Agencies with a higher percentage of remote job announcements were also more likely to meet or exceed their hiring goals compared to those agencies that had a smaller percentage of remote announcement. Image: tadamichi/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA new GAO report on remote work by federal employees says that agencies found it had positive impacts on both recruitment and retention when it was in widespread use before being generally canceled early this year by the Trump administration.
“Most agencies reported analyzing how remote work affected their ability to recruit and retain staff and found offering it likely had positive effects,” said the report, which looked at remote work practices at 24 departments and major agencies through 2024.
All 10 of those agencies that looked into responses to their vacancy announcements “found that announcements for remote jobs received more applications than those for non-remote jobs, and in some cases, substantially more,” it said. Similarly, in a comparison it conducted, OPM found that announcements offering remote work received an average of 366 applications compared to 51 applications for those that didn’t, it said.
GAO said that its own analysis shows that “remote positions may have been a factor that helped agencies meet goals for recruiting and hiring new employees in government-wide, mission-critical occupations.” That includes occupations with long-recognized “skills gaps” such as HR management, management program analysis, IT management, contracting and miscellaneous administration and management.
Agencies with a higher percentage of remote job announcements were also more likely to meet or exceed their hiring goals compared to those agencies that had a smaller percentage of remote announcement, it said.
GAO said that four agencies had analyzed actual data regarding retention “and found that the availability of remote work may have been connected to lower attrition rates”; components with higher levels of remote work generally had lower attrition rates.
Agencies that looked into the potential impact “found that the availability of remote work and other workforce flexibilities were a factor in employees reporting that they intended to remain with an agency, or that a lack of workplace flexibilities would make some more inclined to leave an agency,” it said.
The VA for example found over 2023-2024 that “remote workers had the largest increase of any group in the percentage of employees indicating they intended to remain at VA, compared to teleworkers and those who worked in person full time.”
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