Agency Telework Methodologies: Departments of Commerce, Justice,
State, the Small Business Administration, and the Securities and
Exchange Commission (27-SEP-05, GAO-05-1055R).
Telecommuting, or telework--meaning work that is performed at an
employee's home or at a work location other than a traditional
office--has gained widespread attention over the past decade in
both the public and private sectors, offering a variety of
potential benefits to employers, employees, and society. On July
29, 2005, we briefed Congress on the results of our review of
telework methodologies at the Departments of Commerce (DOC),
Justice (DOJ), State, the Small Business Administration (SBA),
and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This report
transmits the information provided during that briefing.
Specifically, Congress had asked us to provide information on and
analysis of the methodology that each of the five agencies used
to define employees eligible to telecommute, the methods each
agency used to make telecommuting opportunities available to
eligible employees and what those opportunities are, and how each
agency defines and measures telecommuting participation rates.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-05-1055R
ACCNO: A38477
TITLE: Agency Telework Methodologies: Departments of Commerce,
Justice, State, the Small Business Administration, and the
Securities and Exchange Commission
DATE: 09/27/2005
SUBJECT: Eligibility criteria
Eligibility determinations
Federal employees
Statistical data
Surveys
Telecommuting
******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a **
** GAO Product. **
** **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced. Tables are included, but **
** may not resemble those in the printed version. **
** **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed **
** document's contents. **
** **
******************************************************************
GAO-05-1055R
September 27, 2005
The Honorable Frank R. Wolf
Chairman
Subcommittee on Science, the Departments of
State, Justice, and Commerce, and
Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
Subject: Agency Telework Methodologies: Departments of Commerce, Justice,
State, the Small Business Administration, and the Securities and Exchange
Commission
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Telecommuting, or telework-meaning work that is performed at an employee's
home or at a work location other than a traditional office-has gained
widespread attention over the past decade in both the public and private
sectors, offering a variety of potential benefits to employers, employees,
and society. On July 29, 2005, we briefed your office on the results of
our review of telework methodologies at the Departments of Commerce (DOC),
Justice (DOJ), State, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This report transmits the
information provided during that briefing. (See enclosure.) Specifically,
you had asked us to provide information on and analysis of the methodology
that each of the five agencies used to define employees eligible to
telecommute, the methods each agency used to make telecommuting
opportunities available to eligible employees and what those opportunities
are, and how each agency defines and measures telecommuting participation
rates.
Background
The Fiscal Year 2005 Appropriations Act for the Departments of Commerce,
Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies1 required the five
agencies-DOC, DOJ, State, SBA, and SEC-to certify that telecommuting
opportunities were made available to 100 percent of the eligible
workforce. Of the total amounts appropriated to each agency, $5 million
was to be available only upon such certification. The legislation further
required that each of those agencies provide the House and Senate
1 Pub. L. No. 108-447, Division B, Section 622
Committees on Appropriations with quarterly reports on the status of their
telecommuting programs, including the number of employees eligible for,
and participating in, such programs. You asked us to provide information
on and analysis of the five agencies' telework programs to help the
subcommittee in its review of these legislatively required certifications
and quarterly reports.
Results in Brief
We found that at DOC, DOJ, and State, groups of employees are not eligible
to telework because of their positions, while SEC and SBA make all
positions eligible. For example, at State, employees are excluded if they
have to handle classified information in their positions. All five
agencies exclude individual employees from teleworking on the basis of
other criteria, such as employee performance. However, when the agencies
recently reported the total number of employees who are eligible to
telework, they did not subtract the number of individuals who were
excluded on the basis of these criteria.
All five agencies used at least some active methods to make telework
opportunities available to employees who were eligible. These methods
ranged from sending each eligible employee an individual notification to
sending all employees a broadcast message from the agency head. We could
not confirm, however, whether all of the units in two of the agencies did
more than post telework information on their internal Web sites.
None of the agencies could report the actual number of employees who
telework and how often they do so because none had fully implemented the
capability to track this through their time and attendance systems,
although DOC and DOJ are implementing such a system. Instead, DOJ has
reported the number of participants based on a survey of supervisors who
are expected to track teleworkers; the other four agencies have reported
the number of participants based on the number of employees with signed
telework agreements in place. At DOC, however, these agreements do not
include ad hoc teleworkers because they are not required to have telework
agreements.
Some of the agencies had additional initiatives under way. For example,
SBA and DOC required that employees be trained before participating. SEC
and DOJ officials said that the agencies were currently working to address
managerial resistance to participation by providing supervisors and
managers with awareness training to help them see how telework can work.
Because of the lack of consistency among the five agencies with regard to
how they determine eligibility to telework, make opportunities available,
and measure employee participation, Congress should determine ways to
promote more consistent definitions and measures related to telework. In
addition, Congress should continue to consider ways to encourage agencies
to promote telework.
Scope and Methodology
The presentation we prepared (see enclosure) was based on our review and
analysis of the Fiscal Year 2005 Appropriations Act's legislative
requirements, agency documentation, other official documents, and
statements by agency officials. For our presentation, we obtained and
reviewed each agency's telework policy as well as the certifications and
quarterly telework status reports submitted to the appropriations
committees, as required by law. We also interviewed the telework
coordinators at each of the five agencies. We did not independently verify
the information provided by the agencies.
We conducted our work from May through July 2005 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. We provided the five
agencies with a draft of the information included in the enclosure and
incorporated their comments as appropriate.
- - - - -
We will make copies of this report available to other interested parties
upon request. The report is also available at no charge on the GAO Web
site at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff have any questions or need additional information
about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-6510 or at
larencee@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional
Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report.
Key contributors to this report were William Doherty, Assistant Director;
Joyce Corry; and Sonya Phillips.
Sincerely yours,
Eileen R. Larence
Director, Homeland Security and Justice
Enclosure
(450416)
This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this
work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the
copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material
separately.
GAO's Mission
The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation and
investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its
constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and
accountability of the federal government for the American people. GAO
examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies;
and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help
Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO's
commitment to good government is reflected in its core values of
accountability, integrity, and reliability.
The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no cost
is through GAO's Web site (www.gao.gov). Each weekday, GAO posts GAO
Reports and newly released reports, testimony, and correspondence on its
Web site. To
have GAO e-mail you a list of newly posted products every afternoon, go to
www.gao.gov and select "Subscribe to Updates."
Order by Mail or Phone
The first copy of each printed report is free. Additional copies are $2
each. A check or money order should be made out to the Superintendent of
Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard. Orders for 100 or more
copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25 percent. Orders should
be sent to:
U.S. Government Accountability Office 441 G Street NW, Room LM Washington,
D.C. 20548
To order by Phone: Voice: (202) 512-6000 TDD: (202) 512-2537 Fax: (202)
512-6061
To Report Fraud, Contact:
Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm
E-mail: fraudnet@gao.gov
Federal Programs Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202)
512-7470
Gloria Jarmon, Managing Director, JarmonG@gao.gov (202) 512-4400 U.S.
Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7125 Relations
Washington, D.C. 20548
Susan Becker, Acting Manager, BeckerS@gao.gov (202) 512-4800
Public Affairs
U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149
Washington, D.C. 20548
PRINTED ON
RECYCLED PAPER
*** End of document. ***