Federal officials in the USA are apparently trying to boost the amount of time that government employees telecommute to their jobs. Only 5 percent of 1.9 million federal employees telework.

Telework reduces the cost for office space, aids recruitment and retention and reduces rush hour traffic.

However the idea has faced resistance from middle managers according to the Washington Examiner.

One agency last year told all teleworking employees that they had to do three extra weeks of work a year because they weren’t sitting in traffic like their colleagues in the office. The telecommuting numbers immediately dropped.

Often resistance to teleworking is led by managers who do not have the skills or confidence to manage people remotely, employees love the flexibility but managers worry about lack of control.

I have worked remotely for 20 years now and just about everyone in our company does too – I am convinced that people working remotely (for many but not all roles) are more effective and work longer than office based people who take more breaks and spend more time on social chit chat.

But only in government could managers propose to penalize people for saving their own commuting time.

Jun 08 2009