On Wednesday, November 29, the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing about telework in the federal government titled, “Oversight of Federal Agencies’ Post-Pandemic Telework Policies: Part II.” Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) oversaw the hearing, which featured a panel including: Oren “Hank” McKnelly, Executive Counselor, Social Security Administration; Jeremy Pelter, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, Department of Commerce; Kathryn Stevens, Acting Chief Human Capital Officer, Agency for International Development; and, Bob Leavitt, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources and Chief Human Capital Officer, Department of Health and Human Services.

Members of Congress expressed concerns about customer service, backlogs, and other challenges affecting agencies, assigning blame for these issues to continued telework policies. In one notable exchange, McKnelly described how the Social Security Administration monitors teleworking employees: “We have systems to schedule, assign and track workloads, including for individual employees in many cases,” McKnelly said. “Additionally, our employees are required to be accessible to their supervisors, clients, colleagues, and external parties for a variety of meetings. They are connected to the workplace whether they are in the office or at home.”

He was also questioned about an increased backlog at Social Security. He replied that the agency has been historically underfunded for many years, while seeing a huge increase in beneficiaries and significantly reduced staffing levels. “That’s just a math problem,” McKnelly said. “If you have the workloads increasing and you don’t have the staff to take care of the workloads, you’ll have the backlogs you’re talking about.”

From a legislative standpoint, Senator James Lankford (R-OK), ranking member of the Senate Government Operations Subcommittee, introduced the Telework Reform Act (S. 3015) in October, together with Subcommittee Chair Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). FMA immediately endorsed the legislation, which aims to improve recruitment and retention to remote work positions and promotes the management, accountability, and transparency of federal telework. FMA believes data is critical when making decisions related to telework, and S. 3015 would help provide that. Of course, there will always be jobs where telework simply is not an option. You cannot turn a screwdriver on an aircraft carrier or work on classified documents from the couch in your living room.

“As the structure of the work environment and the culture of the workforce changes we are seeing more and more remote workers. This is a great recruiting tool for military and law enforcement spouses who wish to support their loved ones while also pursuing their own career,” Lankford said in a press release upon introduction. “By re-thinking how the government uses remote work, we are encouraging federal agencies to hire in diverse communities across the country; instead of requiring our workforce to be centralized in Washington, D.C. We should allow both people to serve their nation and build a career.”

Specifically, the bill would:

• Enhance the training and monitoring, policy and support, accountability, and reporting with respect to remote work and telework.

• Direct agencies to identify potential value from increasing remote and other telework opportunities, determine which job classifications could benefit from being performed through telework, and the expected cost savings and productivity outcomes resulting from the increased use of remote work and telework.

• Promote the hiring of veterans, spouses of service members, spouses of federal law enforcement officers, and certain individuals who have proven to be high-performing federal employees.