Posts tagged telework
OPM reminds agencies of new telework reporting requirements
October 9, 2023 // Those transmissions followed a series of updates to OPM’s data requirements related to telework and remote work, issued last March, which included tracking instances in which employees log into their work remotely, as well as how many hours federal workers spend on telework. OPM Director Kiran Ahuja on Wednesday sent a memo to agency heads reminding them of these new requirements and offering some additional tips to help them comply. Beginning last month, agencies are now required to report to OPM on the number of remote work and telework agreements they have signed with employees. Additionally, agency supervisors and managers should periodically review employees’ eligibility to participate in telework as it is recorded in their HR or time and attendance software to ensure its accuracy, as well as to ensure that only those eligible to participate in the workplace flexibilities are actually doing so. Agencies should also ensure that employees “diligently” record their time on telework, and that they do so using the correct codes—situational or routine—within their time and attendance software. And supervisors should verify the accuracy of that data when approving timesheets, as well as ensure that employees’ usage of telework aligns with their telework agreements.
GAO union employees keep flexible work options in new contract
September 22, 2023 // Under the contract, which serves as an addendum to the full collective bargaining agreement, employees approved for routine telework are required to report onsite a minimum of four times per month. Under the hybrid option, workers may only report as needed depending on their job tasks, and others still may work fully remotely.
Federal agencies face off with unions over remote work
August 11, 2023 // AFGE’s statement about the agreement did not mention remote work at all but emphasized the creation of a joint labor union-management council to improve working conditions. Yet AFGE Council 220 President Jessica LaPointe mentioned to the media that the union will continue to look for ways to implement more remote work at SSA, such as making the SSA’s teleservice center fully remote and proposing a decade-long field study to add more remote work options to encourage employee retention. Overall, LaPointe suggested the union will push for remote work at SSA because “employees will go elsewhere where telework is offered,” she said.
Opinion: TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Union Power and the Potential Strike at Metro-North
August 8, 2023 // The union, which represents car inspectors, coach cleaners and mechanics has been without a contract since 2019 and says MTA management is dragging its heels on a new contract. The union has entered mediation through the Railroad Labor Act but says the first round did not go well. Under New York State law the union does have the right to strike and that would pretty much halt train service. But the effect of that might be far less in these post-COVID times as we’ve all learned how to WFH (work from home). This labor unrest comes as the MTA admits it paid $1.3 billion in overtime last year. About 1100 of its employees doubled their salaries with OT. There are mechanics and MTA cops taking home over $300,000 due to extra duty. Under their contracts, available overtime must first be offered to the most senior (and highest paid) staffers so those veterans, closest to retirement, are raking it in.
GPO vacates regional offices, embraces 100% telework for all eligible employees
August 4, 2023 // In contrast to GPO’s latest decision, many executive branch agencies have started announcing upcoming increases to their requirements for employees to work in the office. Federal News Network has compiled a running list of what we know so far about agencies’ return-to-office plans. GPO is unlike other federal agencies, Somerset told Federal News Network. Consequently, the Office of Management and Budget memo from April does not apply to GPO. Still, the agency is continuing to measure productivity in its workforce, similar to executive branch agencies. “GPO runs as a business, so our primary measurement of productivity is revenue,” Somerset said in an email.
NSF announces return-to-office changes before finishing negotiations, drawing union ire
July 18, 2023 // Starting in October, all telework-eligible NSF employees and Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) employees stationed at agency headquarters will have to work in the office at least four days per two-week pay period, NSF leaders said in an all-staff email, obtained by Federal News Network. The changes do not apply to employees eligible for remote work or those with an approved remote work agreement. “We want to strengthen the NSF culture by increasing our time in person, while meeting our business needs and maintaining workplace flexibility,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan and Chief Operating Officer Karen Marrongelle said in the email.
Commentary: It’s Time to Retire the Labor Law
June 14, 2023 // Under a neutral public policy, an employer would be able to make a contribution to a pension plan or give access to a health plan to an independent contractor just as easily as to an employee. Finally, we need to treat labor contracts the same way we treat all commercial contracts, unless there is some compelling reason not to. We don’t tell people selling their house or a used car that they cannot sell below a minimum price. We don’t tell people selling their home that if doing so takes more than 40 hours a week, the sales price has to be 50 percent higher. People selling their labor services should enjoy just as much freedom of contract as they have in the sale of any other good or service.
Commute no more: US employees embrace telework
June 12, 2023 // Teleworking has become "part of a cluster of benefits and options that companies can choose to offer workers," said Nela Richardson from ADP. For potential employees, "it's a choice of whether or not you are willing to negotiate that or look for that in your job search," she added. But what employees really want, according to Richardson, is the flexibility to choose when they work. "It's not necessarily (that) I want to work from home, I want to be surrounded by dirty dishes and unmade beds,"she said. "It's the fact that I can choose what hours I work."
Why Work from Home Jobs are Here to Stay for Federal Government Employees
May 31, 2023 // Given that passage into law would require a Democratic-controlled Senate and President Biden to go along, enactment of the Republican bill seems very unlikely. Potentially, Republicans could use passage of a final budget or even an increase of the debt ceiling, as a negotiation to push the measure into law, assuming they can get the votes. However, union agreements would still pose a serious challenge. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) boasts a membership of over 281,000 individuals working in almost every agency of the federal and D.C. governments, spanning across 936 local unions. In December 2022, after prolonged legal battles with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the union announced that they had reached a settlement for immediate flexible work arrangements while they negotiate terms for a permanent telework program.
After OMB’s updated telework guidance, federal unions emphasize role of collective bargaining
May 12, 2023 // To try to get more feedback from employees on engagement and satisfaction, HUD created a small-scale “stay survey” for employees leaving the agency. It received 65% positive ratings from respondents. The pilot was primarily a way to assess the value of the questions and make changes before rolling out the survey on a larger scale, HUD Deputy Press Secretary De’Marcus Finnell said in an email to Federal News Network. HUD plans to use upcoming focus groups on the survey to make additional changes to the final version. But Viola took issue with the way the survey was conducted, saying that the lack of questions about attrition, and asking why employees were choosing to leave, made the survey a limited resource to understand the root of the problem.