As the global pandemic continues and countries wait for a vaccine, estimates about when federal employees will return to their offices in force range from Summer 2021 to Never. Many organizations have discovered the advantages of telework and now plan on expanding its use, even when there is not a snowstorm or health crisis. Although some jobs require on-site personnel, the Office of Personnel Management said that 42% of federal employees are classified as eligible for telework, but only 22% actually participated before the pandemic changed the playing field.

Now agencies are looking at the lessons from the past year and are preparing plans to address challenges such as technology equality, managing in a digital world, metrics to measure employee effectiveness and fostering collaboration in a distributed work world.

Attendees learned from agencies who have experience with large percentages of their staff teleworking about how they learned to manage differently, worked to preserve interpersonal ties in remote teams and stay aligned with the organization’s priorities.

Attendees came away with an improved ability to:

• Understand the latest guidance from OPM and how it applies to your agency
• Learn what new work routines worked for other agencies
• How to maintain individual and team productivity
• Ensure that all members of the team have equal access to technology needed
• Develop and promote the agency’s organization culture
• How to onboard new employees when many are remote