Section 359 of Public Law 106-346 requires each Executive agency to establish a policy under which eligible employees may participate in telecommuting to the maximum extent possible without diminished employee performance. It further instructs the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to assure that the requirements of section 359 are applied to 25 percent of the federal workforce by April 2001 and to an additional 25 percent each year thereafter. The accompanying Conference Report directs OPM to evaluate the effectiveness of the telework program and report its findings to Congress (See Appendix 1). This Report to Congress is being submitted in compliance with these Congressional directives.

OPM surveyed federal agencies in April 2001 and again in November 2001 to ascertain the status of telework within the Federal Government and gauge agency progress in implementing the telework requirements of Section 359 (See Appendix 2). The terms "telework" and "telecommuting" are used interchangeably throughout this report to mean a work arrangement in which employees work at home or at a satellite office.

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