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July 12, 2012 By News Staff
Federal News Radio reported that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is moving away from manual collection of data that’s used for annual reporting on teleworking done by federal government employees.
The collection of time and attendance statistics will be automated to improve data quality. A test pilot before the OPM’s next telework report to Congress will be held, with a governmentwide implementation projected for summer 2014, reported Federal News Radio.
The OPM said teleworking in the federal government might be overestimated because some agencies report the number of teleworking agreements, not actual teleworking. The office’s annual report to Congress said one-fourth of the eligible federal workforce has worked outside the office at least one day per week.
According to the OPM, “roughly 10 percent of eligible employees engaged in routine telework during calendar year 2009 while approximately 21 percent of telework eligible employees participated in routine telework in September of 2011.”
The automation of data collection is part of a larger OPM effort. The federal government is urging managers not to resist allowing employees to work remotely, and encouraging judging performance based on results rather than on attendance. The change in how data is collected could change the management style of the affected agencies, said Justin Johnson, the OPM’s deputy chief of staff, reported Federal News Radio. Managers may use new information to make decisions that lead down different paths.
Browse the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s report to Congress, 2012 Status of Telework in the Federal Government.
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Automated collection of telework data has been available for decades! OPM's failure to know this says much about OPM's lack of HR expertise, continuing under performance and waste at the expense of both taxpayer and agencies. Poor and narrow staffing practices appear to have resulted in a critical shortage of federal HR expertise at OPM. Regardless, comprehensive telework reports government wide and by agency can readily be produced by several private sector vendors in final format within 5 to 7 workdays! Written proposals of this capability which would relieve agencies of this reporting burden were sent to both the GAO and MSPB several years ago. We have yet to hear back from either of these two agencies. We also attempted to meet with OPM System Managers who were too busy - probably attempting to fix other self-induced problems. Understandably, OPM would rather take the credit for this initiative in light of their other in-house failed initiatives i.e. upgrading USAJobs, etc. With growing healthcare responsibilities at OPM and with a downsized staff of only seven percent in HR positions at OPM now, you would think OMB would have outsourced this initiative out to available and interested vendors with a "Sources Sought/Presolicitation" Notice. Folks, this is not rocket science and considering the financial times we are in you would think OMB would already be monitoring OPM for improving their practices to enhance government wide efficiencies such as contracting this initiative out to capable private businesses.