The new Office of Personnel Management director said he will call upon agencies to set up appeals boards that review whether employees can telework — even if their supervisors say they can't.

John Berry said details of how the boards will work remain to be ironed out.

"We've got to make sure managers are comfortable with this idea," Berry said. "But they can't just brush this aside."

He added: "It doesn't have to be a ‘gotcha' '' for managers. "It doesn't have to be like [going to the Merit Systems Protection Board]. Just a little thing makes all the difference. If you know the employee has the ability to go to your boss and discuss this, and if you're looking unreasonable, you're going to be a lot more careful with that decision on the front end."

Berry also will set up an advisory group made up of OPM officials and experts 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, he said.

"I'm here to put some giddyap into telework," he said.

OPM will provide technical assistance to agencies, and help organize training so both employees and managers know what is expected of them.

OPM will begin assembling the telework advisory board soon, but he did not set a deadline, Berry said.

Berry also wants agencies to appoint high-ranking telework managing officers, ranked at least GS-15, who would act as telework champions at their agencies. 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 could also 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," he said. "This is something we can do, and we can do better."

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said traffic in the Washington area could be cut by about 5 percent if 20 percent of the local federal workforce telecommuted.

"We have 2.5 million [total] commuters every day in this region," Connolly said. "We have the second worst congestion in America. Telework helps that."

Creating a broader telework policy would also help the government recruit younger employees to replace baby boomers who are expected to retire in large numbers over the next few years, Connolly said.

"We face a brain drain," Connolly said. "Those folks have to be replaced. Increasingly in the younger generation, the expectation is, ‘There is a telework option for me.' "

Berry's announcement and early focus on teleworking drew praise from lawmakers and unions. But some want to see more details.

"This is a good start," said Cindy Auten, general manager of the Telework Exchange, a public-private partnership that advocates for expanded federal telework. "We would expect to hear more from OPM in the future on specifics to their plans."

Federal Managers Association President Darryl Perkinson said managers and employees will welcome more consistent telework policies across the government.

"Now it's a big negative when you say, ‘We can't do it,' and then you can't tell them why not," Perkinson said. "Some people [can't telework] because they deal with confidential material, or they have to do hands-on stuff. But we need to put together fact sheets that support those decisions, so [we can respond] when people say, ‘Why can't I?' "

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

About 34 percent of eligible OPM employees telework now, but Berry said even that isn't high enough.

Connolly and Reps. John Sarbanes, D-Md., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and James Moran, D-Va., introduced a telework bill in March, HR 1722, which says eligible employees should telework at least 20 percent of their hours.

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."

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