Agencies have a hard time collecting accurate and consistent data on telework, sponsors say. Image: Tony Quinn/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA newly introduced bipartisan bill in the Senate (S-4043) would set new requirements for agencies to report on their telework practices, including the impacts on customer service, backlogs and wait times, cost to operations, security, management of real estate and other property, technology investments, and recruitment and retention.
It also would require new, regular measuring of building occupancy rates. The Senate measure would require reporting to Congress on what steps an agency is taking to increase usage to above 60 percent, but it stopped short of language in a bill the House passed recently that would trigger a process to sell or stop leasing space if usage dropped below the 60 percent usage threshold.
“Federal agencies must track and consider the impact of telework on their ability to deliver services, recruit and retain talent, and ensure office operations are cost-efficient,” said sponsor Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The other primary sponsor is Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a member of that committee and a frequent critic of the continued relatively high rates of telework as degrading service to the public.
The measure also would require agencies to make their policies publicly available online and to establish automated systems to track telework.
It further would set new standards for collecting that data, with sponsors saying that “agencies have a hard time collecting accurate and consistent data on telework” for an annual report by OPM—which in addition “is over a year old by the time it is reported.”
It also would require the GAO to analyze how agencies determine which rate of locality pay applies to employees who work offsite either exclusively or regularly. That is a reaction to contentions that many such employees now do their work from areas with rates that are lower than those applying at the agency location to which they are assigned.
The bill’s introduction follows enactment in a recent budget measure of requirements for greater reporting within three months on current agency telework practices, including data on percentages of agency employees onsite and space utilization rates.
Senate Eyes Vote to Pay Federal Employees Working Unpaid
Series of Bills Offered to Address Shutdown’s Impact on Employees
Public Starting to Feel Impact of Shutdown, Survey Shows
OPM Details Coverage Changes, Plan Dropouts for FEHB/PSHB in 2026
Does My FEHB/PSHB Plan Stack Up? Here’s How to Tell
2025 TSP Rollercoaster and the G Fund Merry-go-Round
See also,
TSP Takes Step toward Upcoming In-Plan Roth Conversions
5 Steps to Protect Your Federal Job During the Shutdown
Over 30K TSP Accounts Have Crossed the Million Mark in 2025
