Increase Federal Telework Options

11/06/2007

House Subcommittee On Federal Workforce Committee On Oversight And Government Reform

Chairman Davis, Ranking Member Marchant and members of the House Committee on Government Reform, my name is Colleen M. Kelley and I am National President of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). NTEU represents 150,000 federal workers in 31 agencies and departments. We appreciate the chance to present this testimony to the Subcommittee.

Under your leadership, Chairman Davis, as well as other members of Congress, particularly Representative Frank Wolf who is also presenting a statement for this hearing, the issue of telework has been brought to the forefront of discussion and meaningful, but unevenly implemented, telework programs are operating in the civil service.

Experience has shown that telework has many advantages. Telework can bring about increased productivity due to uninterrupted time for employees to plan work, reduce tension levels by eliminating difficult commutes and improve quality of life due to time saved not commuting. The benefits are not just to the employee and the employer. There is a social dimension as well. Telework saves energy, improves air quality, reduces congestion and stress on roads and bridges, and enhances the quality of family life.

Mr. Chairman, in surveying the thirty-one agencies represented by NTEU, I can certainly say the results are mixed. NTEU represents some agencies that are models for the federal sector. NTEU has contractual agreements regarding telework or, as some describe it, flexiplace, with the IRS, Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Customs and Border Protection, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Justice’s ATF bureau, the Department of Energy and the Food & Nutrition Service of the USDA .

At the IRS, NTEU negotiated a telework agreement in October of 1996. This program has been maintained in all subsequent contracts and is today a model for the federal sector. The agreement makes clear both employee and employer responsibilities and criteria for participation in telework. In IRS, approximately 24,000 bargaining unit employees and 6,500 non-bargaining unit employees participate in telework. At the IRS, 6,369 NTEU represented employees and 228 non-bargaining unit employees (NBU) work full time from a telework location. IRS also has 11,434 NTEU represented employees and 770 NBU employees who work part of the time and on a regular schedule from a telework location and 6,552 bargaining unit and 5,574 NBU employees who telework on an occasional or sporadic basis. This not only assists with employee morale and productivity but creates a considerable cost savings to the Treasury Department by saving on rent or office space expenses. The IRS program works well, in part, due to the intense discussions between management and employees prior to its implementation. Yet even with this level of participation, serious issues remain as to policies and management resistance to telework. First, the data cited is based on surveys and, while surveys present a reasonable measurement of participation levels, it would be an improvement if IRS tracked telework participation levels. With tracking, IRS could better identify office space that is surplus due to teleworking employees and find which job classifications and offices are best using telework and which are lagging. NTEU is concerned that managers are not allowing telework by their subordinates in cases when IRS policy clearly permits it. NTEU has filed numerous grievances on behalf of IRS employees denied the ability to telework. The filing of grievances is uneven across IRS offices, indicating the policy is applied differently depending on the office or bureau an employee works in. Currently MITS and TAS (Taxpayer Advocate Service) are offices that employees tell NTEU are most resistive to telework.

NTEU also represents the support staff and trademark attorneys at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). The Trademark Office serves as another model agency. Over 85% of the trademark attorneys at this northern Virginia based agency participate in telework. The NTEU-PTO collective bargaining agreement details the telework program. The Trademark Work at Home Partnership Working Group (TWAH Partnership) administers the program. The TWAH Partnership has equal union and management representation. Management supplies participating employees with all physical equipment needed. Employees are on a strict production schedule and PTO management has never expressed to us any problems with accountability. Employees with a fully satisfactory performance are eligible to participate and are generally selected on a seniority basis. Employees tell us they are satisfied with the equipment management provides. The only employee complaints have been regarding the servicing of malfunctioning equipment or when NTEU members have requested telework but are awaiting the availability of equipment. The experience here, as well as at other agencies, prove that labor – management collaboration is essential to an effective telework program. The program is also enhanced by PTO’s full time Telework Coordinator, a senior level management position. NTEU supports efforts by PTO to even further expand its telework program by changing the travel entitlements and would like to work with the subcommittee toward that end.

NTEU has negotiated for the employees at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) as to telework. The section of ATF that was left in the Treasury Department when the major portion was moved to the Justice Department (Tobacco, Tax & Trade) has long had a working telework program. However, only after four years of negotiation was NTEU finally able to convince ATF to implement a telework program that is now working quite well for most employees. Further, after relocating many Legal Instrument Examiners to West Virginia from Washington, DC resulting in a 3 hour commute for some of these employees, ATF is refusing to permit them to telework based on a lack of automation. Instead, it appears that the $19 million cost-overrun on the new ATF Headquarters building has deprived ATF of the $2.7 million dollars ATF says it needs to automate the work performed by these Examiners.

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) presents another case. Here, NTEU was able to negotiate a fair agreement implementing telework several years ago, and has recently negotiated an expansion of that program. I believe that SEC’s negotiators have had a good faith commitment to telework. Our negotiations have been collaborative and management has affirmed its commitment to telework. We had a point of difference as to whether specific job classifications should be deemed appropriate for telework or if managers would have discretion over determining their subordinates’ eligibility for telework even if that meant that employees in the same job classification would be either eligible or ineligible depending on their supervisor. The union preferred the former but reluctantly agreed to management’s insistence on the latter. We made this concession for the sake of the overall telework program.

Unfortunately, the result at SEC has been an uneven implementation of what otherwise is a good program on paper. Telework participation continues to vary greatly depending on the openness of particular supervisors to the program. Some SEC offices have high levels of participation while others do not. Some SEC employees also have told the Union they feel intimidated by their supervisors and therefore do not even request telework. Others at SEC have had their requests for telework denied. In addition, while the SEC has entered into a number of “ad hoc” telework arrangements with employees, which the agency counts in its overall numbers of employees who participate in telework, some of these employees have reported to the Union that when they actually try to telework on a given day, their requests have been denied.

After NTEU filed two grievances on behalf of SEC employees denied telework, the arbitrator in both cases sided with NTEU, agreeing that the managers inappropriately denied the employee request for telework. Despite an overall good policy, it took union action on behalf of employees to ensure the policy was followed.

NTEU’s experience with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has been mixed. OCC is a non-appropriated agency, yet part of the same Department of the Treasury as the IRS is. It has a designated telework coordinator and allows employees to telework occasionally and to perform task-based assignments while teleworking. The employee must execute an agreement each time. Our members tell us that in practice, some supervisors are adamantly against telework, others are mildly supportive and few have enthusiastically embraced telework. For example, in Large Bank Supervision, only eight out of 510 employees are doing recurring telework.

OCC management does not seem to acknowledge many of the benefits of telework to the agency, the employee, the economy, or the environment. It has been reported to us that one of the OCC's senior officials said in a public forum some time ago that he did not think the law imposed a penalty for not complying with the telework mandate. NTEU is currently seeking an expansion of the OCC telework policy to include medical situations (such as a broken leg) where an employee could be productively working from home rather than out on sick leave.

NTEU strongly believes that the success of several agencies in implementing telework programs proves that the merits and effectiveness of telework are real. We believe that honest and meaningful collaboration with employee representatives can resolve any reservations about telework. What is needed is leadership, openness and a sense of innovation from managers and agencies. Where that does not exist, Congress must use its authority to see it is created. I want to express my appreciation to Representative Wolf, who in past Congresses has added language to the Commerce/Justice/State Appropriation bill to push agencies funded under that appropriation to make teleworking opportunities available. Representative Wolf’s persistent efforts to promote telework have been extremely helpful. But I believe more must be done by Congress. Legislation is needed to hold agencies accountable. Such legislation should require each agency head to review the entire agency workforce and determine which employees are eligible for telework and establish a written policy under which eligible employees may elect to telework. Congress should require that all agencies have a telework training program for both teleworking employees and the managers who supervise them. It is also essential that Congress require all but the smallest agencies to have a full time telework managing officer to advise agency managers and to be a resource for employees. Finally, Congress must maintain oversight and evaluation of the progress agencies are achieving. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) should be required to prepare an annual report to Congress addressing the telework program of each agency. Such a report needs to include detailed information on each agency’s telework policy, the degree of participation and the percentage of employees eligible to telework. Also, OPM should be required to grade each agency on their compliance, partial compliance or failure to implement the telework requirements Congress directs. The common red/amber/green light method might be the best approach.

Many of the legislative recommendations we mention above are included in the amendment offered by Representatives John Sarbanes (D-MD) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) to the Energy bill (HR 3221). NTEU hopes that the House conferees work to maintain this language in conference committee and that it is enacted into law.

NTEU appreciates this opportunity to present our views. Thank you.