Federal Workforce: Agencies' Policies and Views on Flexiplace in the Federal Government.

In January 1993, the Office of Personnel Management OPM and the General Services Administration GSA issued a report summarizing the results of a pilot that began in 1990 and tested the concept of working at locations other than the traditional government office. This concept, then known as flexiplace in the federal government and telecommuting in the private sector, was tested by over 500 federal employees from 13 agencies. The report, which focused on working at home, concluded that flexible provided significant benefits to participants, worked well with employees who were proven performers, and was ready for governmentwide implementation. This report responds to a request by Representative James P. Moran, the former Ranking Minority Member, that we review the implementation of flexiplace since completion of the pilot. Specifically, we agreed to 1 describe federal efforts to promote flexiplace 2 review federal agencies policies and the extent to which they permit flexiplace 3 determine the extent to which federal employees have used flexiplace, as well as the characteristics of these employees and the work they have done under flexiplace 4 ascermin whether agencies and federal employees unions have identified any barriers that inhibit flexiplace implementation and 5 determine whether agencies believe that flexiplace has caused operational difficulties, including abuse of flexiplace.