I agreeto Idea Increased Telework Opportunities
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Increased Telework Opportunities

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Yes

Government already has some good telework initiatives in place, however, they are not equal across the board. In fact, there's even some shady reporting occurring from some Departments.

If an employee has no real reason to come into an office, other than to make sure that they're working, then they should be given an opportunity to telework full-time. Full-time telework would also mean that they could live apart from their local, so long as they could attend mandatory meetings (at their cost).

British Telecom did a case study in the 90's that computed each of their employees cost them $258 pounds per month in space, utilities, and equipment. They gave 10% of their workforce the chance to telework full-time, and saved over 100 million pounds per year from 6000 employees teleworking full-time.

There is no excuse in this digital age to have physical offices for 50% of government employees.

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Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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Comments (7)

  1. Community Member

    Reduced cubicles is a negligible benefit; the corporate benefit from telecommuting is to access greater talent for less cost. How much of a pay cut are Federal employees willing to accept in exchange for the perq of telecommuting?

    2 years ago
    0
  2. Community Member

    It would have to be non-essential staff (institution custody posts) but right now it is only approved for non-bargaining staff memebers. I say they should expand it to approve bargaining staff members as well. This would greatly reduce gas costs, save time (for those of us who commute), and help to improve air quality and traffic conditions (keeping more autos off of the road), thereby helping the economy and helping staff members to be more efficient.

    2 years ago
    0
  3. Community Member

    I'd be willing to take a 10% pay cut if I could be 100% telework from anywhere in the US.

    2 years ago
    0
  4. Community Member

    Agree with comment above.

    I posted a comment on how Telework could be used to help on duty injuries and prevent staff from being forced into retirement and lose everything.

    http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd/120821-13060

    It's crazy when a federal officer is injured on duty and as a result are forced to retire at a reduced rate and also lose their LEO Retirement. I also believe that Telework is a viable option for other federal employees that are facing medical retirement. We have the resources, but management doesn't want to use them. Lets all continue to vote for these options.

    2 years ago
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  5. Community Member

    Everyone needs to vote for each telework idea in here to make them popular, otherwise the ideas will be lost in the shuffle.

    Here's another: http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd//118879-13060

    2 years ago
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  6. Community Member

    Telework only saves money if the employee is out of the office 3 or more days a week and agrees to share a workstation with another teleworker or go to a "hotel" workstation. Otherwise it is an additional expense. Do the numbers. Space is 30-65 dollars a square foot in DC. If you have to lease space for a part time (less than 3 days a week)teleworker you are still paying rent for underutilized space. Shrinking the cube also saves $$$.

    2 years ago
    0
  7. Community Member

    Microsoft has released a Gov't telework guide.

    http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/solutions/telework/default.aspx#get_info

    Take a look for more info. The tools seem to be available.

    2 years ago
    0