Inside OPM’s new telework guidelines

The Office of Personnel Management released new rules Aug. 3 to guide managers and employees involved in telework programs. The guidelines define telework options and emphasize the importance of an ergonomic workplace. OPM wrote the new rules with a flu pandemic in mind.

The guide “provides the steps that agencies should take to make telework an integral part of their plans to maintain operations in the event of a pandemic health crisis,” said Daniel Green, OPM’s deputy associate director of the Center for Employee and Family Support Policy.

OPM emphasized the varied nature of telework. It can be less than once a week, once or twice a week, or at least three days a week, according to the guidelines. The document covers most of the issues that apply to most federal agencies.

Bernie Skoch, executive vice president of the Suss Consulting group, said OPM framed the issues well. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all, but there are some fundamental principles [agencies] must adhere to,” he said. “I’m satisfied that the guidelines address them fairly well.”

A telework advocacy group greeted the OPM guidelines as a great first step, but it said agencies will need more specific rules to establish a solid telework program. “It’s very high level,” said Stephen O’Keeffe, executive director of the Telework Exchange, a group that promotes federal telework programs. “We need to drill down to provide agencies some of the details.”

O’Keeffe said agencies need to make telework part of their standard operating procedures before they can work it into continuity-of-operations plans.

The new telework guidelines emphasize communication. They encourage an open dialogue between teleworkers and managers and recommend establishing a list of expectations, creating an agreement between managers and teleworkers, and establishing good performance management practices.

The guidelines prohibit managers from canceling telework options except for business reasons, such as poor job performance. OPM includes guidance to help employees establish work schedules.

OPM published the new guidelines just as agencies have begun to focus on telework programs as part of their COOP plans. COOP has been a frequent topic of congressional hearings in the past few months.

Flooding that affected several federal buildings in Washington, D.C., in June helped focus attention on the necessity of working from home during emergency situations. About 200 Internal Revenue Service employees started teleworking immediately after the flooding.

OPM states in the guidelines that telework would “help retain functionality as infrastructure issues and other challenges make the main worksite difficult to access.”

The guide also establishes a benchmark for COOP capability, which must be available within 12 hours and continue for as long as 30 days or more. In the example of the IRS, employees may not be able to return to the Washington facility until December.

Security constitutes a major portion of the new telework guidelines. The Office of Management and Budget’s guidelines, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Special Publications and Federal Information Security Management Act guidance apply to telework under OPM’s new guidelines.