Telework Still Not Widely Used

Although Congress and the Office of Personnel Management have been pushing agencies to make greater use of telecommuting for their employees, only 5 percent of employees telework even part-time, according to a recent OPM report. That’s up from 4.2 percent in 2001, however, and about two-thirds of the total eligible workforce has been offered the opportunity to telework. The greatest increase was among employees teleworking because of a medical or disabling condition, and teleworking is most common in pay grades GS-12 through -15, OPM said. Numerous past studies have identified resistance by managers as the primary barrier to more use of telecommuting.