Posted on 02/18/2011 3:12:38 PM PST by jazusamo
Obama Administration Encourages Federal Workers to Stay Home to Lessen Carbon Footprint on Nation’s Capital
(CNSNews.com) - Thousands of federal workers stayed home for at least some part of this week after pledging through teleworkexchange.com not to commute to work to mark Telework Week, Feb. 14-18.
The Web site, which acts as a platform for federal agencies and other interested parties to promote and implement telecommuting, claims that 39,141 people – much of them federal workers in the D.C. metro area – pledged to work at least some of the five-day workweek from home. The amount “saved” by cutting commuting costs over the week is $2,698,447, according to the “rolling calculator” on the Web site.
The calculator also determined that 3,594,718 pounds of “pollutants” were kept out of the environment by workers staying at home rather than commuting to work.
Cindy Auten, general manager of teleworkexchange.com who works from her home in Loudoun County, Va., told CNSNews.com that the numbers on the Web site are calculated from information provided by visitors who make a pledge, including data about their commute, such as the type of car they drive or their mode of public transportation, and the distance of their commute.
The Web site touts telecommuting as a “win-win-win opportunity for agencies/organizations, employees and the environment.”
Teleworking increases workforce productivity, promotes life/work balance, saves consumers money, reduces traffic and “greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the Web site.
Auten said that her organization gets the “majority” of its funding from the private sector, with federal agencies donating funds to support some its programs, such as Telework Week and the twice-yearly “town hall” meetings held to promote telecommuting.
Auten said the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) are the most active supporters of telework.
“They are walking the talk, I guess,” Auten said.
Other federal agencies actively promoting telework are the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), according to Auten.
Auten said her organization’s efforts have “certainly” benefited from the Obama administration’s environmental policies.
On Oct. 5, 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that called for federal agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, including evaluating employees’ commuting profiles.
On Dec. 9, 2010 Obama signed into law the Telework Enhancement Act (H.R. 1722). It calls for federal agencies to establish a telework policy, notify all employees of their telework eligibility, establish interactive programs for teleworkers and telework managers, designate a telework managing officer and provide yearly progress reports to OPM.
Some Republicans argued against passage of the bill, citing a number of concerns about the value of telecommuting. In a Nov. 18 bulletin from the Republican Study Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), some of those concerns were spelled out, including telework being another “perk” for federal employees and lower productivity of federal workers.
The report also said that Public Law 106-346 already directs the executive branch to establish policies for employees to participate in telework programs “to the maximum extent possible without diminishing performance.”
Auten argues that employees can actually be more productive when working at home because they are less distracted.
On its “Telework Milestones” portion of the Web site, one milestone for January 2010 states the Obama administration would be focused on three areas of teleworking – business continuity, creating jobs, including jobs for disabled people, and “reducing carbon footprints.”
Auten said that managers are the most resistant to telecommuting because of issues they have about controlling their employees.
“Management has a fear of losing control of their employees and what telework will do is expose the fact that managers need to actually manage and focus on the work output as opposed to time and attendance,” Auten said.
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
And the U.S. taxpayers are just supposed to say, “Oh. Okay”.
I doubt productivity will be affected either.
I'll bet anyone $$$ that those are the two least productive federal agencies.
A massive no-show job snowjob going on here. The arrangement being promoted is no-work for big-pay.
Bump.
If this means that fewer federal employees need to live in DC (and productivity is maintained or increased) this is a good thing.
Half of them aren’t working anyways.
Obama to Federal Employees: Stay home, we’ll pay you anyway!
I am reminded of the joke of the two bums a guy comes up and says I will give the laziest one $5., one guy opened his hand, the other guy said, put it in my pocket.
Telecommunists.
While that picture is good for a laugh - Obama isn’t stupid. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing - running the US into a 3rd World country through a radical agenda. Of course, he is not alone, he is just doing what his handlers want him too... he is a puppet for Soros and company.
They'll do this?
Except if they are willing to travel ot Wisconsin. Thanks jazusamo.
>I’ll bet anyone $$$ that those are the two least productive federal agencies.<
GSA and OPM ... I dunno .. what about Education and Energy?
Pretty unproductive ... then there is DHS .. and the Justice department .. so many non productive agencies at this point, it is hard to really decide on a winner IMO.
heck .. some .. like Justice are moving in reverse ..
They do so little work now, for the BIG $$ they make. What happened to that high speed train they ride?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
