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More Federal Workers are Telecommuting
An anonymous reader writes "Boosting the ranks of federal employees who telework is a slow, sometimes painful process, despite numerous incentives and legislative edicts lobbed at U.S. agencies over the years. Take the situation at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which last month was ordered by a federal arbitration panel to allow its legal instrument examiners to telework on a pilot basis. ATF was against letting these specialists telework because it says the material they need to remove from agency offices in order to telework posed a security risk. The Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) became involved at the request of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which successfully argued its case for allowing the examiners to telework on a pilot basis."
As this sbc article details, those left behind find it "less personally fulfilling to do their work".
So how exactly is this a good thing, unless you plan on having no office at all - which is not quite feasible.
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Well I think a valid concern was raised. Telecommuting and data security.
The Federal Service Impasses Panel?
Am I the only one here who thinks the existence of that agency is the real story?
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If I worked for the government I would too I mean all the easier to spend tax payers' money on improving my house :P
As an employee of the USCG, I am allowed to telecommute one day a week, every week on any regular 5-day work week. Any Ensign (O-series) and higher, 3rd class Petty Officer (E-series) and higher and all GS-7's and higher can do telecommuting, pending supervisory (permission is granted from supervisory GS-12's or GS-13's) and network security approval. Non-rates and the majority of contractors don't get assigned a security token, and therefore don't get the privilege. Now I can't speak for other Federal agencies of course...
Just because you get modded "insightful" on Slashdot doesn't mean you actually are in real life.
Of course feral workers telecommute, they make a mess in the corner!
Be Excellent To Each Other
[Erin Driscoll] "Jack, start prepping a team for an assault on the east wing. Edgar- where's Chloe? Find her and tell her to open a new socket in the server room as a new priority."
[Edgar Stiles] "Chloe's.. erm.. working from home today, Miss Driscoll..."
"He Who Dares Wins"
They are helping the environment by being unproductive at home, rather than going into the office to be unproductive.
...not the exception, at least for certain positions and personality types.
Telecommuters drive less, so there's less pollution and traffic. With the right people, telecommuting can enhance productivity and job satisfaction.
I feel strongly about this, having been a FT telecommuting programmer for the past 5+ years. I love working with hours of uninterrupted concentration. Whenever I do have to go into the office, I'm surrounded by distractions, especially from coworkers who bullshit incessantly.
YMMV of course. Certain jobs (customer contact, security, etc) may not qualify, and there are obviously people who do *better* in an office setting. For many cases, though, going into the office is more of a control/domination mechanism than having anything to do with actual "work."
They just want dumb asses in seats, which is probably why the feds are slow to adopt telework.
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." -- Donald Knuth
I already do Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms at home, often all at once. They could just hire me and boost their numbers accordingly.
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Any time you have a policy encouraging telecommuting, you are going to get some abuse: people working multiple jobs, or working 15 hours a week and getting paid for 40, or not working at all. Some might actually be on a cruise ship while they're supposedly telecommuting. In the case of the government, the stories will be picked up by the newspapers and then by the bloggers, and will result in even more cynicism directed towards government than we have already. If that's even possible!
Government workers are already very good at commuting: no matter what the order their numbers always multiply. So telecommuting shouldn't be that hard for them.
A good compromise might be to allow workers to telecommute 20% of the time (1 day per week). Give everyone that freedom, and nobody can complain. Plus, you'd still have plenty of "face time" with your co-workers.
I can only hope (because I doubt that I can expect) that these telecommuting workers use encrypted datafiles, well-secured "work-only" home-office PCs, multi-factor authentication, non-wireless internet connections, etc. I'm sure any number of people would love to gain access to government data or databases.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
I really hope this means they have more personal details about us on laptops! That would be fun
I'm pro-telecommuting but not if it makes the government more efficient. The ATF especially.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
I can do it, too. Just pick up any phone, anywhere, and say the following words in any particular order: "terrorist Iraq Al Qaeda" and you'll instantly be connected to your neighborhood friendly NSA agent, ready and willing to connect you to your party!
From TFA:
ATF was against letting these specialists telework because it says the material they need to remove from agency offices in order to telework posed a security risk.
I can see why. I mean, the poor guys need to bring work home, obviously. In case you do'nt know what the ATF does, it turns out that this is the Official Agency that solves the big problem created by alcohol, firearms and tobacco. I went to their web site and it's kinda technical -- it has to do with seizing stuff and closing down places, I'm not sure I understood all the jargon. But obviously, someone has to consume all that seized wood alcohol and those contraband cigarettes, while testing these confiscated firearms.
Which lets us picture the average ATF telecommuter, in a corner of his living room, working from home for the ATF, drinking seized gutrot moonshine, smoking Chinaese-made fake Marlboros, and shooting a deer silhouette adorned with his ex-wife portrait with confiscated AK-74 imitations.
Of course, it's a security risk!
And you wonder why the neighbors don't want more telecommuting Federal employees?
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I am an IT professional. I have had to work in telecommuting heavy environments. While a small dash might allow you to get work done when you would otherwise have to take vacation (such as blizzard-like conditions), overall I have yet to meet an effective telecommuter. Pretty much all of them suddenly become a lot less effective at their jobs and a great hindrance to everyone else's jobs.
I suppose there might be some kind of tele-fu style that allows a telecommuting worker to be effective and subtle while striking from a great distance. But generally people aren't around for meetings, aren't around for ad-hoc conversations, are always less informed than people that are regularly in the office (I wonder why?), and in a few instances of direct observation are less productive than before they got telecommuting privilage.
Fine, people are giddy happy that they can work without actually showing up for work or paying attention to what's going on. Great for the worker satisfaction or some shit of the telecommuter. But as someone who has to work with these people telecommuting sucks.
Every federal agency should have to periodically justify its existence and some should be abolished. An agency can be outdated or it's functions better done by another agency or the states. Unfortunately the federal government has become a jobs program.
Which means, at my level, they're completely disallowed. But then, I don't have any access to sensitive information anyway.
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"Unfortunately the federal government has become a jobs program."
Thankfully the private sector has lead the way with it's "jobs to India" program.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I think having the freedom to work at home, at least for part of the time, is a huge benefit. Having this option is one of the reasons I haven't gone for a higher-paying job -- it's a perk I'm willing to "pay for."
Cutting out the miserable commutes that many of us have to endure is a major quality-of-life booster. Every day I don't spend that 3 hours in traffic or on the train is more enjoyable. Plus, we reduce our foreign oil dependence. For jobs like mine, it's actually a huge help not having to be around the office distracted by coworkers gossiping or asking questions.
There will always be jokers who ruin it for everyone, but definitely do it when you're given the ability.
Here's one question -- when and if telecommuting becomes the norm, what are we going to do about the major "class disparity" that will be present between office workers and service workers? If you have to physically go to your job, and your neighbor doesn't, aren't you going to be really unhappy about that? How is work going to change?
Well, speaking only for the USCG, we use a Nortel VPN for the client software plus a CAC (Common Access Card) reader for connecting to standard workstations. The CAC is the standard Federal government ID card. Wireless connections and PoE are not allowed, but it takes the network security staff about 20 minutes before they drop the connection for various reasons-if you violate the policy multiple times in a row, your rights to telecommute are removed and are not easy to get back even if your supervisor tries to clear you again. In addition, network security has only authorized some broadband providers, although I've tested other "non-approved" broadband providers on an irregular basis, and they have yet to shut me down.
Just because you get modded "insightful" on Slashdot doesn't mean you actually are in real life.
"Telecommute" is a stupid word - the literal meaning of the word is completely at odds with the meaning of the word as it is used. Telecommute means to travel a long distance. Tele means far, commute means to travel, particularly to work. Hence telecommute means to travel a long distance to work. The roots are similar to television (literally far seeing) and telephone (lterally far hearing).
However, telecommuting - as the word is used - is the problem, not the solution. The problem is having to commute a long way to work. The solution is using technology to allow you to work from home, which is not what telecommute means at all. Obviously whoever coined the word thought "tele" sounded suitably technological, so decided to use that. A far better word for the solution would be "e-commuting" or something similar, even if it does involve the much overused "e-" prefix. At least that would make sense.
Stupid English language...
What agency do you work for? Whoever they are, they're over a year late instituting the White House directive that mandates whole disk encryption on any computer that leaves the office.
Serously, what agency do you work for?
There's a problem with trying to abolish the BATFE. Some years ago, ATF abuses got so severe toward firearms license holders and other gun owners that Congressional hearing were held. Congress was leaning toward exactly the sort of breakup you describe. FBI quashed the whole idea by throwing a fit.
Special Agents in the BATFE are, you must understand, essentially the bottom of the barrel of federal law enforcement. Badge-heavy and generally less than competent, the guys who get a badge there are the ones who couldn't get a job with any other agency (except for a few *really* small agencies, like the Railroad Retirement Board). The FBI was mortified that they would be forced to take on board a large number of SAs who were such fuckups. FBI screamed; Congress deferred. Congress agreed not to poison FBI ranks with those clowns and instead gave the ATF some slaps on the wrist and a bit of a reorganization. And everybody went back to work.
Frankly, the only competent SA with BATF that I've ever had a chance to talk to (we used to have the occasional casual conversation over morning caffeine at the office building deli and it was easy to see that this guy was quietly, strongly competent and completely unlike his cowboy-wannabe fellow SAs) was killed in the raid at Waco. BATFE has plenty of sharp folks as, for example, examiners on the tech side but their in-the-field SAs are a remarkably "Reno 911"-esque bunch, just minus all the humorous stuff.
Wasn't there a Dilbert comic a few years back, where Dogbert described his dream job to the boss...
Pointy-Haired Boss: "So, you'd stay at home and we'd send you checks?"
Dogbert: "Actually, I was hoping for direct deposit."
668: Neighbour of the Beast
Isn't telecommuting the first step toward being outsourced? I mean if you can do it from home, you can do it from India, or China...where-ever. How long before government functions are outsourced to lower-paid workers in other countries? Or are government salaries low enough to not be at risk for cheaper outsourcing? ;^/