Number and Types of Teleworkers

The 77 responding agencies reported 90,010 teleworkers as of December 2002. This represents a 21 percent increase from the 74,487 teleworkers who were reported in November 2001 (see Appendix, Tables 1 & 2).

The agencies reported 625,313 eligible employees (35 percent of the Federal workforce). This is a 20 percent increase from the 521,542 employees eligible in 2001. In 2002, 14.4 percent of eligible employees teleworked. Five percent of the Federal workforce is now teleworking, up from 4.2 percent in 200l. As of 2002, 68.5 percent of the total eligible Federal workforce has been offered the opportunity to telework. This is an increase of 18.5 percent over the targeted number of 50 percent mandated by Public Law 106-346 for 2002.

A number of factors may have contributed to the rise in teleworkers. Agencies report they have intensified their efforts to encourage telework and increase employee participation. In 2002, 63 agencies reported they are implementing established policies compared to only 5 in 2001. Management resistance to telework, a significant barrier to greater use, is on the decline in many agencies, owing to intensive training and education efforts.

The November 2002 survey reported 40,117 regularly scheduled teleworkers and 46,707 episodic teleworkers (see Appendix, Table 3). The Washington, DC, metropolitan area accounted for 22,522 teleworkers, and 64,982 worked elsewhere (see Appendix, Table 3). Agencies reported 1,749 employees teleworking due to temporary medical conditions/reasonable accommodation for a disability (see Appendix, Table 4).

Tracking Teleworkers

When queried about tracking by grade level, only 35 agencies responded they could track teleworkers by grade level. The total number of teleworkers tracked by grade level is 3,445. The grade level with the most teleworkers in this small group is GS-13. The telework population is concentrated in grades GS-12 through GS-15 (see Table 1 below).

Table 1 - Agency Tracking of Telework by Grade Level
Grade Level	Number	Percentage
GS-1	0	0.0%
GS-2	0	0.0%
GS-3	0	0.0%
GS-4	9	0.3%
GS-5	10	0.3%
GS-6	4	0.1%
GS-7	79	2.3%
GS-8	11	0.3%
GS-9	84	2.4%
GS-10	2	0.1%
GS-11	153	4.4%
GS-12	716	20.8%
GS-13	859	24.9%
GS-14	773	22.4%
GS-15	633	18.4%
SES	112	3.3%
Total	3,445	100%

Alternative Work Schedules

Agencies reported 697,842 employees using alternative work schedules (AWS) with 340,516 using flexible work schedules and 357,326 using compressed work schedules. This is a 14.4 percent increase over the 610,197 using alternative work schedules in 2001. AWS is another work flexibility that helps alleviate traffic congestion. Flexible schedules allow employees to vary their work hours and commute outside of the heaviest rush hour periods. Employees on compressed work schedules commute less frequently, working longer hours per day and fewer days as a result.

Agencies with Utilization Rates of 20% or Higher

Twenty agencies responding to the November 2002 survey had utilization rates of 20 percent or higher (see Table 2 and Figures 1& 2 below), compared with only 13 agencies reporting 20 percent or higher in 2001. These agencies represent an increase to 50,157 employees in 2002 and more than five times the 2001 number of 8,293 employees.

Table 2 – Agencies With Utilization Rates of 20% or Higher
	Total Employees	Total Teleworkers	% of Total Employees who Telework
Agency for International Development	2,100	1,300	61.9
Office of Personnel Management	3,673	1,493	40.6
Consumer Product Safety Commission	470	182	38.7
Farm Credit Administration	273	98	35.9
National Science Foundation	1,078	355	32.9
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation	5,582	1,768	31.7
Department of Education	4,777	1,464	30.6
National Endowment for the Humanities	171	52	30.4
National Mediation Board	52	15	28.8
Commodity Futures Trading Commission	529	147	27.8
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission	1,206	325	26.9
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission	2,600	669	25.7
National Endowment for the Arts	158	40	25.3
Federal Communications Commission	2,063	514	24.9
Environmental Protection Agency	18,077	4,423	24.5
Department of the Treasury	149,373	33,594	22.5
National Labor Relations Board	1955	438	22.4
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation	786	173	22.0
General Services Administration	14,174	3,058	21.6
Merit Systems Protection Board	227	49	21.6
Total	209,324	50,157

Twenty agencies had 20 percent or greater utilization rates (see Figure 1). Treasury has the best results (see Figure 2) as they soared from 19,845 teleworkers in 2001 to 33,594 in 2002 (a 69 percent increase). Other noteworthy agencies (see Figure 1) include EPA with 4,423 teleworkers (a 14.4 percent increase) in 2002 and GSA with 3,058 (an 18.6 percent increase).

Table 3 shows the number of teleworkers and utilization rates for larger Federal agencies with 3,000 or more employees.

Table 3 – Utilization Rates (Agencies With 3,000+ Employees)
	Total Employees	Total Teleworkers	% of Total Employees who Telework
Department of Defense	687,214	7,172	1.0
Department of Veterans Affairs	223,000	1,377	0.6
Department of the Treasury	149,373	33,594	22.5
Department of Justice	129,000	1,495	1.2
Department of Agriculture	115,475	2,062	1.8
Department of the Interior	70,760	1,889	2.7
Department of Health & Human Services	68,777	6,785	9.9
Department of Transportation	66,176	2,468	3.7
Social Security Administration	65,139	3,695	5.7
Department of Commerce	38,789	5,639	14.5
National Aeronautics & Space Adm.	18,471	873	4.7
Environmental Protection Agency	18,077	4,423	24.5
Department of State	17,450	243	1.4
Department of Labor	16,327	2,959	18.1
Department of Energy	15,053	1,203	8.0
General Services Administration	14,174	3,058	21.6
Housing & Urban Development	13,800	602	4.4
Federal Emergency Mgmt Agency	8,492	168	2.0
United States Patent & Trademark Office	6,800	440	6.5
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp	5,582	1,768	31.7
Department of Education	4,777	1,464	30.6
Small Business Administration	3,895	53	1.4
Office of Personnel Management	3,673	1,493	40.6
National Archives and Records Administration	3,171	80	2.5
Totals	1,763,445	85,003

Eligible Employees

The November 2002 survey asked agencies to report the number of telework-eligible employees. Conference report language accompanying Public Law 106-346 defines an eligible employee as "any satisfactorily performing employee…whose job may typically be performed (away from the office) at least one day per week." Agencies reported a total of 625,313 telework-eligible employees, or 35 percent of their total workforces. Actual teleworkers represent 14.4 percent of these eligible employees, up slightly from 14 percent in 2001 (see Appendix, Table 7).

Agencies with Improved Numbers of Teleworkers Greater than 35 Percent

Seven agencies with 1,000 or more employees improved the number of teleworkers by 36 percent or more (see Figure 3 below). Two of those seven agencies improved by more than 100 percent: they are the National Science Foundation (NSF) (135 percent), and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (111 percent). The remaining five also had impressive results: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (74 percent), Treasury (69 percent) Veterans Affairs (VA)(48 percent); Department of Education (DOEd), and Health and Human Services (HHS) each improved 36 percent.

Policies

Of the 77 reporting agencies, 63 (82 percent) of the agencies reported they have approved and implemented their internal telework policy, while 9 agencies were in the process of policy development, and 3 were in the implementation stage. The remaining 2 agencies reported no policies or policy development activity.

The November 2002 survey asked agencies whether policies applied agencywide or to subcomponents; whether they covered various categories of employees including executives, supervisors, and managers; and the types of arrangements-regularly scheduled, episodic, medical, reasonable accommodation for a disability-permitted under the policies. Nearly all agency policies covered all categories of employees, including executives, supervisors, and managers. They also allowed for every kind of telework arrangement, whether regularly scheduled, episodic, medical, or reasonable accommodation for a disability.

Identifying Boundaries

In the April 2001 and November 2002 surveys, agencies were asked to identify major barriers associated with increasing the number of teleworkers in their agencies. The information is presented in descending order for both surveys (see Table 4 below).

April 2001 Barriers	November 2002 Barriers
Management resistance	Data security
Funding	Information technology issues
Data security	Management resistance
Employee resistance/concerns	Funding
Information technology issues	Employee resistance/concerns

In the November 2002 survey, management resistance lost its rank as the number one barrier in most agencies and moved to number three. The main concern for agencies is data security which climbed from fourth place in the April 2001 survey to the number one barrier in the current survey. The second most mentioned barrier for telework is information technology (IT) issues. The shifts in rank that agencies report among the barriers to teleworking are logical, given the developments that occurred during the past few years. It appears some agencies may have obtained the support from management to implement telework programs. As telework programs are implemented and the numbers of teleworkers increase, so does the need for data security and information technology solutions.

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