Number Of Teleworkers And Utilization Rates

Agencies reported 74,487 teleworkers as of October 1, 2001. This represents a 39.5 percent increase from the 53,391 teleworkers that were reported in April (See Appendix 4, Tables 2 & 3). A number of factors contributed to the rise in teleworkers.

Agencies have intensified their efforts to encourage telework and increase employee participation. Agencies have also developed better tracking methods over the past several months leading to more accurate counts of actual teleworkers. Management resistance to telework, a significant barrier to greater use, is on the decline in many agencies, thanks to intensive training and education efforts.

Almost half of the increase in teleworkers since April comes from the Department of Defense (DoD). It is important to note that DoD reported the number of employees offered the opportunity to telework under their recently implemented telework policy rather than the number of actual teleworkers. DoD had just developed its tracking system to count teleworkers and accurate numbers were not available in time for OPM's November survey. The new system will allow DoD to precisely track all its teleworkers and this information will soon be available on an ongoing real-time basis. In the meantime, DoD has reported the number of employees offered the opportunity to telework. The agency is confident that the vast majority of these employees will accept and begin telecommuting. DoD's expectations are based on the rigorous eligibility screening process that is part of its new telework program.

The November survey reported 49,680 regularly scheduled teleworkers, 19,381 episodic teleworkers, and 905 employees teleworking due to medical conditions (See Appendix 4, Table 5). An additional 711 "other" teleworkers were also reported. Several agencies only provided total numbers, without providing data for the subcategories. Some agencies noted that their medical teleworker numbers were incorporated in the regularly scheduled or episodic categories and not reported separately. Agencies reported 14,621 teleworkers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and 55,328 teleworkers outside. In addition, the agencies reported 606,652 employees using alternative work schedules with 300,895 using compressed work schedules.

Despite real gains in the total number of teleworkers found by the November survey, telework utilization remains comparatively low. The 74,487 reported teleworkers represent only 4.2 percent of the total employees in the 63 responding agencies. The most recent October 2001 ITAC survey of national telework practices reports a 20 percent telework rate for the total U.S. work force.

Thirteen agencies responding to the November survey did have utilization rates of 20 percent or higher (See Table 1 below). However, these agencies represent a very small proportion -- only 8,293 employees -- of the total reported workforce (See Appendix 4, Table 3). Table 2 below presents the number of teleworkers and utilization rates for larger federal agencies with 3,000 or more employees.

Eligible Employees

The November survey asked agencies to report the number of telework-eligible employees. Conference Report language accompanying P.L. 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 521,542 telework-eligible employees, or 29.5 percent of their total workforces. Actual teleworkers represent 14.3 percent of these eligible employees. (See Appendix 4, Table 6.)

Agency Policies

The April survey asked agencies to report whether they had telework policies. Seventy-six agencies with a total workforce of 1,745,013 employees reported having telework policies in place at that time. Fifty-seven identified their policies as covering all employees and 19 reported covering some portion of their workforce. Based on this information, we estimated that agency telework policies cover at least 1,551,359 employees, or 88.9 percent of employees in the 76 agencies who reported having telework policies in place (See Appendix 4, Table 2). Thirty agencies indicated that they were in the earliest stages of policy development or implementation. Eighteen agencies with a total work force of only 13,424 reported having no telework policy in place.

Only two agencies with a total work force of 1,284 employees indicated having no policy as of October 1, 2001. However, agency narrative responses show that many agencies continue to be in the early stages of policy development and implementation. Sixteen agencies with a workforce of 168,315 employees-nearly 10 percent of employees in all the responding agencies-reported having pilots covering only portions of their workforce in place or draft policies yet to be formally adopted and implemented. Five agencies with 682,916 employees reported just having implemented a telework policy at the time of the survey or getting ready to implement a policy in the immediate future. These five agencies represent 38.7 percent of the total employees in the responding agencies. Seven agencies with 354,770 employees, representing 20.1 percent, reported being in the process of revising and/or reviewing current policies (See Appendix 4, Table 4).

The November survey asked agencies whether policies were formal or informal; whether they applied agency-wide and/or to subcomponents; whether they covered various categories of employees including executives, supervisors, and managers; and the types of arrangements-regularly scheduled, episodic, medical-permitted under the policies. Nearly all agencies had agency-wide written policies, covering all categories of employees, including executives, supervisors, and managers. They also allowed for every kind of telework arrangement, whether regularly scheduled, episodic or for medical reasons, to an equally significant extent (See Appendix 4, Table 5).

Steps Taken To Increase Participation

The November survey also showed significant activity to expand policies and increase the numbers of teleworkers. Virtually all of the 63 responding agencies reported specific and extensive activities including:

• expanding telework eligibility and participation to wider groups of employees and local components;
• reaching out directly to employees to encourage participation in telework programs;
• providing training and education targeted at management resistance to telework;
• improving computer connectivity and addressing equipment and security concerns;
• marketing telework programs to employees and managers;
• expanding available information about telework via agency websites; and
• including telework in employee and management orientation sessions.

Training was by far the most frequently cited tool for expanding telework participation and addressing the wide array of telework barriers and concerns. More detailed discussion of the numerous activities agencies are pursuing to address telework barriers and increase telework participation follows below.

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