Gee, Ma, I Wanna Go Home

January 9, 2006 5:56 AM

Any U.S. Federal Government employees teleworking?

Can you please share your experiences: job duties, length of time at job prior to teleworking, distance from main office, frequency of going in to the main office, how you requested the accomodation, any advice on making the request?
I am currently a judicial law clerk set for a two year appointment. I would very much like to move to a different city for my second year, almost entirely so I can be closer to my s.o. Trying to get some materials together to make a persuasive pitch to my judge. Any help is much appreciated

posted by buddha9090 to Work & Money (9 answers total)

You could probably get a lot of mileage from this page of USG telework policies.

I think the Federal government rarely anticipates a 100% telecommuting arrangement, so that will be an uphill battle for you.
posted by jellicle at 6:28 AM on January 9, 2006

I'd feel strange (or paranoid) giving the details, but a relative of mine works for INS from his home. Many of his co-workers do the same.
posted by tom_g at 7:07 AM on January 9, 2006

My mother-in-law works from home (for the Census Bureau) and only rarely makes appearances at an actual government office. AFAIK it's been that way since she started, over 20 years ago.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:23 AM on January 9, 2006

The Library of Congress had a pilot telework program whereby employees could apply to work from home one day a week. The pilot period expired, and all telework arrangments were cancelled. There's now negotiation to have the program extended, but, again, it'd only be for one day a week per employee.

I know an attorney who teleworks at the Department of Labor in DC. Again, only one day a week, though.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:03 AM on January 9, 2006

It's extremely difficult to get approved for telework at my agency. The Defense logistics Agency is a DoD component, and while I gather it is a little easier in the DC area, our management takes a dim view of the practice. This despite the fact that we don't have any face-to-face customer contact and the type of work we do would seem to lend itself to telework.
posted by fixedgear at 8:38 AM on January 9, 2006

No. My agency has no teleworkers despite being a job which would be ideal for telework.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:55 AM on January 9, 2006

The agency I work for does allow teleworking once a week, but the nature of my job makes it impossible for me to participate. (I work with software that cannot be installed at home, and network security is very tight, so no access from outside.)

I wish I could telework. What I do does not require me to be onsite. And commuting in the DC area is AWFUL.
posted by MsVader at 9:44 AM on January 9, 2006

my mom works for NSF, and before moving permanently to washington she did tele-whatever working from home about half the time. however, i think she found that it was hard to be effective outside the office and got much more done there, so now she goes in every day.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 3:50 PM on January 9, 2006

I know of at least one DoD agency that is working to set up teleworking for 1 day a week or so. Apparently, the agency doesn't have telework now, but DoD has a process for establishing such a program on an agency by agency basis. Even so, we're talking 1 day a week. (This is in DC).
posted by i love cheese at 5:47 PM on January 9, 2006