Bill Seeks to Increase Federal Telework Transparency and Oversight

Politicians calling for increased oversight of federal telework since the end of the COVID-19 emergency have largely come from the right side of the aisle.

Last September, for instance, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst took to the Senate floor to urge an investigation “of every major [federal] department and agency to determine the impact of telework on the delivery and response times of services, how much taxpayer money could be saved by consolidating unused office space, and what steps have been taken to adjust bureaucrats’ location-based salaries for those who have relocated and chosen to remain out of the office.”

Earlier in 2023, House Oversight and Accountability Committee James Comer (R.-Ky.) introduced a bill meant to oblige federal agencies to return to their pre-pandemic, mostly in-person work arrangements.

Comer and two of his Republican colleagues in Congress, Lauren Boebert from Colorado and Pete Sessions from Texas, sought to do the same again in May, when they sent a letter to 25 federal agencies, requesting data and details on telework’s impact on government agencies’ ability to fulfill their mission. The trio of lawmakers has since sent follow-up communications to many of those same agencies.

Newly proposed legislation, however, seems to indicate some bipartisan support for more transparency and oversight of federal telework arrangements.

Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, and Ernst recently introduced the Telework Transparency Act, which “will make federal telework policies transparent by requiring agencies to make policies publicly available online,” according to a Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs statement.

The bill seeks to mandate that federal agencies establish automated systems to track employee use of telework, in addition to monitoring office building utilization and the effects of telework on agency performance including customer service, backlogs and wait time, and cost to operations.

The legislation also directs the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to establish quality data standards and compile the data in a centralized location “to ensure transparency for the American people,” according to the committee, noting that OPM currently publishes an annual report on agency telework practices. That data, however, is more than a year old by the time it is reported.

“Federal agencies must track and consider the impact of telework on their ability to deliver services, recruit and retain talent, and ensure office operations are cost-efficient,” said Sen. Peters, in a statement. “My bipartisan bill will require agencies to gather accurate data on telework policies to provide more transparency and help ensure federal agencies are effectively carrying out their missions for the American people.”