News Release

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management today released to Congress the results of its November 2002 survey on governmentwide telework programs offered by federal agencies. The report is meant to give a studied overview of what is and what isn't working. It is also intended to help OPM to better assess what needs to be done to continue the successful implementation of telework programs throughout the federal government.

"OPM's report on telework gives federal agencies, and all interested parties, important information on how far we've come in making the federal work place telework friendly," said OPM Director Kay Coles James. "However, it also shows that work needs to be done to reach our telework goals, important goals that I know we will achieve."

The report indicates that for the second year in a row, federal agencies report an increase in the number of employees who telework (90,010 in the most recent survey, a 21 percent increase), and the number of employees eligible to telework rose to 625,313, or 35 percent of the federal workforce (a 20 percent increase). This empowers workers, especially those with special needs and disabilities, and serves as an important readiness tool. It also points out that more agencies have developed and implemented telework policies, enabling them to expand telework in their agencies within the next year.

Most importantly, agencies report that management resistance to telework lost its rank as the number one barrier associated with increasing the number of teleworkers (moving down to number three).

In its continuing efforts to overcome barriers to telework, OPM will continue to work with agencies to facilitate the cultural change necessary to achieve maximum governmentwide participation in the program.

A telework handbook for managers and supervisors is expected to be published in the second quarter of FY 2003.

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OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.

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