The new Office of Personnel Management director said he intends to increase teleworking by federal employees.

To do that, John Berry said he plans to encourage agencies to set up internal appeal boards that review whether employees can telework even if their supervisors say they can't.

Berry also wants agencies to appoint high-ranking telework managing officers. OPM would work directly with those officers to set up telework programs at their agencies and apply best practices.

The swine flu outbreak — if it worsens — is one example of an emergency that could require agencies to use teleworking to keep functioning, Berry said. Terrorist attacks, natural disasters or other such emergencies also could require employees to telework as part of a continuity of operations plan, or COOP, he said.

And telework could help employees avoid everyday problems such as the Washington area's notorious traffic jams, Berry said.

"This is a no-brainer," Berry said. "This is something we can do, and we can do better."

About 103,000 federal employees at 78 agencies — slightly more than 5 percent of the federal workforce —telework. Berry said that's not nearly enough, although OPM has not set goals for how many employees should be teleworking.

Berry said one problem with previous efforts to increase telework is that senior officials did not give it the attention it deserved.

"When things are in the ‘nice to have' column, they sometimes don't get the full attention," Berry said. "We're trying to move it to the ‘must-have' column."

Berry also will set up an advisory group made up of OPM officials and managers already working on telework programs to set goals to increase telework, identify problems that discourage telework and help standardize telework policies across the government. Agencies will have to adhere to those standardized policies and regularly report to OPM on their progress, Berry said. OPM will provide technical assistance to agencies, and help organize training so both employees and managers know what is expected of them.

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