Homeland security and traffic concerns drive telework expansion

Homeland security concerns and commuting conditions are creating strong incentives to work away from the office, federal and state officials said during a town hall meeting in Washington on Wednesday.

Comment on this article in The Forum.Josh Sawislak, the acting chief emergency response and recovery officer at the General Services Administration, noted there were eight people in his office and they all worked blocks from the White House. "From a continuity perspective, [that is] not a really good thing" in case a terrorist attacks the White House and the surrounding area, he said during the meeting, which was hosted by the nonprofit Telework Exchange. Now everyone in the office does some telework.

The work arrangement also might be the only way for some companies located near major transportation projects that tie up traffic to retain key employees, said Karen Jackson, director of the Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

"The [high-occupancy vehicle] lanes are great [and] if we ever see [high-occupancy toll] lanes, that's going to be great," Jackson said. "But in the meantime, telework is going to be the only way we're going to survive these megaprojects without pulling our hair out."

But telework advocates still must show how the work arrangement fits into agency culture, town hall participants said.

"We think of [telework] as adapt and overcome," said Capt. Kenneth Barrett, program manager for the Navy's Task Force Work Life Initiative. "From the standpoint of where the Navy is going, the change in tempo, the new missions we're being asked to undertake, we have to keep looking for innovations for our next, best way to do business. We're looking for a results-oriented work environment."

Barrett said telework was also a response to changing demographics. Half of the Navy is now made up of millennials and they expect more flexibility, he said.

Lester Newell, chief information officer at NASA headquarters, said that to build support for telework he had to convince employees, many of whom had scientific backgrounds, that the arrangement had proven benefits. He started by running telework exercises with small groups of 20 to 50 employees in different divisions. Rotating among divisions exposed a broader group of employees to productivity gains and training, building support across the entire headquarters workforce, he said.