Advocates defend telecommuting against backlash

When a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst lost a laptop to burglars, some pointed the finger at telework.

"It's a perfect example of how telework gets a) instantly blamed and b) held to a higher standard than anything else. The problem was a stupid employee, it had nothing to do with telework," says consultant Gil Gordon of Monmouth Junction, N.J.

The analyst whose laptop was stolen from his house was not a teleworker, just someone who took work home with him. To link the incident to telecommuting is a mischaracterization, says Steve O'Keeffe, executive director of Telework Exchange. "I don't understand why it has been painted this way," O'Keeffe says. "The chap is not a teleworker. He brought work - sensitive but unclassified information - out of the office. But anyone could do that."

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Gordon agrees. Because the burglary occurred at home, people have assumed the analyst was a telecommuter, and by association, assumed that teleworking puts sensitive data at greater risk of theft or loss.

"If that computer had been stolen out of his car when he stopped on the way home from the office at the dry cleaners, hypothetically, no one would have mentioned the word telework. But because it was taken from his home, then all of a sudden it is inferred that it's a work-at-home problem, and that's just nonsense. The only people who want to make that argument are people who have it in for telework and don't believe it will ever work," Gordon says.

Despite years of growing acceptance, telework still has such detractors. "The No. 1 challenge is cultural inertia. It's motivating the middle managers, teaching them a new way of doing work," O'Keeffe says. "It's the Luddite mentality that we need to change."

The Luddite mentality isn't hard to find in federal agencies, in particular. Law requires agencies to make telework arrangements available to government employees whose jobs can be done from home, but many are woefully behind in implementing telework programs. Telework remains the exception in most federal agencies, and overall the government lags well behind private industry in terms of adoption.

To speed things up, lawmakers such as Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) have proposed financial penalties for agencies that resist teleworking. Two years running, Wolf has inserted language in spending bills requiring agencies such as NASA and the Commerce, Justice and State departments show an increase in the number of federal workers telecommuting or forfeit $5 million each.

President Bush and top administrators also have championed telework as a vital part of business-continuity plans, particularly as agencies prepare for a potential flu pandemic. Also driving telework interest and promotion are increasing gas prices, traffic congestion and housing costs.