OPM is promising quick turnaround on all information requests. Telecommuting Accord at HUD Managers thinking about setting up a telecommuting program for their employees might take a look at an agreement near completion at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But it also says that those under telecommuting arrangements may terminate their participation at any time. When management wants to terminate an agreement, it has to give the union and employee involved at least five days notice, and it has to state the reason. The pact also requires that any telecommuter must work at least two days a week in his or her government office.
Telecommuting allows employees to work in offsite locations via computers and telephone lines.
This is a rapidly-evolving federal employment trend. It is estimated that within four years 160,000 federal employees will be telecommuting. At HUD the parties still have to work out how to supervise the work and how participating employees should be rated. Managers generally like the idea because it would relieve them of having to face lengthy appeals, allowing them to deal swiftly and decisively in obvious cases. But some managers and union leaders are wary of the proposal because it does not allow consideration of the details in a case, and so appears to threaten fundamental due process rights.