Have you seen the interesting article in the June Harvard Business Review by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh called “Tours of Duty: The New Employer-Employee Compact”? It gives us a new way to think about our careers – with an emphasis on increased flexibility. Instead of thinking of a career as a seriesRead… Read more »
There are a great many insights we can get on the Federal workforce by looking at the Best Places to Work survey conducted by Partnership for Public Service, but one struck me as particularly revealing. In looking at the data from the 2012 survey, we can see that only four in ten Federal employees believeRead… Read more »
A recent GAO report reviewed OPM’s 2012 annual report to Congress on the Federal government’s telework programs. While it acknowledges the progress that has been made in agency reporting on this issue, it also makes the interesting point that agencies have not yet focused on assessing the cost savings associated with telework programs. That’s aRead… Read more »
Today is International Women’s Day, a holiday that originated as a way of recognizing working women and promoting fair and safe working conditions. Many women across the globe face the most basic issues with respect to the conditions in which they work. In the US, we are lucky to have made great strides in thisRead… Read more »
With Telework Week fast approaching on March 4th and the leaked memo from Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, turning back the clock on workplace flexibility, it seems like a good time to comment on the twin concepts of “connection” and “innovation.” Whatever Mayer’s real motivation for wanting to bring the Yahoo workforce back into the office,Read… Read more »
Our recent June 29th derecho event, featuring lightening, thunder, rain, wind, trees falling, and power lines failing, has provided yet another opportunity for people in the Washington, DC area to experience what the Federal government calls “unplanned telework.” As it did when our area suffered through snowstorms and earthquakes, the government provided employees with theRead… Read more »
In line with its mission to ensure the careful use of Federal funds, OMB issued guidance on 5/11/12 to Federal agencies that requires them to make more efficient use of existing government real estate — in effect, “freezing the Federal footprint.” In a roundabout way, this is good news for Telework fans. By requiring agenciesRead… Read more »
One of the biggest reasons managers give for resisting the implementation of telework policies is that they do not believe that their employees will “really” work when they are not in the office. Those of us who have embraced a more flexible work design may consider this an “attitude adjustment” problem – on the partRead… Read more »
As we start the Second Annual Telework Week today, it’s a good time to think about boundaries and the challenge of how we create a boundary between the professional and the personal when we work at home. The most obvious boundary can be created by the space in which we work. A home office, forRead… Read more »