Federal Telework: Office of Personnel Management's 2012 Telework Report Shows Opportunities for Improvement

Citation
Government Accountability Office, Federal Telework: Office of Personnel Management's 2012 Telework Report Shows Opportunities for Improvement (GAO-13-298R) (June 28, 2013) (full-text).

Overview
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) partially reported on two of the seven reporting requirements of the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, but did not report agency information for the five remaining requirements. This was because insufficient time had elapsed for all requirements of the act to be fully implemented and because agencies appeared to face challenges in measuring outcomes for some nonparticipation goals, according to the OPM.

OPM recognized weaknesses in agency sources for telework participation and frequency data, but has not taken adequate steps to establish a completion date by which agencies will produce reliable data from employee time and attendance tracking systems, which OPM defined as the most reliable tracking method.

The small agency discussion group reported telework challenges similar to those expressed by officials from larger agencies. These challenges include management resistance and technology limitations. In addition, officials from small agencies expressed particular concerns about office impacts when a teleworking employee has no backup in the workplace and about the limited funding available for information technology to support telework.