Federal employees gave their agencies a mixed review on implementation of telework in continuity of operations planning related to the H1N1, or swine flu, virus scare. The survey was conducted by the Telework Exchange, a group that encourages teleworking.
It found that only a third of employees gave their agencies grades of A or B on flu survivability, that only half would definitely come to work if the flu infects the city where they work, and that only a quarter would definitely come if their own office were infected. Only a third knew that their agencies’ COOP plans include plans for a flu epidemic and four tenths said they had not received any guidance on how to respond to a potential pandemic.
Meanwhile, the House federal workforce subcommittee held a hearing into agency responses to the virus scare at which unions complained about front-line employees being denied requests to take protective measures such as wearing masks. Also, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee cleared a bill (S-707) to encourage teleworking, with sponsors saying the virus outbreak provides a good lesson in the value of telework in such situations.