“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reversed course to allow some administrative staff to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Saturday memo obtained by New Mexico In Depth and ProPublica.”
“’Managers and supervisors are encouraged to maximize telework during regular business hours, as appropriate,’ wrote Richard A. Stone, the Veterans Health Administration’s executive in charge.”
“The memo was sent to the VHA’s senior leadership on Saturday, one day after New Mexico In Depth and ProPublica reported that Stone had banned such telework authorizations, citing concerns that too many people working from home could overwhelm the VA computer network.”
“Stone’s Saturday memo cited ‘remarkable efforts to evaluate and ultimately extend the information technology capabilities of the VA network’ during last week, allowing telework by administrative workers.”
“’This work has included a series of stress tests on our VA systems to ensure that we can maintain operations in the event of a large increase in teleworking employees,’ Stone’s memo says. ‘As a result of the [VA Office of Information and Technology]’s diligent efforts, bandwidth is no longer a barrier to placing employees, both non-clinical and clinical, on appropriate telework agreements…’”
“In a March 12 memo, the White House Office of Management and Budget had called for agencies to maximize how many federal employees are allowed to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of federal employees have been awaiting authorizations for them to telework, ProPublica has reported…” Read the full article here.
Source: The VA Will Now Let Some Administrative Staff Work From Home – By Bryant Furlow, March 25, 2020. ProPublica.
