The Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration have teamed up to create a new blog about telework progress across the federal government. The blog, called Telework Talk, poses questions to federal employees about what they believe could be viable solutions to telework challenges and allows readers the opportunity to vote on solutions offered by others. Only federal employees with a valid .gov or .mil email address can vote on or offer telework ideas and solutions.
Thus far, federal employees who have commented on OPM Director John Berry's posts have expressed overwhelming support for telework, but several note that there are still barriers to its use, including ensuring buy-in from managers and security issues. Readers also expressed a need for OPM to create governmentwide guidance on telework, provide telework awards to high-performing employees and managers, and hold managers accountable for implementing telework schedules for qualified employees.
What would you add? Is telework becoming more widely accepted at your agency? If not, what are some of the barriers to its use?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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