Update added Feb. 17: Federal offices closed a total of four days (and operated on a late start two subsequent days) during the ‘Snowmageddon’ that hit the D.C. metro area between Feb. 6 and Feb. 16. Midway through, OPM Director John Berry issued a statement indicating the $100M/day cost estimate was no longer accurate as emergency personnel were still on duty and some employees were telecommuting.
Original Feb. 9 post:
Taxpayers lost $200,000,000 over the last two days because of the blizzard in Washington DC.
According to news reports, when the government shuts down for a day, it cost tax payers $100,000,000 in lost productivity.
And it looks like this winter’s been costly since federal agencies were closed in December 2009 for a day as well.
$300 million in lost productivity that could have been saved with a telecommuting program.
Last April, the same Office of Personnel Management that closed federal agencies this week due to snow, announced a new telework plan for federal employees in response to swine flu.
“It calls for a council of program managers to develop standards for telework, and requires agencies to submit telework policies to that council for review. It also asks agencies to designate a telework managing officer and create an appeals process for employees who are denied permission to use the work arrangement. Additionally, it would establish training programs to prepare employees to telework and curb managerial opposition. OPM would be in charge of providing technical assistance.”
And to support the telework plan two bills were introduced in Congress: HR1722 and S707. HR1722 is stuck in subcommittee. And S707 has made it out of subcommittee and needs to be voted on by the Senate
They already offer training programs for managers and employees on their website www.telework.gov
So what went wrong (or what do they need to do instead?)
First, the telework plan announced last year involved standards and policies and an appeals process. All good first steps, but not enough. Even if they completed those steps by now (which seems unlikely given the massive federal shut-down), they’re not enough. There needs to be clear direction from the top, a mandate if you will, that this is a new way of working, not an accommodation.
Consider this. In answer to an FAQ (on their website) about how to apply for telework:
In general, you should be prepared to make a business-based proposal for your arrangement, rather than one based on personal considerations.. At the very least, in addition to describing logistics like location and frequency, you should be able to discuss how you will accomplish your work without adverse effect on your organization and/or co-workers.
With $100,000,000 in daily lost productivity on the line, it’s time for the Federal government to further their steps toward true implementation of their telecommuting program.
OPM Director John Berry needs to determine which jobs are eligible for telecommuting based on the nature and confidentiality of the work.
- Someone (President Obama?) needs to send a memo to the heads of all Federal Agencies mandating that telecommuting be made available to those employees.
- Purchase laptops for everyone that’s eligible.According to my rough math, if there were 300,000 eligible workers in the Washington DC, VA and MD area and the government spent $3000/employee on a laptop, VPN connection, etc., it would cost taxpayers $10million to enable them to telecommute.
- Have their telework coordinators track the numbers and report them back to the Heads of each agency and have OPM consolidate a report that goes to the White House. Track the number of workers who worked from home each month and set goals to increase the numbers.
It’s critical to our public safety and our pocketbooks that the Federal Government get this right before there’s another blizzard, or H1N1 outbreak, or terrorist attack on Washington DC.