not heard discussed here as much, 

but I know a lot about it in the Human Resources office, is that 

teleworking is now seen as a very desirable method of reasonable 

accommodations for employees with disabilities. And some of these 

disabilities are very clear to us. People may have heart conditions 

or they may have cancer, and we are very sympathetic to it. Other 

disabilities are of a more chronic nature, dealing very often with 

mental health problems. And, again, we want to provide employees 

an opportunity to work at home, but I think the managers have 

concerns about how successful the employee will be if they are suffering from a severe medical condition. 

Senator AKAKA. Mr. O’Keeffe, the Telework Exchange has been 

promoted as a resource for agencies. However, it seems that dispelling some of the myths of telework and changing the cultural barriers continues to be a challenge. What events, activities, and programs has Telework Exchange developed to promote telework at 

agencies? 

Mr. O’KEEFFE. Thank you, Chairman Akaka. We have engaged 

in a series of studies working collaboratively with the Federal Managers Association to look at management resistance. Consistently, 

we hear a number of objections. One of the primary objections is 

management resistance. And so as we continue to slap each other 

on the back and talk about the virtues of telework, if we do not include the managers who in many circumstances are put forth as 

the principal obstacles to rolling out telework as a standard operating procedure across major agencies, then we are never going to 

understand what their attitudes are and start to turn those people. 

So working collaboratively with the managers to understand their 

perspectives, I think, has been very important. 

You mentioned earlier concerns about security, so when the Department of Veterans Affairs’ laptop goes missing, it makes headlines and it is a very major issue, not just from a security standpoint but in terms of Americans’ faith in their brand of government, where they have confidence in their government. And so as 

we investigate that situation, what we find is that the person who 

lost the laptop was indeed not a teleworker. They were a regular 

employee who took their files home with them on a regular basis. 

And we recently conducted a new study which looks at, is the government walking the walk on security. And what we find is that 

mobility is increasing exponentially. The number of Federal employees using laptops has increased exponentially year over year. 

I think something like 40 percent of the people using laptops in the 

Federal Government have started using those laptops in the last 

year. And when we ask those employees what percentage of them 

have encryption loaded on their laptops, what percentage of them 

have been trained on appropriate privacy and policy, what we find 

is that the teleworkers are exponentially better educated, better 

equipped to safeguard that information. 

We also put together a magazine that comes out every other 

month called the Teleworker, which focuses on telework issues, proVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:58 Jun 03, 2008 Jkt 036613 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\36613.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
32

moting successes, challenges, and opportunities in telework. We 

host meetings every other month called the Visionary Committee 

meetings where the agencies and the private sector come together 

to cross-pollinate best practices. We have a town hall meeting that 

takes place once a year, which is a conference specifically focused 

on telework. 

So there are a large number of activities that we are engaged in 

from studies to publishing to meetings and the like in order to provide a platform for cross-pollination of best practices and education. 

Senator AKAKA. Would you say that Telework Exchange has a 

training program for managers and employees on telework? 

Mr. O’KEEFFE. We have actually put forth to OPM a program 

where we would work with organizations like the Society for 

Human Resource Managers to provide training to Federal managers on best practices, not just for managers but also for employees, in terms of teleworking, and we are awaiting a response from 

OPM on that issue. 

Senator AKAKA. Senator Stevens. 

Senator STEVENS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. O’Keeffe, you 

have mentioned the problem of the VA—we have to find some way 

to make sure that Federal employees know that security information cannot leave the office in their personal computers or be taken 

home by them. I think we all would agree with that. 

We noticed your study, but I wonder if one of the defects is the 

failure of the agencies to develop the systems of signing out. All 

you have to do is have your fingerprint and security access, or 

some combination of security access, and access from home as a 

teleworker rather than take home these documents, as was the 

case of the VA employee that cost the loss of so many addresses. 

Have you examined that at all in terms of your relationship with 

the agencies as to what we could do to increase telework by convincing those that are taking the stuff home illegally, that they 

should just stay home and do it and access from home? [Laughter.] 

Mr. O’KEEFFE. We are constantly engaging with agencies. I think 

that what you see is there is a cadre of telework advocates in the 

agencies, and what we need to do is work with OPM. You mentioned the issue where is OMB in this discussion, and we would 

like to know and work more closely with OMB and OPM on these 

issues, and we appreciate your leadership. I think that the challenge today is how do we take telework to the next level, and that 

is why we really applaud your efforts in S. 1000, because we think 

you hit a lot of the issues right on the head. 

Senator STEVENS. Well, I would make the same request of you 

that we did of the other panel. If you have any suggestions for improvements, I would like to have them. The Subcommittee would 

like to have them. 

Mr. Isaacs, thank you for coming in from the private sector to 

tell us about your experience. Could you answer just one question? 

What about the potential for a promotion from a teleworker as 

compared to one that is in the office? It seems that the people who 

get the promotions are the ones that are within sight or reach rather than at home? Have you made any study on the potential for 

promotion for teleworkers? 

33

Mr. ISAACS. Well, Hewlett-Packard is a global company, and we 

have managers, senior executives all around the world. I think that 

their promotion prospects have not been hindered by failing to be 

at headquarters. My boss is based at Palo Alto at our corporate 

headquarters, Palo Alto, California. I run our DC. office. I have 

been promoted several times even though we are 3,000 miles away. 

I just think it is ingrained into our——

Senator STEVENS. That is the reward for staying in the city, I 

think. [Laughter.] 

Mr. ISAACS. True. I think it is ingrained in our corporate culture, 

and many companies in the private sector, that—the term ‘‘manage 

by results’’ was used earlier. I think that is the way it is in the 

private sector. Obviously, a certain amount of face-to-face contact 

is necessary and appropriate, but much of the work can be done 

through remote means. I do not believe it is a barrier. 

Senator STEVENS. Thank you. Have you done any studies on the 

potential for promotion for those who are teleworking as opposed 

to those who are in the office? 

Mr. O’KEEFFE. We have not as yet put together that type of 

study, but it is actually in the pipeline, so we would love to come 

back and talk to you about the results of that study as it comes 

out. 

Senator STEVENS. Have you run across anything along that line, 

Mr. Davison? 

Mr. DAVISON. I have not seen studies, but I know that our managers are nearly all teleworkers, and so I know it is not an impediment to their advancement. 

Senator STEVENS. All right. Good. And your managers, are they 

teleworkers on a 1-day-a-week, 2-day-a-week situation? 

Mr. DAVISON. It probably varies. Probably not more than 2 days 

a week, and certainly at least 1 day a week. That is what we are 

encouraging as part of our COOP exercises, that our managers 

learn how to telework. 

Senator STEVENS. Good. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I 

am sorry to say that quorum call going off means I have to go to 

the floor. I appreciate very much your holding this hearing. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you very much, Senator Stevens. 

You have been a champion in this. We are looking forward to implementing some of the advice that we have been hearing, and we 

put this hearing together to try to get all the information we can 

on what is happening out there. As we look to the future, there 

need to be changes, and as you mentioned, costs, traffic, and all of 

that, it is not only a future impediment or future problem, but it 

is a problem that is now. And so we need to get to work on this 

as quickly as we can, and we would really encourage you to contact 

us with additional information that you have. 

As I mentioned before, there will be questions from Members of 

the Committee as well, and we will keep the record open for a week 

for that. 

Again, there are many other questions that we have, but I want 

to thank all of you and the witnesses for your responses, and I look 

forward to working with you. 

This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:30 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

(35)

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