The findings are consistent with prior surveys, including one by DoD in 2021 of some 49,000 of its civilian employees. Image: Honza Hruby/Shutterstock.com
A membership survey by the AFGE union shows that nearly nine-tenths view increased telework as improving productivity in their workplace, compared with only several percent saying productivity had decreased.
The survey comes amid continued pressure from congressional Republicans to have more employees work onsite and more often, citing productivity and customer service concerns. The Biden administration has pushed back, in part by arguing that agency efficiency has improved, although it has not provided specific evidence in support.
In the AFGE survey to which some 3,100 federal employees responded, 71 percent said productivity had increased “a great deal” and another 16 percent said it had improved “somewhat” with 10 percent neutral, 2 percent saying it had decreased somewhat and 1 percent saying it had decreased a great deal.
Respondents reported a mix of agency approaches to telework as the pandemic ebbed, with 38 percent saying telework had been reduced since mid-2021, 33 percent saying it had increased and the rest saying it has been unchanged.
Results were more definitive, though, regarding expectations of what would happen if telework were reduced, with three-fourths saying it would become more difficult to recruit and retain employees. A similar share said reducing telework would reduce productivity, including about half who said it would increase backlogs and decrease customer service.
Two-thirds said that any backlogs in their work units resulted from lack of resources, with only 6 percent saying that telework is a related issue. Similarly, about two-thirds said that customer service problems are caused by lack of resources or poor management versus only 1 percent who cited offsite work.
The findings are consistent with prior surveys, including one by DoD in 2021 of some 49,000 of its civilian employees where 88 percent said higher telework improved productivity or kept it the same, and one that year by the NTEU union of some 14,000 of its members where two-thirds said productivity had improved and only 5 percent said it had degraded.
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