Telework According to Berry

Tom Shoop, Vice president and Editor in Chief at Gov Exec Media Group, writes that they are big on telework because the nature of their business, as reporters, requires them to be out and about attending events and conducting interviews, so even in the pre-Internet age, the editors who managed them had to get comfortable with the notion that the employees they supervised weren’t always going to be in the office. And in the Internet age, it turns out the editors often can work remotely, too.

He recogizes however, that similar acceptance of telework isn’t the always case in many federal offices. At the Federal Managers Association’s national convention (for example), Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry restated the conventional explanation, saying that telework hasn’t taken off more quickly with the Feds because too many managers aren’t comfortable managing people who aren’t right in front of them.

Is that really the case? What do you think?

To read Tom’s entire article @ GovExec, please click here.