Management
Immigration Review Office Remains Open Despite Potential COVID-19 Exposure
Most support staff at the Executive Office of Immigration Review in Falls Church, Va., remain unable to telework even after two floors had to be deep cleaned after an employee exhibited coronavirus symptoms at work last week.
Workforce
7 Things Ease the Switch to Remote-Only Workplaces
An abrupt transition to a remote-only workplace poses challenges to both management and employees. Two experts explain what it takes to get it right.
Workforce
A New Era of Telework Should be the Beginning of a More Flexible Federal Workforce.
In the federal government, fewer than half of employees are authorized to telework, despite a requirement for agencies to incorporate telework into their continuity of operations plans.
Workforce
The Pentagon Is Using Zoom. Is it Safe?
Experts say the ubiquitous videoconferencing tools bear some risk of accidentally exposing mundane details, and even inviting a new wave of deep fakes. But the risks can be managed.
Management
4 Weird Things that Happen When You Videoconference
An educational technology scholar illuminates some of odd feelings people experience when they communicate through cameras on the web.
Workforce
Thousands of IRS Employees Are Currently Home With Pay, But Not Working
Agency faces major logistical challenges after massive stimulus package, but union says tens of thousands of employees cannot work remotely.
Management
OPM Offers Tips for Agencies to Help Teleworking Feds with Caregiving
The federal government’s HR agency encouraged agencies to be flexible with employees who have children or other relatives they must care for with school and other care facilities closed.
Defense
Military Leaders Ask to Delay Budget Planning To Focus on Coronavirus, Let Staff Stay Home
But the Defense Department's No. 2 told Army, Navy, and Air Force budget planners to figure a different solution.
Management
Immigration Services Agency Seeks to Suspend Bargaining With Union Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Although the agency already is allowed to implement workplace changes because of the national health emergency, officials now want to skip post-implementation bargaining as well.
Workforce
Telework Should Be an Option for Some Workers With Security Clearances
The reality is that many positions require a security clearance because of where the work is conducted, not the work itself.
Management
Bipartisan Legislation Would Direct Federal Agencies to Allow Full-Time Telework
Senators from both parties said the Trump administration’s guidance encouraging agencies to allow their employees to work remotely proved inadequate to protect employees and the public from the coronavirus outbreak.
Management
Social Security Institutes Fulltime Telework for Most Employees
Some workers will temporarily be provided weather and safety leave until the agency can increase its supply of equipment, while others could be recalled for short periods to handle non-portable work.
Management
OPM Highlights 'Evacuation Pay' Authority As a Way Agencies Can Expedite Telework
The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday clarified a number of issues for both agencies and federal employees as they respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Management
Feds Without Telework Options Are Using Personal Leave to Avoid Going Into Offices
'We are all very concerned,' one employee says.
Management
Senators Urge Trump Administration to Publish Agency Contingency Plans
Democratic lawmakers said that making agencies’ continuity of operations plans public could put the minds of both federal workers and members of the public at ease.
Pay & Benefits
Lawmakers Urge Mandatory Telework, and OPM Highlights Defense Policy Act Pay Provisions
A weekly roundup of pay and benefits news.
Pay & Benefits
Social Security Closes All Local Offices Amid Coronavirus Threat
Although officials said the agency is working to expand telework as much as possible, union leaders disputed that, describing “Kafkaesque” inaction.
Management
USDA Allows Voluntary Telework Following Positive Coronavirus Test at Headquarters
The Agriculture Department has closed a section of its main office in Washington for "deep cleaning."
Management
Mass Telework Causes Operational Strains for Agencies
Some agencies are telling employees to cut back as networks get overloaded.
Management