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Teleworkers Say It's A Gas-Gas-Gas Saver
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Some said reluctance from bosses who insist that productivity would slide if employees worked remotely has kept some potential telecommuters stuck downtown.
"How do you change the supervisors' opinion? That's the struggle," said Wathen, director of the Southern Maryland centers. "It's a cultural change that has to happen."
In federal circles, the telework movement got a boost last year when the GSA announced a plan to have 50 percent of its eligible employees telecommuting from home or at a center at least one day a week by the end of 2010.
Although no one seems to dispute that telecommuting can save time and gas money, officials with the National Federation of Federal Employees union said the GSA is not as committed to the trend as the agency says. Union officials said that in labor negotiations, GSA supervisors would not give up their right to revoke teleworking privileges at any time, for any reason.
"They're using [telework] as a perk, rather than as a condition of employment," said Jack Hanley, the union's GSA council president.
GSA officials said the numbers are slowly climbing as more people adjust their work habits because of gas prices, and the agency already has achieved its goal of 20 percent of employees working from home or a center at least one day a week.
The next step? Convincing the older employees in management roles that telecommuting is valuable.
"The reality is most people my age have not been confronted with this," said the GSA's Hunter. "We've actually begun to create programs not for our teleworkers but for our managers on how to work with the teleworker."
