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Washington, D.C.—Approval today by a key House subcommittee of legislation to expand and strengthen telework programs in the federal government was applauded by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

The bill, H.R. 4106, would allow more federal employees to participate in telework programs and create a reliable method to measure and track federal agencies’ progress in opening up telework opportunities.

“Telework has proven benefits,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “It can bring about increased productivity due to uninterrupted time for employees to plan work, reduce tension levels by eliminating difficult commutes and improve quality of life due to time saved not commuting.”

The telework legislation was introduced by Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) who also chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, which today marked up the bill.

“NTEU appreciates the commitment of Chairman Danny Davis in moving this legislation forward,” President Kelley said, adding that companion legislation, S. 1000, last fall won approval by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I hope that Congress approves comprehensive federal telework improvements by the end of the year,” Kelley said.

Under H.R. 4106, all federal agencies would be required to:

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Develop a telework program that allows employees to telework at least 20 percent of every two-week work period;

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Designate a senior level employee to serve as a ‘telework managing officer’; and

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Incorporate telework into their continuous operational planning.

“Despite telework’s benefits, it continues to be unevenly implemented governmentwide,” Kelley said. “The approval of H.R. 4106 will send a strong signal to federal managers about how vitally important telework is to the success of their agency’s mission.”

Institutional barriers to telework across government are high. Management reluctance is often cited as the most significant impediment to the proper development and expansion of telework in the federal workplace. Recent information from the Office of Personnel Management indicates that only 6.6 percent of the national federal workforce participates in any sort of telework program.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.