On Demand Government: Deploying Flexibilities to Ensure Service Continuity

From a paralyzing snow storm in Washington, D.C., to a nationwide influenza pandemic, numerous events have the potential to keep federal employees out of their offices and unable to meet essential public and security needs.

Building telework policies into civil service is one way to help ensure the continuity of government operations, especially during crises. But despite technological advances and the benefits of such policies, few employees are able to take advantage of flexible work options. In 2008, just 6% of full-time federal employees worked remotely at least once a month, and only 44 of 78 federal agencies included telework in their continuity of operations plans.

On July 1, 2010, Booz Allen Hamilton and the Partnership for Public Service (PPS) launched a joint study, On Demand Government: Deploying Flexibilities to Ensure Service Continuity, to examine how telework and four other flexible work arrangements—compressed work weeks, flextime, part-time schedules, and job sharing—are being used in the federal government, and recommend how to make them more effective.

Their conclusion: The government must change the mindset of its managers, set aggressive goals, start with the premise of “yes,” and ensure that teleworking can be used effectively during a crisis.

The Office of Personnel Management wants 150,000 employees to be teleworking by 2011, but the study’s goal is more ambitious: 600,000 by the end of 2012.

Benefits of achieving that goal would be significant: Cost savings on real estate, infrastructure, energy use, and commuting; improved employee performance and job satisfaction; and reduced traffic congestion and auto emissions.

According to Booz Allen and PPS, key to flexibility program implementation is a change in attitude. On Demand Government found than resistance to work flexibility policies at the agency management level is a primary cause of limited implementation. Managers are concerned about a drop in productivity and lack of accountability. In addition, most managers view telework as an employee perk rather than a smart business practice.

Among its recommendations, the report advises a new government mindset that assumes all employees are eligible to telework unless managers can demonstrate otherwise. On Demand Government also suggests viewing the ability to work remotely as a national security imperative, and advocates testing that capacity regularly to ensure telework is fully incorporated in all agency continuity of operations plans.

Agencies such as the OPM, Patent and Trademark Office, Defense Information Systems Agency, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission have effectively implemented successful work flexibility programs.

Pending legislation would also produce changes in teleworking eligibility, use, and training. In July 2010, the House approved legislation that would require agencies to appoint a telework managing officer to set policy to increase participation. In May, a similar bill passed the Senate.

Senior Vice President Dave Mader; Associates Marianne Koszorus, Cynthia Morath, and Dena Papazoglou; and Senior Consultants Shari Brower, Nadeeka Jayatilake, and Anna Tolentino were on the Booz Allen team who contributed to this study.