IGs were asked to determine how many employees spend most of their working hours in a region with a lower locality pay rate than where their designated primary workstation is. Image: Tudoran Andrei/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffSen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has asked the inspectors general of the Cabinet departments and major agencies to assess the impact of telework on productivity and the potential savings from consolidating unused office space.
In a sample of such letters released by her office, she asks “how is telework impacting the delivery of services and response times by the agency? Have waiting lists or backlogs increased or decreased?”
She also called attention to the recent GAO report finding high rates of vacancy in headquarters buildings in the Washington, D.C. area in asking for information on: the typical daily onsite attendance in the agency’s office buildings as a proportion of its total workforce; the utilization rate of building space; the monetary and environmental cost of maintaining underutilized space; and “what, if any, actions are being taken or planned to reduce underutilization of building and office space?”
She also called for an assessment of whether employees working offsite full-time are receiving the locality rate of pay for that location, or what commonly would be the higher rate of the office location.
“In March, I asked OPM how, or if, federal agencies are reviewing compensation packages to certify federal employees who predominantly work remotely from areas outside the national capital region are not receiving Washington, D.C. locality pay, which is on the higher end of the pay scale. Only this month did I receive a response. OPM told me it can provide guidance to agencies but ultimately the agencies themselves are chiefly responsible for making sure their pay packages are accurate,” she said.
She asked the IGs to determine how many employees spend most of their working hours in a region with a lower locality pay rate than where their designated primary workstation is located, but continue to receive the higher locality pay associated with the primary workstation.
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