“The spread of the coronavirus means federal employees might see at least some telework time over the coming weeks and months. For agencies where working remotely is not the norm, it can be difficult to quickly shift workloads from the office to employees’ homes.”
“The key, according to experts, is fielding the right technology and fostering the right culture.”
“’The successful incorporation of telework and ‘social distancing’ in [continuity of operations] and emergency planning will allow the federal government to continue functioning efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the health and safety of employees,’ Office of Personnel Management Director Dale Cabaniss wrote in a memo to agency leaders Saturday. ‘Agency [continuity of operations] plans should have telework fully incorporated so that as many employees as possible are working during a [continuity of operations] activation.’”
“Under the latest guidance, federal employees can be approved to telework if they are under quarantine protocols but are not showing symptoms; if employees are showing symptoms of COVID-19, they would be classified as sick and granted sick leave.”
“Current government policy says employees caring for family members under quarantine need to use paid or unpaid leave options. However, the latest OPM guidance offers agency leaders some discretion to allow telework under ad hoc agreements.”
“The OPM guidance instructs agency heads to ‘immediately review their current telework policies’ and create ‘ad hoc’ policies for employees that do not already have written telework agreements…”
“The RAND Corporation, a nonprofit that conducts research on issues of public interest, published a paper in 2018 that addresses specific telework concerns for the intelligence community and other federal agencies and programs that handle sensitive data. RAND researchers developed the paper while working with the Human Development Directorate at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.”
“Along with policy, legal, security, financial and cultural considerations, the paper delves into the technology required to make telework possible. While technology is an obvious necessity when employees are working remotely, when it comes to sensitive workloads, some widespread technologies aren’t suitable…” Read the full article here.
Source: Federal Experts’ Tips for Effectively Managing Remote Teams – By Aaron Boyd, March 10, 2020. Nextgov.
