President Joe Biden recently signed off on the $1.2 trillion, U.S. Senate-approved spending package that at least temporarily sidestepped a government shutdown, keeping it fully funded through September of this year.
The package included provisions that puts government agency telework practices under the microscope, “although it stops short of ordering agencies to have more employees working onsite and more often,” FEDweek recently reported.
The budget measure does mandate that, within three months, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provide agency return-to-office plans submitted to the OMB, according to FEDweek, noting that each agency must report the average number and percent of employees present in the office on a given day during any two-week pay period during that time. Each agency must also include its most recent telework policy, including any agreement with employee unions.
As FEDweek pointed out, an earlier version of the appropriations bill, which passed the House, “would have rolled back telework to pre-pandemic levels while allowing agencies to increase it only by making a business case in favor of it.
“The House had passed similar language as a separate bill, and more recently passed yet another bill, requiring that steps be taken to consolidate offices and sell off or stop leasing space that was less than 60% occupied for more than a year,” FEDweek added. “While the final version does not go as far as did the House language, federal employees organizations still objected.”
In a recent statement, for instance, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) weighed in on the spending package, criticizing its language aimed at cutting telework options for federal workers, while applauding other provisions found in the bill.
For example, the largest union of federal employees is “very happy that Congress is providing the Transportation Security Administration with the funding it needs to competitively pay its workers and address recruiting and retention challenges that affect everyone who travels by air,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley.
“Likewise, while we wish more funds were included to address staffing and safety issues across the federal Bureau of Prisons, we are pleased that Congress directed the administration to research ways to improve pay for correctional officers and staff.”
Kelley and AFGE were less pleased with lawmakers’ efforts to put federal telework practices under more scrutiny.
“Language attempting to tie the hands of the administration when it comes to determining the correct balance of in-person and remote work at each of our federal workplaces is particularly frustrating,” Kelley said. “Perhaps more than anyone in America, members of Congress, who will spend nearly 21 of 52 weeks this year away from their Capitol Hill offices, should understand that working remotely [is just] working.”
Kelley urged Congress to “embrace telework and remote for what it is, a vital workplace flexibility that improves employee morale and productivity, and helps agencies recruit and retain the most qualified employees to the federal government.”
01 April 2024
Category
HR News Article