The Foreign Service Journal, May 2011

M A Y 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 63 Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has called it a “strategic imperative for our coun- try.” He argues that a rigid struc- ture puts an unnecessary strain on families and results in the U.S. military losing top performers — an unfortunate outcome in a sys- tem that, like the Foreign Service, only promotes from within. The U.S. Navy has put numer- ous new programs in place, including one allowing sab- baticals for one to three years for those with proven records. Seven different Navy commands and units gar- nered prestigious 2010 Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Busi- ness Excellence for Workplace Flexibility. Elsewhere in the military, the Defense Information Systems Agency suc- cessfully used alternative work schedules and various FWAs, including telework, to help retain high-value IT workers during a long-distance relocation. Similarly, in the executive branch, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has had a “Work-at-Home” program in place since 1997, when a limited number of examining at- torneys worked from home three days a week. The prac- tice met with great success, and USPTOmoved to expand telework and incorporate flexibility into “the fabric of the agency’s concept of workplace,” according to their 2007 strategic plan. As of 2009, more than 56 percent of eligi- ble USPTO employees were telecommuting. In spite of these successes, the use of telework by the federal work force is still limited, with only 10.4 percent of eligible employees (or 5.72 percent of all federal work- ers) participating in 2009. (Figures for 2010 are not yet available.) However, John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management and the government’s point per- son for telecommuting, believes this will change soon. During the snowstorms of 2010, Berry points out, federal workers demonstrated the value of telecommuting from home by providing valuable “continuity of operations” for a number of government functions, saving U.S. taxpayers nearly $30 million a day. In addition, the Telecommuting Enhancement Act of 2010 requires federal agencies to expand the use of tele- work as a strategic management tool. It presumes that all federal workers are eligible (barring performance or dis- cipline problems), and puts the onus on agencies to ex- plain why a position cannot be teleworked. What’s more, all federal agencies must desig- nate a senior management official with direct access to the agency head to oversee implementation of the policy. OPM is taking things a step further with a “Results-OnlyWork Environment” pilot project for 400 of its employees, who will have autonomy to choose where and when they work as long as the work gets done. Martha Johnson, administrator of the General Services Administration, is also a believer. She sees telecommuting as central to meeting Pres. Obama’s goal of cutting $3 billion in government real estate leasing and maintenance costs by 2012. Under her leadership, GSA has become a flexible work model, with more than 56 per- cent of eligible employees teleworking. Flexibility as a Way to Advance State’s Mission Experience in both the private and public sectors indi- cates that wider use of FWAs could boost State’s effec- tiveness by increasing employee productivity and morale and reducing attrition — a critical goal given State’s cur- rent experience gap. It could also help secure the depart- ment’s status as a federal employer of choice. In the 2010 “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” rank- ings, the department placed seventh overall among the large agencies; but it dropped to 17th place for “Work-Life Balance,” and down to 25th for “Family-Friendly Culture and Benefits.” Although these arrangements will not be feasible for certain functions, leaders at State should ensure that, when possible, employees have access to and use them. In of- fices where concerns exist about the feasibility of flexible work, FWAs can be tried on a pilot basis, as has been done in many other organizations — most of which quickly ex- panded the programs after they proved to be very suc- cessful. Moreover, telecommuting can involve as little as one day a month and can be increased by mutual agree- ment between the employee and his or her manager. What is clear is that there is currently a lot of room to grow. After experiencing a precipitous drop in 2008 (to 1,004 employees from 2,447 in 2007), the number of State employees who telecommuted on a regular basis in 2009 was 1,374, or 9.83 percent of total State employees, ac- cording to OPM’s February 2010 report, “The Status of F O C U S Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called workplace flexibility a “strategic imperative for our country.”