At an earlier hearing before the Oversight and Reform Committee, OPM officials were unable to provide data on rates of telework in general or on the impact of agency productivity. Image: Katherine Welles/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA hearing set for this week on three high-profile work backlogs likely will add to the pressure from House Republicans for agencies to reduce their levels of telework.
The hearing in the House federal workforce subcommittee will “examine the backlogs of military and civil service personnel records requests, the Social Security Administration’s customer service line and disability claims, and passport backlogs. This hearing will also examine what steps agencies are taking to clear backlogs and provide timely service and support to the American people,” according to the panel.
“The backlogs have harmed service members’ ability to obtain records required for loan applications and government benefits, created poor customer service across agencies, and slowed passport processing. The American people rely on these services, so it is important to know what progress has been made in clearing these backlogs as well as what steps are planned or in progress to prevent them from happening again,” it said.
While all three programs had backlogs even before the pandemic sent many employees to work offsite, many House Republicans have suggested repeatedly that telework bears much of the responsibility for the increases. They cite findings such as an inspector general report saying that the increase in pending requests for veterans’ records from the National Personnel Records Center facility in St. Louis — from about 56,000 in early 2020 to above 600,000 early last year — was largely due to “limited on-site staffing due to facility occupancy restrictions” during that time.
House Republicans already have passed a bill to require agencies to return telework to pre-pandemic levels and require agencies to make a business case before increasing them again. That bill has effectively died in the Senate, but the spending bills for the upcoming budget year offer another opportunity for targeting telework.
At an earlier hearing before the Oversight and Reform Committee, OPM officials were unable to provide data on rates of telework in general or on the impact of agency productivity. Since then OPM has lifted the maximum telework designation; OMB has ordered agencies to review their “organizational health and organizational performance in the context of evolving agency work environments”; and several agencies including the VA have announced plans to require teleworkers to be onsite more days per pay period starting in the months ahead.
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