Even as some U.S. government agencies embrace telecommuting as a way to keep operating during emergencies, significant resistance from managers holds some agencies back, telecommuting experts said Tuesday.

For government agencies to fully see telecommuting as a benefit, top managers need an attitude change, said Wendell Joice, head of the U.S. General Services Administration's government-wide telework team.

"We are hampered by constantly having to beg and plead," Joice said, speaking at a conference focused on improving telework acceptance among government agencies.

Advocates of telework say it can provide government agencies and private companies several benefits, including a way to remotely continue operations during a national disaster or terrorist attack. Telecommuting can also ease the Washington, D.C., area's legendary traffic problems, reduce pollution, and increase worker productivity, advocates say.

But some government managers seem unconvinced about the benefits and about their ability to supervise teleworkers, said James Lewis, senior fellow and director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Ongoing cybersecurity concerns about telecommuting can be fixed with the right equipment and software, said representatives of RSA Security, a cybersecurity vendor, and iPass, a wireless security vendor.

But studies showing real-estate-related cost savings through telework may not apply to government agencies, which have to give excess funding back to the federal general budget, and some managers question studies suggesting teleworkers are more productive, Lewis said.

"I don't want to dismiss the managers who have concerns here," Lewis said. "What do we need to do to make them happy?"

In May, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report saying only nine of 23 agencies surveyed reported they had plans in place for essential workers to telecommute, GAO said. Only one agency has told its emergency team members about telework expectations during a disaster, GAO said.

Under legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000, federal agencies are required to offer telecommuting as an option to eligible employees, but Congress can't force agencies to speed up their plans, said J.T. Griffin, legislative aide to Representative Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican and telework advocate.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.