An IG’s report has criticized management’s oversight of telework at GSA, one of the primary agencies that has pushed remote work in recent years, holding itself up as an example of the potential for space and energy savings, among other benefits.
Nearly four-fifths of GSA’s employees charged telework time between August 2012 and July 2013, the review said, including some who are deemed virtual employees because they telework full-time and their alternate worksite becomes their official duty station.
The IG’s review followed media reports on excessive travel cost charges—mainly to visit agency facilities—by virtual employees, after which GSA put new controls on such arrangements. But the report said that GSA still does not even know how many virtual employees it has, and some of them identified by auditors do not have approved arrangements in place.
In addition, it said, their travel costs were not assessed annually, finding that for 29 of 57 virtual employees examined, actual travel costs to agency sites exceeded the cost estimate on which the virtual work arrangement was approved—for 13 of them, it was more than double. Official duty stations also were incorrect for a third of virtual employees and problems also were found with recording of work hours.
Management agreed with recommendations to make improvements in those areas, as well as for controls over use of transit subsidies by all teleworking employees, not just those deemed virtual employees.
