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Washington, D.C.—Despite a congressional mandate to sharply boost the use of telework among federal agencies, this important program lags because of a failure of managerial commitment and leadership to the idea, the head of the largest independent union of federal employees said today.

In testimony submitted to the House Government Reform Committee, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) called on Congress to use its authority “to prod agencies to better comply” with the mandate to allow telework.

Often referred to as flexiplace, telework programs allow employees to work off-site, either at home or in a designated telework center, on various schedules including full- and part-time, as well as project-based. Four years ago, Congress approved legislation requiring executive agencies to establish policies for employee telework eligibility, and to ensure the removal of barriers to the full and successful implementation of such programs. Kelley called the progress to date “mixed.”

NTEU believes that “honest and meaningful collaboration with employee representatives can resolve any reservations about telework,” she said. “What is needed is leadership, openness and a sense of innovation from managers and agencies. Where that does not exist, Congress must use its authority to see it is created.”

The NTEU leader praised committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) for their leadership in bringing telework to the forefront as an issue of importance not only to

federal workers, but to their agencies and taxpayers as well.

She pointed to two agencies—the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Trademark division of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)—where NTEU and the agency have collaboratively established effective telework programs that can serve as a model for other agencies.

At the same time, President Kelley pointed to NTEU-represented agencies where the program is failing to meet expectations, including at the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

These programs are lagging, she said, because of an institutional bias against them and a failure of agency leadership to recognize and acknowledge the clear value of telework to all parties.

In the context of telework, there are legitimate needs by both employees and managers but these can be balanced to create an effective telework program, she said, if there is a “true and honest partnership and collaboration between management and employee representatives.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.