a

GAO

United States General Accounting Office

Testimony

Before the Committee on Government Reform, House of 

Representatives

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT

Thursday, July 8, 2004

HUMAN CAPITAL

Key Practices to Increasing 

Federal Telework

Statement of Christopher Mihm

Managing Director, Strategic Issues

GAO-04-950T
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-950T.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact J. Christopher 

Mihm at (202) 512-6806 or mihmj@gao.gov. 

Highlights of GAO-04-950T, a report to 

Chairman, Committee on Government 

Reform, U.S. House of Representatives 

July 8, 2004

HUMAN CAPITAL

Key Practices to Increasing Federal 

Telework 

Much work remains to ensure that federal employees have the opportunity 

to telework. While individual agencies, the Office of Personnel Management 

(OPM), and the General Services Administration (GSA) are making progress, 

each has a role to play in expanding the use of this flexibility. Federal 

agencies can do more to ensure that as many employees as appropriate are 

provided an opportunity to participate in telework. The testimony 

highlights: 

• To help agencies develop and implement a successful telework 

program, GAO identified a set of key practices for the 

implementation of successful telework programs at the agency level 

in our July 2003 report. However, some of the practices in particular 

merited additional attention from the agencies we examined. For 

example, agencies we studied had not provided full funding to meet 

the needs of their telework programs, nor had all established 

eligibility criteria to ensure that teleworkers were selected on an 

equitable basis. Obtaining support from top management for 

telework, addressing managerial resistance to the flexibility, and 

providing training and information on the telework program were 

also identified as challenges at the agencies we examined. 

• As lead agencies for the governmentwide telework initiative, both 

GSA and OPM offer services and resources to support and encourage

telework in the federal government. GAO noted in its July 2003 

report that although OPM and GSA share responsibilities for the 

governmentwide telework initiative, past efforts were not well 

coordinated. In an October 2003 letter describing progress made 

since the issuance of the GAO report, GSA and OPM reported that a 

number of actions had been taken to improve coordination. The 

letter notes that the agencies signed a memorandum of 

understanding to reflect their unified approach to implementing 

telework. Revisions to the telework Web site were also noted in the 

letter, including the posting of a revised telework guide for 

managers. Additionally, training modules for managers and 

employees were developed. GAO did not evaluate how well 

coordinated efforts have been since the issuance of the July 2003 

report. 

• OPM’s May 2004 telework report indicated that the percentage of 

eligible employees teleworking did not increase between 2002 and 

2003, remaining at approximately 14 percent. This outcome, in light 

of the increased action taken by OPM and GSA, suggests that 

individual agencies, OPM, and GSA should seek to more fully 

understand the barriers to telework and take action to remove those 

barriers. 

Telework has received significant 

attention in Congress and the 

executive branch and is an 

increasingly popular flexibility 

among federal employees. In July 

2003 GAO reported on the use of 

telework in the federal government 

(GAO-03-679). Not only is telework 

an important flexibility from the 

perspective of employees, it has 

also become a critical management 

tool for coping with potential 

disruptions in the workplace, 

including terrorism. 

This statement highlights key 

practices GAO research identified 

as important to implementing 

successful telework initiatives. 

The statement then discusses 

efforts to coordinate and promote 

telework, and concludes with a 

review of OPM’s May 2004 

telework report. 

This testimony includes no new 

recommendations, but it does 

underscore prior GAO 

recommendations to which 

additional attention is needed. 

GAO has encouraged individual 

agency leaders to make use of all 

appropriate administrative 

authorities available to them, such 

as the telework initiative, to 

manage their people for results. 
Page 1 GAO-04-950T 

Chairman Davis, Mr. Waxman, and Members of the Committee:

Telework, at times referred to as “telecommuting” or “flexiplace,” has 

gained widespread attention over the past decade in both the public and 

private sectors as a human capital flexibility that offers a variety of 

potential benefits to employers, employees, and society. The term telework 

refers to work that is performed at an employee’s home or at a work 

location other than their traditional office. Mr. Chairman, at your request 

we reported almost 1 year ago on the progress federal agencies have made 

in implementing telework initiatives and identified a set of key practices 

that agencies can use to develop and strengthen their telework programs.1

 

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there is 

growing awareness of the importance of telework as a critical management 

tool for coping with potential disruptions in the workplace, including 

terrorism. Disruption of normal operations challenges an organization to 

use the dedication and flexibility of its people to its advantage. We 

reported in April 2004 that organizations may use approaches such as 

telework to increase the ways in which employees may contribute to the 

organization in the event of a disruption.2

 

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) May 2003 guide on 

implementing telework noted that the ability to telework has been, and will 

continue to be, important in times of emergency situations. OPM suggests, 

and our work confirms, that agencies should make telework part of their 

continuity of operations planning. OPM’s guide advises that part of 

planning for the use of telework in an emergency situation can include 

conducting an inventory of equipment, discussing contingency plans with 

staff, and periodically assessing emergency procedures. Additionally, the 

guide proposes that routine emergency exercises be held to assess the 

potential effectiveness of emergency plans, including plans for 

teleworking.

A General Services Administration (GSA) report, published in 2000, 

likewise notes that unplanned work stoppages caused by disasters or 

1

U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Further Guidance, Assistance, and 

Coordination Can Improve Federal Telework Efforts, GAO-03-679 (Washington, D.C.: July 

18, 2003). 

2

U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Opportunities to Improve Federal 

Continuity Planning Guidance, GAO-04-384 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 20, 2004). 
Page 2 GAO-04-950T 

weather shutdowns can be overcome by the use of telework. The GSA 

report describes telework as a practical strategy that serves both 

emergency response and emergency preparedness functions. As an 

emergency response strategy, GSA notes that telework can be used to put 

disrupted organizations and their employees back in a work status prior to 

the actual resolution of the cause of the work stoppage.

Since maximizing performance and assuring accountability are at the heart 

of our mission at GAO, we believe it is our responsibility to lead by 

example, especially in the human capital area. On June 21, 2004, we 

completed revisions to the telework program available to GAO employees. 

This revision provides our staff the opportunity to apply to telework on an 

episodic, short-term, or continual basis. 

My statement today will first provide an overview of key practices our 

research identified as important to implementing successful telework 

efforts. Next, I will discuss our past analysis of OPM and GSA efforts to 

coordinate and promote telework in the federal government, and discuss 

how that coordination has improved. Finally, I will comment on the issues 

raised in OPM’s May 2004 report titled The Status of Telework in the 

Federal Government.

Implementation of Key 

Telework Practices 

Can Ensure Successful 

Agency Programs 

Overall, telework has received significant attention in Congress and the 

executive branch and is an increasingly popular flexibility among federal 

employees. Federal employees’ interest in telework has been highlighted 

in a number of studies. For example, based on its 2000 Merit Principles 

Survey, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board reported that, of all the 

family-friendly programs studied, telework showed the greatest gap 

between importance and availability. According to a more recent survey, 

OPM’s 2002 Federal Human Capital Survey, almost 74 percent of federal 

employee respondents said that telework was at least somewhat important 

to them. Despite this level of importance, more than 59 percent of the 

respondents reported that this flexibility was not available to them. We 

have reported that much of the authority agency leaders need to manage 

their people strategically already is available under current laws and 

regulations and we have encouraged leaders to make use of all appropriate
Page 3 GAO-04-950T 

administrative authorities available to them, such as the telework initiative, 

to manage their people for results.3

To help agencies develop a successful telework program, we identified a 

set of key practices for the implementation of successful telework 

programs (see fig. 1). Regular attention to these practices can help to 

foster program growth and remove barriers to telework participation. In 

October 2003, OPM and GSA reported they distributed these practices to 

agency telework coordinators and recommended that agencies use them to 

self-assess their programs. These practices are:

3

U.S. General Accounting Office, High-Risk Series: Strategic Human Capital Management, 

GAO-03-120 (Washington, D.C.: January 2003). 
Page 4 GAO-04-950T 

Figure 1: Key Telework Practices for Implementation of Successful Federal Telework 

Programs

Source: GAO-03-679.

Our telework report discusses these practices in more detail and provides 

illustrations of their implementation. We found that individual agencies 

Program planning

• Designate a telework coordinator.

• Establish a cross-functional project team, including, for example, information technology 

(IT), union representatives, and other stakeholders.

• Establish measurable telework program goals.

• Develop an implementation plan for the telework program.

• Develop a business case for implementing a telework program.

• Provide funding to meet the needs of the telework program.

• Establish a pilot program.

Telework policy

• Establish an agencywide telework policy.

• Establish eligibility criteria to ensure that teleworkers are selected on an equitable basis 

using criteria such as suitability of tasks and employee performance.

• Establish policies or requirements to facilitate communication among teleworkers, 

managers, and coworkers.

• Develop a telework agreement for use between teleworkers and their managers.

• Develop guidelines on workplace health and safety issues to ensure that teleworkers 

have safe and adequate places to work off-site.

Performance management

• Ensure that the same performance standards, derived from a modern, effective, 

credible, and validated performance system, are used to evaluate both teleworkers and 

nonteleworkers.

• Establish guidelines to minimize adverse impact on nonteleworkers before employees 

begin to work at alternate work sites.

Managerial support

• Obtain support from top management for a telework program.

• Address managerial resistance to telework.

Training and publicizing

• Train all involved, including, at a minimum, managers and teleworkers.

• Inform workforce about the telework program.

Technology

• Conduct assessment of teleworker and organization technology needs. 

• Develop guidelines about whether the organization or employee will provide necessary 

technology, equipment, and supplies for telework.

• Provide technical support for teleworkers.

• Address access and security issues related to telework.

• Establish standards for equipment in the telework environment.

Program evaluation

• Establish processes, procedures, and/or a tracking system to collect data to evaluate 

the telework program.

• Identify problems and/or issues with the telework program and make appropriate 

adjustments.
Page 5 GAO-04-950T 

may need additional guidance, guidelines, and/or individualized technical 

support to fully implement these practices.4

 For example, agencies we 

studied had not established program goals, provided full funding to meet 

the needs of their telework programs, nor had all established eligibility 

criteria to ensure that teleworkers were selected on an equitable basis. 

Obtaining support from top management for telework, addressing 

managerial resistance to the flexibility, and providing training and 

information on the telework program were also identified as challenges at 

the agencies we examined.

OPM and GSA Are 

Working to Coordinate 

Their Efforts to Help 

Agencies Meet 

Statutory Telework 

Requirements

A statutory framework for the use of telework in the executive branch 

began to develop in 1990. The framework includes requirements for 

agencies to take certain actions related to telework, provides agencies with 

tools for supporting telework, and designates leadership roles for OPM and 

GSA in governmentwide implementation efforts. The most significant 

piece of legislation, passed in 2000, requires each executive branch agency 

to establish a telework policy “under which eligible employees of the 

agency may participate in telecommuting to the maximum extent possible 

without diminished employee performance.”5

 OPM issued guidance in 2001 

related to the implementation of this law. However, that guidance did not 

include a specific definition of what it meant to provide eligible employees 

the opportunity to telework. After we discussed this issue with OPM 

officials, they reacted promptly by issuing new telework guidelines that 

defined the difference between identifying which positions are eligible to 

telework and informing employees they have the opportunity to telework.

As lead agencies for the governmentwide telework initiative, both GSA and 

OPM offer services and resources to support and encourage telework in the 

federal government. Some of the services are offered jointly by GSA and 

OPM; some are offered individually by both agencies; and others are 

offered uniquely by either OPM or GSA. Our report found that although 

OPM and GSA share responsibilities for the governmentwide telework 

initiative, past efforts were not well coordinated. To illustrate the lack of 

coordination, a GSA official told us that agencies had expressed concern 

4

We did our detailed work at four agencies: the Department of Education, GSA, OPM, and 

the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

5

Section 359 of the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 

2002, Pub. L. No. 106-346 (Oct. 23, 2000). 
Page 6 GAO-04-950T 

about conflicting messages they received from OPM and GSA on several 

topics, including dependent care. Officials from both agencies confirmed 

that there were different policies at the time of our review. GSA’s position 

was that employees could care for dependents when teleworking, as long 

as it does not interfere with accomplishing tasks, while OPM’s position 

was, until recently, that dependents should not be in the home when an 

employee was teleworking. After discussing the conflicting messages with 

OPM officials, OPM revised its position in new telework guidelines it 

released shortly thereafter. These guidelines state that while teleworkers 

should not generally be engaged in caregiving activities when working at 

home, teenagers or elderly dependents might be at home when the 

employee is teleworking, as long as those dependents are independently 

pursuing their own activities. 

Our report recommended that the Administrator, GSA, and the Director, 

OPM ensure that offices with responsibility for the governmentwide 

telework initiative better coordinate efforts to provide federal agencies 

with consistent support and guidance related to telework. To accomplish 

this we suggested that the agencies clearly delineate their responsibilities 

for this initiative. After we discussed the issues created by a lack of 

coordination between GSA and OPM with both agencies, a GSA official 

indicated that the two agencies had a new commitment to coordination. 

We have not evaluated how this commitment has manifested itself in the 

past year since the issuance of our report. However, such a commitment 

reflects a promising start for better assisting federal agencies in improved 

implementation of their telework programs. We reported that the key to 

success will be sustained efforts by both agencies to work together in 

assisting agencies and providing consistent and straightforward guidance, 

services, and resources on the governmentwide telework initiative. 

In an October 14, 2003, letter describing progress made since the issuance 

of our report to you, Chairman Davis, GSA, and OPM reported that a 

number of actions had been taken to improve coordination. The letter 

notes that the agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to reflect 

their unified approach to implementing telework. Revisions to the 

telework Web site were also noted in the letter, including the posting of a 

revised telework guide for managers. Additionally, training modules for 

managers and employees were developed and are available through

www.golearn.gov, the federal government’s e-training Web site.
Page 7 GAO-04-950T 

OPM Reports That the 

Percentage of Eligible 

Employees Who 

Actually Telecommute 

Has Not Increased

In May of this year, OPM released its annual report, titled The Status of 

Telework in the Federal Government, summarizing the findings from its 

October 2003 survey of federal agencies. According to OPM, 74 agencies 

responded to the survey. The OPM report identified a number of findings 

from its 2003 survey. 

• The percentage of telework-eligible employees grew from 35 percent in 

2002 to 43 percent in 2003. This translates to a change from 625,313 

employees in 2002 to 751,844 employees in 2003. 

• Sixty-nine percent of teleworkers have their primary place of duty 

outside the greater Washington D.C. area. Comparatively, 84 percent of 

the federal workforce is located outside the greater Washington D.C. 

area.

• Use of federal telework centers declined by 5 percent from 2002 to 2003, 

despite the availability of increased funding. This translates to a change 

from 459 users in 2002 to 435 users in 2003.

Importantly, the report indicated that the percentage of eligible employees 

actually taking advantage of telework remained roughly stable between 

2002 and 2003 at approximately 14 percent. The number of employees 

increased from 90,010 in 2002 to 102,921 in 2003, while the percentage of 

eligible employees actually taking advantage of telework remained at 14 

percent because of the increase in the number of employees eligible to 

telework, despite the efforts of GSA and OPM that are cited in OPM’s 

report. For example, OPM reported that it and GSA provided assistance to 

agencies in which 2 percent or fewer employees telecommute, including 

help in developing policies, providing workshops, and developing 

promotion materials. Training modules, a video, and materials for agency 

publications were also developed for all agencies to use. The lack of 

growth in the percentage of employees teleworking, in light of the 

increased action taken, suggests that each agency, OPM, and GSA should 

seek to more fully understand the barriers to telework and take action to 

remove those barriers.

The OPM report additionally described in some detail the nature of agency 

telework policies. According to survey respondents, telework policies are 

in place in 73 of the 74 agencies that completed the survey. OPM 

acknowledges, however, that the presence of a policy does not provide a 

viable telework program. Survey results indicate that only 34 agencies 
Page 8 GAO-04-950T 

have a procedure in place for giving employees formal notification of their 

eligibility to telework. The report also notes that 52 agencies have 

established a minimum performance rating for teleworkers that would 

provide a clear indication to employees regarding whether they are eligible 

to telework and 36 agencies specify occupations in which telework can or 

cannot be used. Additionally, it was noted that 46 agencies provide for 

telework for employees with health problems and 46 allow employees to 

use alternative work schedules in conjunction with telework.

In conclusion, much work remains to be done to ensure that federal 

employees have the opportunity to telework. While progress is being made 

by agencies, OPM, and GSA, all have a role to play in expanding the use of 

this flexibility and more work remains to be done. Specifically, the recent 

OPM report shows that federal agencies can do more to ensure that as 

many employees as appropriate are provided an opportunity to participate 

in telework. Telework should be viewed as a key tool in an agency’s effort 

to manage its human capital strategically, and implemented as an 

investment in the organization’s people and the agency’s capacity to 

perform its mission. The telework practices that we identified and 

distributed by OPM and GSA should assist agencies in strengthening their 

telework efforts.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Waxman, and members of the committee, this completes 

my statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions that you 

might have.

Contacts and 

Acknowledgments

For further information on this testimony, please contact J. Christopher 

Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues, (202) 512-6806 or at 

mihmj@gao.gov. Individuals making key contributions to this testimony 

include Boris Kachura, Ellen V. Rubin, Joyce Corry, Ellen Grady, and 

Tiffany Tanner.

(450335)
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